February 2, 2015
(McKinney, Texas) – Melinda Muniz, of Plano, was convicted of the capital murder of Grace Lillian Ford, age 2 and received an automatic sentence of life without the possibility of parole, announced Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis. January 9, 2014 Muniz called her fiancé, who then called 911 when he overheard sounds as if Muniz was being attacked. Plano police were dispatched to the apartment that Muniz shared with her fiancé and his daughter Grace. When the police arrived they found Muniz lying on the floor of her apartment with duct tape over her mouth and her pants pulled down around her ankles. Grace Ford was found in her bed, unresponsive, with duct tape over her mouth and nude from the waist down.
In an interview with police that night, Muniz claimed to have been attacked and sexually assaulted by an intruder as she and Grace entered their apartment. Muniz claimed that the intruder put duct tape over her and Grace’s mouths. Due to the suffocation, Grace never regained consciousness and died three days later.
During the course of the investigation, Plano Police discovered that Muniz had been at the Dollar Tree store in Plano shortly before the 911 call. Muniz was seen on video at Dollar Tree pushing Grace in the shopping cart while purchasing duct tape, zip ties, scissors and cotton swabs. In a subsequent interview with Plano police detectives, Muniz claimed she was suffering from amnesia and did not remember the events before finally admitting she had lied about being attacked by an intruder. Muniz then claimed that Grace had put the duct tape over her own mouth and when Muniz found her unresponsive she “freaked out” and staged a crime scene.
The jury returned a guilty verdict for capital murder resulting in an automatic sentence of life without the possibility of parole. Assistant District Attorneys Zeke Fortenberry, Lisa King and Ashley Rittenmeyer represented the State of Texas. Plano Detective Robyn Busby was the lead investigator on the case. Judge Mark Rusch presided over the case.
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