Death of 4-year-old boy a homicide, officials rule

Death of 4-year-old boy a homicide, officials rule

His foster mother is charged with capital murder

November 21, 2006

mary ann cavazos

Caller-Times

The Nueces County medical examiner ruled Monday the death of a 4-year-old boy who was fed a mixture of water and seasonings last month was a homicide.

Nueces County Medical Examiner Ray Fernandez said autopsy results showed Andrew Burd had a lethal level of sodium in his system and signs of blunt head trauma that contributed to his death.

Hannah Overton, 29, is charged with capital murder and her 30-year-old husband Larry Overton is charged with injury to a child in connection with the boy's death. They were attempting to adopt him at the time.

According to arrest affidavits, Hannah Overton fed Andrew a mixture of water and Cajun seasonings as punishment on Oct. 2. After he drank the mixture, vomited and drifted in and out of

consciousness, the Overtons waited nearly three hours before taking the boy to a medical clinic, the affidavits said. He later was taken to Christus Spohn Hospital South but died the following day.

Arrest affidavits also

stated one of the Overtons' four biological children

told investigators Hannah Overton watched Andrew

on a security camera in a

bedroom and used food and pepper as a form of punishment.

Last month, a judge lowered Larry Overton's bond to $150,000 from $250,000 but denied a bond reduction request from Hannah Overton's attorney and left her bond at $250,000.

They were both released from the Nueces County Jail on separate bonds last month.

Contact Mary Ann Cavazos at 886-3623 or HYPERLINK mailto:cavazosm@caller.com cavazosm@caller.com