Update, 03/09/08 – She’sShe reviews back in Texas and already out of jail! Caren Kohberger waived extradition and turned herself in to Texas authorities on FridayFriday reviews. It took her all of seventeen minutes to get out of jail on a reduced bond. The update is at the bottom of the article below.

New York, NY and Galveston, TX, 2/12/08 – Well, it happened. Caren Kohberger, 27, was arrested Tuesday afternoon right after she was released from the mental ward at Bellevue Hospital on Tuesday afternoon. For those of you who don’t read here regularly, Kohberger, 27, is the mother of three-month-old Alijah James Mullis, who was stomped to death by his father, Travis “TJ” Mullis, on January 29. Here’s the original post and all 1473 comments.

Mullis, 21, was on the run for several days before turning himself in to authorities in PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia reviews on February 1. At that time, Mullis confessed to deliberately and intentionally stomping Alijah’s head with his foot “three or four times, until he felt the skull collapse” on the morning of January 29. He told police that when he left the home at about 4:30 AM that morning, Alijah was alive and well. Mullis further confessed that he drove from the family’s temporary home in Alvin, Texas to Galveston, about 40 miles away, and killed the baby there before leaving Alijah’s diaper-clad body and his carseat on the side of the road. Alijah’s tiny body was found by a married couple at 8:50 AM that morning.

Meanwhile, Caren Kohberger was posting online to social websites like Fubar and making a few calls to hospitals – and possibly also to Texas EquuSearch. A hospital called Galveston police sometime that day to let them know of Caren’s unusual call. Caren had told the hospital that she was in fear for her baby’s life, that her boyfriend had left the house early and was supposed to be back by 9:00 AM for a feeding. He had not arrived with the child and she was concerned that he didn’t have enough supplies for a long day.

Fifteen minutes later, Texas EquuSearch called Galveston police with the same report – and theirs had also come from the trailer where Mullis, Kohberger and Alijah had been staying. Caren Kohberger went to the Galveston police department and tentatively ID’d her baby son’s bludgeoned body on the evening of January 29.

From that evening until after Mullis confessed, speculation ran rampant online as to Kohberger’s guilt or innocence. What did she know about her baby boy’s death? When did she know it? Speculation intensified when Caren lawyered up and refused to answer more questions after January 31. On February 7, some answers became available via a warrant for Caren’s arrest on a charge of child endangerment.

The warrant says that Caren knew that Travis Mullis was a danger to Alijah on the morning of January 29, and she let Mullis take the baby anyway. In fact, the warrant alleges that Mullis told Kohberger he needed to get away, that he was having flashbacks to his own childhood abuse and feared he would hurt Alijah. Kohberger allegedy used Alijah as “insurance” to make sure that Travis would come back.

The warrant couldn’t be served, though, because Caren wasn’t at home in Alvin. In fact, Caren wasn’t even in Texas. One early report, quickly edited, said that Caren had checked herself into a mental hospital. Soon after, it was reported that Caren was “with family” in New York. Now it appears that both were correct – she was in New York, and she was in a mental hospital.

Travis “TJ” Mullis remains jailed in Galveston after waiving extradition from Philadelphia on a charge of capital murder. He also faces a charge of enticing a child in connection with a January incident involving his attempted molestation of an 8-year-old girl. Now Caren Kohberger is in custody in New York, awaiting extradition to Texas on the endangerment charge.

Maybe we’re going to see some justice for baby Alijah after all.

Update, 2/15/08 – And maybe we will get justice for Alijah, but it’ll have to wait a bit. Because Caren Kohberger has requested a hearing on her extradition from New York to Brazoria County, Texas, where she is looking at that child endangerment charge. Authorities say they’re not worried, but that the process sometimes takes a few weeks to resolve. When Kohberger does get back to Texas, she’ll still be held on $60,000 bond. She remains in a prison ward at a psychiatric hospital in New York while she awaits the extradition hearing.

Update 2/18/08 – A grand jury has indicted Travis Mullis today on a charge of capital murder in the death of Alijah James Mullis. Caren Kohberger remains in New York, where she is fighting extradition toBrazoria County, Texas. Travis Mullis remains in the Brazoria County jail on capital murder charges.

UPDATE 3/9/08 – Jimmy Phillips Jr., an attorney for Caren Kohberger, says that turned herself in to Brazoria County on Friday. Which is kind of true and kind of not, since she was actually flown back to Texas from New York accompanied by Brazoria County deputies after waiving extradition. Her son Alijah, killed by his father on January 29, would now be four and a half months old.

Kohberger posted a bond of $20,000 (down from the original $60,000) after 17 minutes and is now free pending grand jury hearings. Anyone wanna take bets on whether she’s posting to her Fubar account?

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