A mother-of-three accused of trying to drown her children and herself allegedly did it because her husband wouldn’t let her leave their $3 million estate.
Jessica Quintana, 39, allegedly admitted her plan to ‘roll’ the kids, aged 6, 11 and 15, into a pond after loading them up on tequila and Nyquil.
She allegedly told the children they had to ‘go’ because she couldn’t live with her husband Domingo Quintana, 61, anymore and if she only took her own life there would be no one to protect them from him.
The plan was foiled by Domingo, who dragged them out of the water before police arrived at the Dayton, Texas, property on September 29.
Interviews with both Quintana and her 15-year-old daughter recounted in affidavits allegedly found the poisoning was a backup plan to flee the isolated estate.
Quintana and her husband had been having problems for some time and the last straw came when he took her phone on September 28 and refused to return it, she said.
Plan A was to pack up the kids and leave home, but she discovered her husband had taken her car keys and she was trapped at the 300-acre property.
Instead, she ‘carried out Plan B’ and allegedly loaded the children up on the syrup and booze and led them into the water the next day.
Jessica Quintana, pictured here, is accused of poisoning her kids with Nyquil and tequila before leading them into a pond on their family’s rural estate in Liberty County, Texas
Law enforcement swarmed the family’s $3 million mansion late last month after her husband Domingo called police over an attempted drowning
Quintana began drinking tequila and allegedly told the kids to drink with her until they ‘felt fuzzy’, then gave them Nyquil so they would pass out by the pond.
She told the kids ‘she would roll them into the water once they were knocked out’ and according to her six-year-old son, assured them they wouldn’t feel anything.
Quintana and children were all rescued and spent weeks in hospital, and she was arrested on Friday morning as she was released from medical care.
Liberty County Sheriff’s Office Captain David Meyers said Quintana was unconscious and unresponsive when she was pulled from the water.
‘They pretty much went into the water together, and based on the evidence we have, the intent was that they would drown and not wake up,’ he said.
Liberty County District Attorney Jennifer Bergman refused to elaborate on what was going on between Quintana and her husband.
Domingo Quintana, seen here, was charged in an unrelated animal abuse case and made his own appearance in court last week
A dive team also searched the pond for evidence they believe may be at the bottom
‘As of today, the father of the children will not be charged with the current murder suicide plot,’ she said.
Domingo was charged in an unrelated animal abuse case after an emaciated cat was found on the property, and made his own appearance in court last week.
He was ordered to remove his three dogs from his care, but without harming them or having the pets put down, and not own any non-livestock animals.
The three children were released into the custody of Child Protective Services who then handed them over to family members.
Despite their mother allegedly trying to kill them, reports showed the children were desperate to see their mother – but not their father.
Quintana was eventually allowed brief supervised visitation with her children, but her husband was blocked entirely.
Quintana and the three children were all rescued from the water but had to remain in hospital for several weeks, she was arrested on her release on Friday
Court records showed that Domingo Quintana was named in multiple civil lawsuits, including complaints alleging he owes thousands of dollars in property taxes.
He has also been accused of failing to pay contractors hundreds of thousands of dollars in labor costs for their work on Rancho Monte Carmelo.
The Quintana family has lived at Rancho Monte Carmelo since 2017 but the children had not been enrolled in school ‘for a little bit’, police said.
There was at least one previous 911 call for an alleged assault at the residence, though it is unclear if that case involved the Quintana family.
