Slain infant’s mother arrested in New York
By Scott E. Williams
The Daily News
Published February 13, 2008
GALVESTON — An Alvin woman facing a child-endangerment charge in the death of her infant son was in custody Tuesday, in New York City.
FBI agents and New York police officers who were part of an FBI task force arrested Caren Kohberger, 27, early Tuesday afternoon, as she was checking out of Bellevue Hospital Center, in New York City.
Brazoria County officials told The Daily News Tuesday that Kohberger surrendered without incident.
Bellevue houses one of the nation’s largest mental-health facilities. Last week, Brazoria County prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Kohberger, whose 3-month-old son Alijah Mullis was found dead near East Beach, in Galveston, on Jan. 29.
Three days after that grisly discovery, Travis “T.J.” Mullis surrendered to police in Philadelphia. Mullis, the boy’s father, told police there that he had stomped on the baby’s head until the skull caved in because the infant would not stop crying, according to police reports.
Mullis, in the Galveston County jail since being extradited a week ago, faces a charge of capital murder.
The charge against Kohberger is endangering a child, which carries a possible jail term of 180 days to two years, as well as a fine of up to $10,000.
Officials allege Kohberger endangered Alijah by sending him off with Mullis, while knowing Mullis was volatile and potentially violent.
Kohberger told police about two weeks ago that she told Mullis to take Alijah with him because Mullis had disappeared for days at a time at different points of their relationship, and she thought the child would serve as an anchor to ensure he returned home soon.
She also said Mullis had been very upset early on Jan. 29, saying he was “having flashbacks” of being sexually abused as a child and that he needed to leave the couple’s Alvin trailer home because he could “do something” to the child.
Mullis left with the boy, about five hours before Alijah’s body was found.
She was in another hospital’s prison unit Tuesday night, and officials said extradition proceedings would return her to Brazoria County, where she would be held under $60,000 bond.
The process of bringing Kohberger back to Texas will begin immediately, Brazoria County District Attorney Jeri Yenne told The (Brazosport) Facts.
“Absent her consent, we will begin the extradition process,” Yenne said. “We will make contact with authorities in the state of New York to determine the circumstances.”
Yenne told The Daily News’ sister publication that she did not know Tuesday when Kohberger would be back in Texas. Kohberger could be back in days, should she waive her right to an extradition hearing. If she does not, officials would have to pursue a contested extradition, a process that often takes weeks.
“She can waive extradition at any time,” Yenne said. “It is not unusual; that is what Mullis did.”
Mullis faces another charge, also stemming from claims of erratic behavior on Jan. 29, just hours before he took Alijah from his home for the last time.
An 8-year-old girl, the daughter of a couple Mullis and Kohberger had lived with, told officials in Brazoria County that Mullis had gotten her out of bed about 2:30 a.m. that morning and had driven her to a nearby school playground. There, the child said, he had told her to take off her pants and then tried to remove them himself when she would not.
Investigators said that Mullis himself called his mother on Jan. 29 and recounted the attack on the girl, saying he “snapped out of it” when she started crying and stopped trying to undress her.
He drove her home without further incident, according to Brazoria County records.
The girl’s claims led Brazoria County officials to charge Mullis with enticing a child, which carries a possible prison term of two to 10 years.
The couple met online.
Reporter Scott E. Williams can be reached at 409-683-5241 or scott.williams(at)galvnews.com.
