Two Florida parents are behind bars without bond today after police say a 21-year-old mother strapped her newborn into a car seat, placed him in a bathtub, and ignored his cries for hours while playing music to drown him out.
Crystal Garcia and the child’s father, 25-year-old Anfernee Watts, now face several charges, including aggravated manslaughter of a child, child neglect, and tampering with evidence.
According to Local 10, the investigation began on August 1, 2025, when Hollywood Police and Fire Rescue arrived at a home on Thomas Street to find a 3-week-old infant unresponsive in a playpen.
Inside the room, detectives found a grim scene. The baby was lying face up with foam in his mouth and cracked, bloody lips. Despite the parents’ claims that the child died in his sleep, investigators immediately noticed the smell of fresh bleach and a bathroom that appeared to have been scrubbed clean. An Amazon Alexa device and a car seat were found nearby.
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The couple’s story fell apart almost immediately. Watts originally told officers he was away at a job interview in Miami during the morning hours. Detectives quickly discovered that not only was there no interview, but the couple shared a single cellphone that never left the house.
While Garcia initially claimed she simply woke up and found the baby “looking like someone who passed,” she eventually gave a much more detailed and disturbing account. According to a probable cause affidavit, Garcia admitted she tightly wrapped the baby in a blanket, used a pacifier to keep him quiet, and strapped him into a car seat before putting him in the tub.
“She then entered the bathroom and placed the car seat with the baby in it, inside of the bathtub,” the affidavit states.
Garcia told police she played lullabies on the Alexa, shut the door, and went to sleep. Even when she heard the infant crying, she told investigators she “willfully ignored his distress.”
Rather than calling 911 when she realized the baby wasn’t breathing, Garcia admitted she spent the time cleaning the room and staging the scene with Watts. Neighbors’ doorbell cameras captured Garcia hauling a large white trash bag and cleaning supplies to the curb 30 minutes before she finally called for help.
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In a later voicemail to the department, Garcia reportedly confessed that she had lied and actually “smothered the baby.”
“Both he and Crystal Garcia admitted to fabricating a story to present to law enforcement,” a detective noted in the report, “in an effort to make it appear as though the baby died in his sleep.”
The Broward County Medical Examiner has since ruled the death a homicide caused by suffocation. Both Garcia and Watts remain in the Broward Main Jail as the legal process moves forward.
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