Press Release: Woman Incarcerated in Hidalgo County Jail Dies of Sepsis – Federal Lawsuit Filed

Woman Incarcerated in Hidalgo County Jail Dies of Sepsis – Federal Lawsuit Filed

For Immediate Release

McAllen, Texas – April 17, 2025

Melissa De La Cruz was arrested and ultimately incarcerated in the Hidalgo County jail. During her incarceration, she began to experience significant pain, nausea, and vomiting. This occurred over several days. One or more jail employees mentioned that Melissa should stop eating hot Cheetos, Takis, and pickles. Melissa was found at one point on her cell floor, yelling due to her extreme pain.

During one phone call with a family member, Melissa said that she had been having strong chest pains, and that her legs were hurting. She said that she told jailers, who in turn had contacted the medical department, but no one would answer at the jail’s medical department. Melissa said during another phone call with a family member that she had not been “able to keep nothing down,” and that she was “throwing everything up.” During another call, Melissa said that she was sick the entire night before, throwing herself onto the floor, and describing her feelings in part as being in “ugly pain.”

On April 13, 2023, employees at the Hidalgo County jail finally decided to have Melissa transported to a local hospital. It appears that they chose not to use an ambulance but instead just transported her in a county vehicle. By that point, Melissa’s blood pressure was only 90/60, and her pulse was 110. This was likely due to serious sepsis raging in her body, untreated for several painful days.

Constitutional rights lawyer Dean Malone represents family members and filed a federal lawsuit in McAllen against Hidalgo County. Mr. Malone said, “Sepsis is well-known to be deadly. In fact, all competent medical providers are trained to look for signs of sepsis. It appears, based upon evidence we have reviewed so far, that the Hidalgo County jail may not have had any policies for sepsis recognition and/or treatment. Unfortunately, our law firm has seen a number of cases of serious sepsis illness and death in jails across Texas. Melissa should have been taken to a local emergency room much earlier.”

Written By: Dean Malone

Dean Malone

Dean Malone is the founder of Law Offices of Dean Malone, P.C., a jail neglect civil rights law firm. Mr. Malone earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Texas at Dallas, graduating summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA, and from Baylor University School of Law with a general civil litigation concentration. Mr. Malone served in several staff positions for the Baylor Law Review, including executive editor. Mr. Malone is an experienced trial lawyer, trying a number of cases to jury verdict and also handling arbitrations through final hearing. He heads the jail neglect section of his law firm, in which lawyers litigate cases involving serious injury and death resulting from jail neglect and abuse. Lawyers frequently refer cases to Mr. Malone due to his focus on this very complicated civil rights practice area.