Luis Garza was a 2½-month-old Hispanic infant who died on February 13, 1978, in Friona, Texas. His mother, Diana Lumbrera, brought him to Parmer County Community Hospital reporting convulsions and that he had stopped breathing; Luis was pronounced dead on arrival and the initial cause of death was listed as undetermined. No autopsy was performed, and medical staff at the time did not suspect foul play.

Luis was one of several young children who died while in Lumbrera’s care between 1976 and 1990. Six of her own children and one niece died before age five, each death initially attributed to natural causes such as heart failure or aspiration. Patterns later noted included Lumbrera being the sole witness to the children’s terminal convulsions and the person who brought them to medical attention, often after resuscitation was no longer possible. The discovery of life insurance policies on several children and smothering signs on a later victim prompted investigation.

Lumbrera was arrested in Kansas in May 1990 and later convicted and sentenced to life for the murder of her son José Antonio; subsequent prosecutions in Texas led to additional convictions and life terms for other children’s deaths. Does anyone have information about Luis’s life or the circumstances leading up to February 13, 1978?