Parents held as baby son found decapitated

A COUPLE in their 20s have been arrested in Texas after the decapitated body of their one-year-old son and the bodies of their two other children were found in their small apartment.

Brownsville police chief Carlos Garcia said that the children, who were all under five, had apparently been dead since Monday.

He described a bloody and messy scene in the one-bedroom flat.

“They live in very poor conditions. There’s clothes, trash, all sorts of things thrown all over,” he said. “Very poor, very trashy ... in the worst conditions that anyone could live in in the United States.”

An acquaintance of the couple had visited the flat and discovered the gruesome scene. They then waved down a police car.

A man came out of the apartment and told the officer: “‘Something happened here last night (Monday),”’ Chief Garcia said.

He added that they had no weapon or motive and were questioning local residents.

Juan Hernandez, 39, said he and other neighbours had repeatedly called the police about fights and beatings he heard coming from the apartment.

Earlier on Tuesday a man was shot dead at a used car dealership in town. “In 22 years I don’t think we have had four (murders in one day),” Chief Garcia said.