Witnesses claim Texas mother Jessica Weaver, 35, left her three-year-old son Anthony Leo Malave to drown at the water park while she sat on her phone for an hour without looking up and singing along to the music
- A Texas mother has been accused of drowning her 3-year-old son
- Seven witnesses are said to have observed Jessica Weaver behaving carelessly
- Weaver was charged with injury to a child by neglect in the death of her son
A Texas mother has been accused of allowing her 3-year-old son to drown at a water park while she allegedly “looked at her phone and sang along to music for hours,” witnesses told police.
Anthony Leo Malave, 3, died May 13 after he was found lifeless in a four-foot pool at Camp Cohen Water Park in El Paso, Texas.
The boy’s mother, Jessica Weaver, 35, was accused of negligence. She was arrested in connection with the Aug. 30 drowning and charged with injury to a child by omission.
Seven witnesses revealed the shocking behavior of a woman matching Weaver’s description on the day Anthony died.
In a police report obtained by KFOX, they explained the negligence and preventability of the incident.
Jessica Weaver, 35, was charged with negligence and was arrested in connection with the Aug. 30 drowning and charged with injury to a child by omission
Seven witnesses at El Paso Camp Cohen Water Park (pictured) revealed the shocking behavior of a woman matching Weaver’s description on the day of Anthony’s death
A witness said: “A woman matching Weaver’s description sat on the phone in front of a pool for over an hour.”
They added that the person “never looked up or paid attention to anything.”
Two witnesses said they saw the boy without his mother, adding that they saw “Weaver laying down and singing along to her phone for about seven minutes before the toddler was pulled from the water.”
Two witnesses said they saw Anthony unsupervised – adding that they “saw Weaver lying and singing along to her phone for about seven minutes before the toddler was pulled from the water.”
Another said: “A woman matching Weaver’s description that day encouraged the toddler to go into the pool before walking away and leaving the boy alone.”
The same witness also said that “It took Weaver five minutes to run to the pool after the lifeguards blew their whistle for everyone to get out.”
When the devastating drowning occurred, a witness told police they believed “Weaver was alone at the water park” because they did not see her with a child.
“Weaver did not immediately respond to the situation and was surprised to learn that she was the mother of the drowning child when Weaver jumped into the water.”
Several more damning allegations were made against the Texas mother. A witness claimed he saw two three-year-olds swimming “unsupervised and without life jackets” before noting that the life jackets were freely available to anyone.
Weaver’s apathetic parenting style was also questioned by a witness who claimed her son spit “chips” into the pool but was too busy on the phone to care or notice.
Weaver’s apathetic parenting style was also questioned by a witness who claimed her son spit “chips” into the pool but was too busy on the phone to care or notice
Despite the damning description of Weaver’s lackluster parenting style, pictures of Anthony show the beaming toddler in photos that emerged after the tragedy
Ryan MacLeod, Weaver’s legal counsel, claims it’s just a witch hunt after the Texas mother launched her own legal action against the city
According to the arrest report, that last witness called police and reported that Weaver appeared not to be taking care of her child at the water park that day.
The police document also states that the water park’s capacity is 1,460 and that there were only about 466 people there that day and life jackets were available.
Weaver’s legal counsel Ryan MacLeod previously shied away from blame, saying the city was “more concerned with filling the park for a soft opening than safety,” Fox News reported.
A press conference with El Paso District Attorney Bill Hick was called a “political stunt” by MacLeod when he said, “A lifeguard is not a babysitter.”
“They are the last resort to hopefully save a life,” Hick’s said in a news conference at the time of the arrest.
MacLeod believes the city is taking legal action against Weaver because she filed a lawsuit against the city and said prosecutors should file charges against the 17 lifeguards who were on duty that day.
has reached out to MacLeod and the DA’s office for comment but did not immediately respond.