By 
Story by TIM SULLIVAN
A negligent homicide charge has been dropped against a Port Isabel mother in the death of her almost year-and-a-half-old daughter. 31-year-old Mariana Martinez Baltazar had been arrested in August, nearly four months after the baby was found dead in her home.
It was early the morning of April 18th when police responded to the home from where Baltazar had called requesting medical help for herself. She’d been allegedly badly beaten by a man who lived with her, although she told officers she had fallen. Police returned to the home late that same morning and found the baby dead. It’s not known what took place between the two police visits, and an autopsy was unable to determine how the baby died.
Meanwhile, Baltazar’s acquaintance, Denis De La Cruz, remains charged with assault related to family violence.
