An Indiana man recently pleaded guilty to causing the death of his infant daughter. Jacob Vera left his two young children alone in a hotel room for hours while their mother was at work. On November 6, 2025, Vera pleaded guilty to neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, WTHR reported. The charges relate to the death of his 3-month-old daughter, Isabella Vera, in March 2023.
According to the plea deal, prosecutors dropped a neglect resulting in death charge in exchange for Vera pleading guilty to neglect resulting in serious bodily injury, the outlet reported. The deal dictates that his sentence be capped at nine years, but a judge will still determine his exact sentence.
Vera was first arrested and charged in late March 2023, after Isabella was found dead by her mother, Jessica Brown.
According to charging documents reported by Fox 59 at the time, police responded to a call at Bestway Inn in Muncie around 8:35 p.m. on March 25. Brown told them she found Isabella and her 16-month-old sibling unattended in their room. The toddler was crying “uncontrollably” and the baby was unresponsive in her swing. She was swaddled in a blanket.
Brown said the little ones were fine when she left them with Vera around 2 p.m. so she could go to work. When she returned, she had to get help from someone else to call police because Vera had taken their only phone, WTHR reported.
First responders said Isabella was showing signs of rigor mortis when found by her mother. That meant she had died at least two hours before. An autopsy found that she died of asphyxiation.
A witness told police that Vera had come to his room around 5:30 p.m., offering $130 in exchange for a ride to Chicago. The man refused. A day after Isabella was found dead, Muncie detectives received a tip that Vera had called a friend for a ride to Illinois, WTHR reported at the time. That friend gave Vera a ride in exchange for gas money. Detectives were able to access the Facebook messages where he asked for the ride.
On March 28, Vera spoke to a detective on the phone. He was in Peoria, Illinois, and admitted to leaving the children alone.
“If I’m guilty of anything, it’s the leaving,” he said in court documents, according to WTHR. He told police that he left to “avoid any drama” with Brown.
