Left inset: Channel Yonko. Right inset: Hannah Yonko (Galveston Police Department). Background: Beachfront Palms Hotel in Galveston, Texas (Google Maps).
A Texas mother has been sentenced to life in prison for the horrific murder of her 17-month-old daughter, whom she stabbed and subsequently threw from a hotel balcony. Channel Jasmine Yonko, 31, was convicted of first-degree murder following the tragic death of her daughter, Hannah Yonko, in Galveston, the district attorney’s office confirmed.
The incident unfolded on the morning of October 23, 2024, when Galveston Police Department officers were dispatched to the Beachfront Palms Hotel. They responded to reports of a baby, later identified as Hannah, lying injured on the street. The toddler was found with severe head injuries and stab wounds to her back, while her mother was initially unaccounted for.
Emergency medical personnel rushed Hannah to a nearby hospital, but despite their efforts, the young girl succumbed to her injuries shortly after arriving at the trauma center.
Authorities located Yonko about half a mile from the hotel. She was visibly distressed and requested assistance from an officer, mentioning concerns about her daughter’s health. Officers documented these comments in a probable cause affidavit and took Yonko to the police station for questioning, where her sister also arrived.
During the week-long trial, prosecutors revealed that Yonko, along with her sister, her sister’s fiancé, and young Hannah, were visiting Galveston, residing in a condo. Evidence showed that on the day preceding the fatal incident, Yonko had stabbed her daughter three times in the back, inflicting injuries severe enough to fracture a rib. Remarkably, the toddler survived this initial attack.
Prosecutors presented evidence during the week-long trial that showed Yonko, her sister and her sister’s fiancé along with the victim were visiting Galveston and had been staying at a condo. On the day before the murder, Yonko stabbed her daughter three times in the back, including one wound that fractured a rib. The girl survived the stabbing.
Yonko and her sister had a disagreement with the fiancé so they checked into the Beachfront Palms Hotel. Jurors saw surveillance footage of Yonko rolling Hannah in her stroller in the hallways of the hotel. Eventually, Yonko made her way to the top floor where she threw her daughter off a balcony. Jurors viewed horrific video from different angles, according to prosecutors.
Yonko later told a psychologist that she felt her daughter was possessed by demons so she wanted to “send her to heaven and free her from her torment,” according to a courtroom report from local news site i45Now.
The defense argued that Yonko was insane at the time of the incident and did not know right from wrong. But prosecutors countered that argument by showing she ordered an Uber after the incident in order to flee the scene and also tried to hide evidence.
In closing arguments, prosecutors said Yonko was the “one person in the world that was supposed to love Hannah unconditionally and that instead, that person took Hannah’s life.”
As Law&Crime previously reported, Yonko refused to give detectives her name and requested a lawyer after she was taken into custody. Her sister spoke with police and said she, Yonko, and Hannah had been staying at the Beachfront Palms Hotel. On the morning in question, they were in the process of checking out of the hotel when the sister left Yonko and Hannah to go speak to her fiancé at The Victorian condos nearby on Seawall Boulevard.
A little while later, Yonko, who was walking with a stroller, met up with her sister at The Victorian. The sister assumed Hannah was in the stroller, but did not actually see her. When the sister said she was going back to Beachfront Palms to pack up her stuff, Yonko kept telling her, “Don’t go back to the hotel.”
Beachfront Palms hotel staff told cops that the trio were staying in room 217. Outside the hotel, detectives found a trash bag in a bin that had a key card for room 217, a “skinning” knife with a black handle along with toys, snacks and diapers, the affidavit said.
“This is a horrible crime. All children deserve to feel safe when around loved ones, especially with their own mother,” Galveston police Chief Doug Balli said in a statement at the time.
