A Texas mother has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the tragic murder of her infant daughter, a crime committed in a moment of uncontrolled anger.

In October, 22-year-old Olivia Munoz admitted her guilt to charges of murdering a child under the age of 10 and inflicting severe injury on a child, leading to the death of her 7-month-old daughter, Hazel Munoz. These charges were confirmed by the San Patricio County District Clerk’s and District Attorney’s Offices.

A judge in San Patricio County sentenced Munoz to two life terms, a decision prearranged as part of her plea agreement. According to court documents accessed by Law & Crime, Munoz has now been transferred to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

The tragic events unfolded on December 19, 2023.

At approximately 6:30 a.m., police were dispatched to Munoz’s residence on South Marigold Street in Mathis, a town located about 35 miles from Corpus Christi. Upon arrival, officers discovered Hazel unresponsive and not breathing.

Emergency medical services soon arrived and administered CPR, then transported the infant to ER 24/7 Northwest in Corpus Christi’s Calallen area, approximately 22 miles away. Unfortunately, their efforts were in vain, as Hazel was declared deceased shortly after reaching the hospital, as reported by sources from the police department and cited by NBC affiliate KRIS in Corpus Christi.

Mathis Police Chief Guillermo “Willie” Figueroa told the TV station that someone in the house called 911 after Munoz woke up to find her daughter unresponsive. The police chief went on to explain that Munoz told her mother that Hazel was not breathing, prompting the baby girl’s grandmother to have another family member dial 911.

Fast-forward to just after the child’s death – that’s when hospital officials reached out to police to describe the child’s host of injuries.

Officers then questioned the defendant, who readily admitted to injuring her girl during three separate incidents, and never seeking medical attention for Hazel after the fact.

“At the time, Munoz was pregnant and the mother of another daughter, a year and five months old,” the police chief told KRIS. “The older child did not have injuries.”

On Dec. 20, Munoz was initially arrested on two counts of injury to a child. Figueroa said two of the three admitted injuries were charged.

Then, the child’s autopsy was performed, outlining the extent of the prolonged abuse Hazel suffered during her short life.

The child had several fractures in her arms, ribs, and skull.

In January 2024, the autopsy results were turned over to law enforcement. Hazel’s death was determined to be a homicide. Local police then upgraded Munoz’s charges to include murder.

The defendant, by then, was allegedly voluble about why she did what she did to the helpless little girl, according to the police chief.

“She admitted she had a lot of anger towards the 7-month-old baby due to problems she had with the baby’s father,” Figueroa said. “She told officers that her three children shared the same biological father.”

Then, the Texas Rangers – a specialized division of veteran law enforcement officers based out of Austin – stepped in.

Munoz was formally indicted on three charges in March 2024, according to court records obtained by Law&Crime. She was charged with two counts of capital murder and one count of injury to a child in the first degree in the Lone Star State’s 343rd District Court.

The legal process churned slowly. A psychiatric evaluation was called for, along with a motion for an insanity defense, records show. A sealed copy of those results was filed in late September.

In mid-October, the parties announced a plea decision.

On Oct. 24, in exchange for the state dropping one murder charge and taking the capital murder charge down to a lesser-included murder offense, Munoz pleaded guilty to the remaining charges.