Inset: Katherine Crosby (Tyler County Jail). Background: The Child Protective Services office in Tyler County, Texas (Google Maps).
A 39-year-old Texas mother has been accused of violently punishing her young daughter by slamming her head into a wall. The mother allegedly admitted to the abuse and audaciously questioned whether such actions were illegal before instructing the victim and her siblings to deceive investigators.
Katherine Crosby was taken into custody earlier this month and charged with one count of felony injury to a child, court records show.
Based on a probable cause affidavit sourced by Law&Crime, a Child Protective Services (CPS) investigator noted on June 6 that Crosby’s daughter, whose specific age isn’t mentioned but is under 14, had a bruised and swollen black eye. The child informed the investigator that “when someone at home becomes angry, they are hit, suffer broken noses, get black eyes, or have their heads slammed against doors.”
“[The victim] recounted ‘my mom did this to me and it hurt really bad,'” the affidavit notes. [She] reported that her mother put her in the corner for misbehaving, and then Katherine Crosby approached her, grabbing her by the ponytail and slammed her head into the wall, causing the black eye. [The victim] mentioned that her mother was angry with her, which is why she acted this way. [She] reiterated that it ‘hurt really bad.'”
Crosby’s daughter told police that her mom gave her the black eye on June 5, but that it was not the first time she had been forced to endure such alleged abuse. She also noted that her mother did not get her medical attention or give her ice for the injury, police said.
In a subsequent investigation with investigators, Crosby allegedly admitted to harming her daughter.
“Crosby admitted to banging [the victim’s] head into the wall,” the affidavit states. “Crosby stated, ‘Yes I did it.’ Crosby then demonstrated how she did it, which was the same way [the victim] stated it happened. Crosby stated, ‘What I cannot do that?’ [The investigator] informed her that she could not do that to her child or children because that is child abuse.”
Crosby, the alleged victim, and the alleged victim’s sisters sat for interviews at the Garth House for Forensic Interviews on June 26. The investigator said that before the interviews even began, the alleged victim and her sisters said their mother “told them to lie” and “say that she didn’t physically harm” the victim.
The victim said Crosby instructed her to tell investigators that “she fell on a brick and that is why her eye was black and swollen.” The victim’s sisters said their mom also coached them to blame their sibling’s injury on a brick, police alleged.
The victim then stated, “Wait was I supposed to say that I tripped on a brick because that is what mom said to say,” according to the affidavit.
During a CPS meeting the following day, Crosby allegedly tried to recant her initial confession and tried to get the CPS investigator to question the kids again about her daughter’s injury.
“I want you to ask the girls again, in front of me, what happened to [the victim’s] eye because they will all tell you that I did not do anything to [the victim],” she said, per the affidavit.
Crosby was detained and processed at the Tyler County Jail in lieu of $125,000 bond on July 9 and released the following day, records show. The date of her next hearing was not immediately available.
