Pat Dollard

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EDINBURG, Texas (AP) — A grand jury indicted a nearly half-ton, bedridden woman Thursday in the death of her 2-year-old nephew.

Mayra Lizbeth Rosales, 27, was indicted on one count of first-degree murder and on one count of injury to a child in the death of Eliseo Gonzalez Jr. Rosales previously had been charged with capital murder.

The grand jury indicted her after a full autopsy confirmed investigators’ suspicions that the child died March 18 because he had been struck. Investigators believe the toddler was struck at least twice, crushing his head.

Authorities recommended Rosales’ bond be set at $150,000.

The boy’s mother Jaime Rosales, was charged earlier with injury to a child because she allegedly left her son alone with his aunt. Her bond has been set at $100.000.

Prosecutors have to work out how Mayra Rosales will be detained and prosecuted because she weighs nearly 1,000 pounds. She is unable to fit through a door to leave her home. As of Thursday evening, she was not in custody.

Both Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra and Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino promised that Rosales would somehow face the charges but they had little details about how that would happen. Trevino said holding her at the Hidalgo County Jail for her trial would be impossible because she needs extensive medical care.

“She would die,” said Trevino in Thursday’s online edition of The Monitor in McAllen.

Nevertheless, she will soon face arrest, he said.