BELIEVE IT OR NOT, POLICE SAY A MOTHER REPORTED A STRANGER HAD BROKEN IN AND HURT HER SON TO CONCEAL LEAVING HIM UNATTENDED FOR HOURS… AND SHE HAS NOW BEEN ARRESTED ON MULTIPLE CHARGES.
On July 27, 2026, an officer responded to an assault call in Waco, Texas.
The call directed law enforcement to the 1000 block of Calumet Avenue.
Upon arrival, the responding officer found an injured child.
The child had injuries across his back.
He had injuries across his arms.
The officer also documented injuries across the child’s face.
The child has autism.
His exact age was not publicly released.
At the apartment, the officer spoke with the child’s mother, 34-year-old Darnisha Lumpkin.
Lumpkin offered an explanation for her son’s physical trauma.
She told the officer she had left the apartment at approximately 3:10 p.m. to check the mail.
She stated she was gone for about 10 minutes.
Lumpkin claimed that when she returned, the front door was standing open.
She claimed her son had injuries that appeared to have been caused by a belt or charging cable.
Lumpkin told police that an unknown man had entered the apartment while she was away.
She claimed the intruder had taken selfies on her son’s iPad.
She told police the man had broken the iPad.
She also alleged that the man had bitten her son.
Yet the responding officer did not observe any bite marks.
Lumpkin provided that exact account in a verbal statement to police.
She provided the same account in a written statement.
Later, Lumpkin repeated the story to a detective assigned to the Crimes Against Children Unit.
Investigators then turned to physical surveillance recordings from the apartment complex.
They reviewed surveillance footage between 12:30 p.m. and 4:10 p.m. on July 27, 2026.
During that time frame, investigators did not observe anyone leaving through the back of the building.
Investigators also reviewed separate surveillance footage from the mailbox area.
That footage did not show Lumpkin going to the mailbox as she had repeatedly claimed.
On August 6, 2026, investigators obtained consent to examine the broken iPad.
On August 11, 2026, data extracted from the device became available to investigators.
Investigators discovered information on the device related to a doctor’s appointment on July 27, 2026.
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A contact listed on the iPad as the child’s medical transportation showed someone was scheduled to be picked up at 12:30 p.m.
Investigators also recovered deleted messages from the device.
A deleted message sent at 2:32 p.m. stated, “I’m ready 1600 providence.”
Additional deleted messages were sent at 3:22 p.m.
Those messages asked, “Where is my ride????”
According to the affidavit, investigators believed the messages showed that a doctor’s appointment had been omitted from Lumpkin’s original account of what happened that day.
Then the child spoke with authorities.
On August 13, 2026, the child participated in a forensic interview.
He told investigators that his mother had hit him with a belt before.
Child Protective Services records also documented statements from the child.
The child told Child Protective Services that he had been left home alone playing Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.
He told the agency that his mother had hit him with a belt and gotten him in “big, big trouble.”
Child Protective Services took photographs of the child’s injuries.
Investigators said those photographs showed bruising in the same areas initially observed by the responding officer.
Some of the injuries remained visible more than a week later.
Detectives subsequently conducted a follow-up interview with Lumpkin.
During that later interview, Lumpkin changed portions of her account.
She told investigators she initially took out the trash and left the front door unlocked after returning.
Lumpkin said she later went to the mailbox for approximately 10 minutes.
She claimed that was when her son was assaulted and his iPad was broken.
Investigators asked Lumpkin whether either of them had a doctor’s appointment on July 27, 2026.
Lumpkin repeatedly denied having any appointment.
But she eventually admitted she had a scheduled appointment for herself.
Lumpkin also admitted leaving her son alone in the apartment because he was having a tantrum.
When investigators asked whether she had gone out the back of the apartment to retrieve the mail, Lumpkin said she had not.
According to the affidavit, investigators believed Lumpkin deleted the transportation messages in an attempt to conceal that she had left her son unattended for hours rather than approximately 10 minutes.
Authorities said the child’s autism required that he not be left unattended for any amount of time.
Lumpkin was later arrested on charges of injury to a child.
She was also arrested on charges of making a false report to a peace officer.
She was booked into the McLennan County Jail.
She has since bonded out of the McLennan County Jail.
The charges are allegations and have not been proven in court.
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