Close Menu
The Baylor Lariat
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn
    Trending
    • Students react to emergency alert following campus lockdown
    • Baylor shelter-in-place lifted following police pursuit of robbery suspects
    • Baylor graduate charged after killing cats with pellet gun, hanging bodies over utility lines
    • Baylor Football’s Alex Foster dies at 18
    • Board of Regents confirms budget, renovations, new leadership in May meeting
    • How facilities responds to storms, flooding in campus buildings
    • Welcome Week leaders now paid in hopes of increasing numbers
    • 5 Baylor sports storylines to look forward to in 2025-26
    • About us
      • Spring 2025 Staff Page
      • Copyright Information
    • Contact
      • Contact Information
      • Letters to the Editor
      • Subscribe to The Morning Buzz
      • Department of Student Media
    • Employment
    • PDF Archives
    • RSS Feeds
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn
    The Baylor LariatThe Baylor Lariat
    Subscribe to the Morning Buzz
    Saturday, July 5
    • News
      • State and National News
        • State
        • National
      • Politics
        • 2025 Inauguration Page
        • Election Page
      • Homecoming Page
      • Baylor News
      • Waco Updates
      • Campus and Waco Crime
    • Arts & Life
      • Wedding Edition 2025
      • What to Do in Waco
      • Campus Culture
      • Indy and Belle
      • Sing 2025
      • Leisure and Travel
        • Leisure
        • Travel
          • Baylor in Ireland
      • Student Spotlight
      • Local Scene
        • Small Businesses
        • Social Media
      • Arts and Entertainment
        • Art
        • Fashion
        • Food
        • Literature
        • Music
        • Film and Television
    • Opinion
      • Editorials
      • Points of View
      • Lariat Letters
    • Sports
      • March Madness 2025
      • Football
      • Basketball
        • Men’s Basketball
        • Women’s Basketball
      • Soccer
      • Baseball
      • Softball
      • Volleyball
      • Equestrian
      • Cross Country and Track & Field
      • Acrobatics & Tumbling
      • Tennis
      • Golf
      • Pro Sports
      • Sports Takes
      • Club Sports
    • Lariat TV News
    • Multimedia
      • Video Features
      • Podcasts
        • Don’t Feed the Bears
      • Slideshows
    • Advertising
    The Baylor Lariat
    Home»Featured

    Mom glued kids’ hands to wall, faces life term

    Baylor LariatBy Baylor LariatOctober 9, 2012Updated:October 9, 2012 Featured No Comments3 Mins Read
    Dallas police officer Abel Lopez listens to a question in front of a display showing a crime scene photo of little hand prints on a wall while testifying about his investigation at the apartment of Elizabeth Escalona, 23, not shown, in Dallas. Associated Press
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email
    Dallas police officer Abel Lopez listens to a question in front of a display showing a crime scene photo of little hand prints on a wall while testifying about his investigation at the apartment of Elizabeth Escalona, 23, not shown, in Dallas.
    Associated Press

    By Nomaan Merchant

    Associated Press

    DALLAS — A Dallas woman who super-glued her 2-year-old daughter’s hands to a wall also beat the girl so badly that she suffered bleeding on her brain, a doctor testified Monday during the mother’s sentencing hearing.

    Elizabeth Escalona faces up to life in prison after pleading guilty in July to attacking her daughter, Jocelyn Cedillo, last September. Police say the 23-year-old mother attacked the toddler due to potty training problems.

    During a sentencing hearing that began Monday, prosecutors presented gruesome photos and details of the attack.

    Jocelyn was hospitalized for about one week with injuries that included bleeding on her brain, a fractured rib, severe bruises and others likely caused by direct blows, according to Dr. Amy Barton, a former child abuse specialist at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas.

    “When I think about the time involved in that and what that scene must have looked like, it’s overwhelming,” Barton said.

    Dallas Police Sr. Cpl. Abel Lopez, who interviewed Escalona after the attack, showed a bottle of super glue taken out of the family’s apartment as well as a section of an apartment wall with Jocelyn’s handprints.

    The sentencing hearing is scheduled to continue Tuesday. Escalona’s attorney, Angie N’Duka, said she hadn’t decided if her client would take the stand. A state district judge will decide her punishment.

    In a videotaped interview with Lopez after the attack, Escalona insisted over and over: “I’m taking the blame.” Lopez said Monday that Escalona wouldn’t immediately explain why she was taking the blame, even as doctors fighting to save her daughter’s life needed information about what had happened.

    “She never really asked” about Jocelyn’s condition, Lopez said. “I had to tell her.”

    Escalona’s mother, Ofelia Escalona, testified about her panic and confusion when she arrived at the family home after the attack and found Jocelyn lying on the floor, taking shallow breaths. Under questioning from prosecutor Eren Price, Ofelia Escalona acknowledged that her daughter had also hit her several times when Elizabeth Escalona was growing up.

    The grandmother said she came over after her daughter called her. She said she could see something wrong in her daughter’s face.

    “I had my daughter in front of me, but she was not all there,” Ofelia Escalona said, her voice often breaking throughout her testimony.

    She picked Jocelyn up off the floor and noticed the child had soiled her underwear, the grandmother said. She changed Jocelyn, ran with the girl to her car, and told her son to drive them to the hospital.

    But Jocelyn then started talking — asking for food — leading her grandmother to believe the girl didn’t need to go to the emergency room. She told her son to turn around.

    “I made a horrible mistake,” Ofelia Escalona said.

    Testimony then concluded for the day because Ofelia Escalona had to pick up another one of her grandchildren from school. The grandmother is now taking care of her daughter’s five children, including a baby born this year.

    As testimony ended, Elizabeth Escalona used tissues to wipe her eyes before sheriff’s deputies escorted her from the courtroom.

    Baylor Lariat

    Keep Reading

    Students react to emergency alert following campus lockdown

    Baylor shelter-in-place lifted following police pursuit of robbery suspects

    Baylor graduate charged after killing cats with pellet gun, hanging bodies over utility lines

    Baylor Football’s Alex Foster dies at 18

    Board of Regents confirms budget, renovations, new leadership in May meeting

    How facilities responds to storms, flooding in campus buildings

    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Recent Posts
    • Students react to emergency alert following campus lockdown June 27, 2025
    • Baylor shelter-in-place lifted following police pursuit of robbery suspects June 26, 2025
    About

    The award-winning student newspaper of Baylor University since 1900.

    Articles, photos, and other works by staff of The Baylor Lariat are Copyright © Baylor® University. All rights reserved.

    Subscribe to the Morning Buzz

    Get the latest Lariat News by just Clicking Subscribe!

    Follow the Live Coverage
    Tweets by @bulariat

    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn
    • Featured
    • News
    • Sports
    • Opinion
    • Arts and Life
    © 2025 ThemeSphere. Designed by ThemeSphere.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.