Brazos County jury finds stepmother guilty on charges connected to girl’s death
BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – Thursday evening, a Brazos County jury took less than an hour to find a woman guilty of physically abusing her 6-year-old stepdaughters, resulting in a child’s death.
Jessica Bundren, 40, was accused in 2020 of physically abusing both girls for not eating fast enough and bed-wetting. Brianna Rose Battelle died as a result of her injuries, but her twin sister survived the injuries.
A Brazos County grand jury indicted Bundren and the girls’ father, Justin Hopper, 29, on two counts of Injury to a Child with intent to cause bodily injuries in December 2020.
The prosecution rested its case Wednesday, saying Bundren’s actions resulted in the death of her stepdaughter, Arianna. Bundren says the child was breathing when she last checked on her, but investigators said the injuries told a different story.
Investigators found Bundren had disciplined the child with a belt and wooden paddle. Bundren’s defense argued it wasn’t her intent to cause severe harm to the child, they blamed the girls’ father. A medical expert testified that evidence indicated prolonged torture. They said the presence of male DNA on her body also made it medically challenging to determine the source of the trauma.
“Arianna was beaten to death. She was tortured. She may have been sexually assaulted as part of that process. Her death was slow and painful and in a way looking at it scientifically you don’t know and you can’t put blame or fault as to who may have inflicted those injuries or the majority of the the injuries that ultimately took Arianna’s life. It is not the job of the forensic pathologist to determine who did what it’s our job to determine what happened,” a medical expert said in court.
Sentencing for Bundren will begin Friday morning. The father of the twins is scheduled to have his day in court later in November.
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