Ashley Marks Houston Texas mother charged with capital murder after lethaly dosing her six year old son with drugs to collect on $100K life insurance policy money.
A Houston mother is accused of killing her 6-year-old son with a lethal mix of drugs in order to collect his life insurance money according to reports.
Ashley Marks, 25, was arrested Wednesday for the June 2020 overdose death of her son, Jason Sanchez- Marks, and charged with capital murder, KHOU 11 reported.
‘I believe she poisoned her child to cash in on two life insurance policies she took out on her son a month prior to his death,’ Gilbert Sawtelle, a prosecutor at the Harris County District Attorney’s Office said, according to the report.
Marks, a licensed insurance agent in Texas, allegedly fed her son a lethal dose of methamphetamine and multiple over-the-counter drugs, prosecutors said. An autopsy found the boy having consumed toxic amounts of methamphetamine and cocaine and various antihistamines, according to court records.
During the administration of the ‘medicine’ the boy began to experience, ‘frightening hallucinations,’ according to the relative. At one point, the boy ‘believed there were bugs on his clothing’.
Mother told boy’s grandfather to give him more medication
‘The grandfather said he repeatedly contacted the mother over a two-day period notifying her that the 6-year-old child was ill, but neither the mother nor grandfather sought medical attention for the 6-year-old as the child’s condition worsened,’ according to a Child Protective Services report obtained by KHOU11.
The grandfather, Adam Marks, told police that after he told his daughter that her son had hallucinated after taking his medicine, she told him to give him more. He told police he did not comply, according to court records cited by CBSDFW.
The boy was then found by grandfather unresponsive on June 27.
The grandfather called the police, but by the time they arrived, the child was dead.
Mom had taken out two $50K life insurance policies on her son month before his death
Investigators said they discovered that Ashley Marks had taken out two life insurance policies, each worth $50,000, for her son and she was the sole beneficiary, according to court documents. The policies were taken out about a month before the boy’s death. Marks is a licensed insurance agent, police said.
Ashley Marks remains in custody upon being denied bail during her arraignment on Thursday.
In his obituary, Jason was remembered as a ‘smart, caring child who loved to play with toy cars and dress up as a cowboy.’
Family members said he wanted to work at the rodeo or be a firefighter when he grew up.
