Police have accused an 18-year-old Austin woman of pouring boiling water over her boyfriend while he slept next to their child, resulting in serious burns on both of their bodies.
A neighbor in the Central East Austin neighborhood called police Tuesday morning when she heard someone banging on her door and asking for help. When she opened the door she found the man with serious burns.
Police arrived at the residence a short time later as medics were taking him to a hospital. The woman who called told the officers that she believed he was with a woman next door later identified as Taleisia Winston. As police walked up to Winston's residence, they saw a large black pot lying in the driveway with clothes in it.
After police knocked on the door Winston answered as a child was crying inside the home. When asked why the child was crying, Winston said, "I'm not going to lie, I burned him."
Initially she told police that she found out her boyfriend was cheating on her. She said she was in the kitchen boiling water for oatmeal when the boyfriend came in. She said she confronted him about it before he punched her in the face. That's when she said she threw the pot of boiling water on him.
Later, while she was being transported to the child protective center to speak with detectives, she asked the officer if she could tell the truth. That's when she said that she was mad at him for cheating and that while he was lying on the bed with their baby, she boiled the water and poured it on him.
The man had over 16 percent of his body covered with second and third degree burns. He was taken to the burn care unit in San Antonio. The baby that was also injured in the incident had second degree burns on 6 percent of his body.
As of Thursday, Winston is still in the Travis County Jail with a bail set at $45,000.
