Babysitter who smothered infant with pillow in Fort Worth sentenced to 30 years

Emerson Clarridge, Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Oct 26, 2026

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FORT WORTH, Texas — A woman who smothered an 8-month-old boy with a pillow in an apartment in southwest Fort Worth pleaded guilty on Monday to murder.

Dulce Gomez was babysitting Fabian Arjon when she killed the baby in November 2024, law enforcement authorities have said.

In a plea negotiated by a prosecutor and Gomez’s defense attorneys, the defendant, who was indicted on capital murder of a person under 10 years old, pleaded guilty to the lesser included offense of murder and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

If Gomez had been found guilty at trial on the indictment’s top count, she would have been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the punishment for capital murder proscribed in a Texas statute when the state has waived the death penalty.

Gomez, 59, will become eligible for parole after she serves 15 years.

When she was questioned in the 372nd District Court in Tarrant County by Judge Julie Lugo, Gomez, who is not a United States citizen, said she understood that she could face deportation.

Dulce was booked into the city jail 22 days after Fabian died in the emergency room at Cook Children’s Medical Center on Nov. 4.

The infant’s death was a homicide caused by suffocation, according to a Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office pathologist.

Assistant District Attorney Alec Trono prosecuted the case. Attorneys Gary Smart and Taylor Ferguson were appointed to represent Gomez.

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