Fort Worth dive team finds baby’s body after car crash in Trinity River; mom dies in hospital
A Fort Worth Fire Department dive team found a 1-year-old child’s body in the Trinity River on Sunday, the morning after his mother’s car crashed into the water, authorities said.
First responders rescued the mother from the river on Saturday night, soon after the crash occurred along Beach Street about 5:45 p.m., and she was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
The woman, 38-year-old Melanie Robinson, died in the ICU at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital early Tuesday morning, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office. The medical examiner identified the child as 1-year-old Jonas Allen. Autopsy results are pending.
When officers first spotted the car in the river Saturday night, they jumped in, a Fort Worth Police Department spokesperson said. First responders pulled Melanie Robinson out of the water and began performing lifesaving measures before she was taken to the hospital by ambulance, authorities said.
A 911 caller reported there was a baby in the car, police said. After the woman was pulled out of the river, a Fort Worth Fire Department dive team continued searching the river for the infant or other possible victims, but no one else had been found when the car was pulled out of the water and the search was called off late Saturday night, police said.
The search resumed Sunday morning, and police said that the child’s body was found about 11:50 a.m.
While the search was going on, Melanie’s sister Jasmine Robinson told KTVT-TV that her 1-year-old nephew, Jonas Allen, was in the car with her sister.
Jasmine Robinson told the CBS station that she had spoken to her sister a couple of hours before the crash when Melanie picked up Jonas from their mother’s house. She said doctors had put her sister in a medically induced coma.
“She’s a great person, she loves her kids and she’s fighting for her life right now,” Jasmine told KTVT on Sunday. “I just want her to be OK.”
On a GoFundMe page raising money for funeral expenses and asking for prayers for the family, Jasmine wrote that her nephew would have turned 2 in May. “Instead of planning a 2nd birthday I am here asking for assistance to help lay my brilliant nephew to rest,” Jonas’ aunt said.
On Monday afternoon, the family gathered by the Trinity River and released blue balloons in the sky in Jonas’ memory, according to a social media post.
“I know Jonas was loved and gave us something/someone to love,” Jasmine Robinson said on the GoFundMe page.
Fort Worth police have said that detectives are investigating the cause of the crash.
This story was originally published March 22, 2025 at 6:41 PM.
