Jessica Gasser (Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office)
A 27-year-old mother in Texas has been arrested after allegedly subjecting her 3-year-old daughter to multiple unnecessary medical and surgical procedures, a condition also known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy. Jessica Gasser was taken into custody Friday after a month-long investigation into the charges and charged on suspicion of injuring a child, according to the Tarrant County Criminal Court Clerk’s Office.
Gasser has yet to be formally charged by prosecutors. However, in an affidavit submitted for the issuance of a warrant for Gasser’s arrest earlier this month, investigators say they have evidence indicating that Gasser should be charged with the crime of injuring a child – bodily injury.
In a Facebook post, the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office Tuesday asked for the public’s help in gathering evidence against Gasser. Specifically, TCSO asked anyone who had “social media contact” with Gasser to contact the sheriff’s office, saying Gasser had explicitly stated her intent to delete all communications related to the case against her.
“Jessica Gasser is the subject of a medical child abuse case in which she allegedly underwent several unnecessary medical procedures on her 3-year-old child,” the sheriff’s office said in the post. “She recently messaged a friend that she would delete all social media posts regarding her child’s health, including private messages. If you have been in contact with her via social media or text , please contact Detective Michael Weber at 817-884-3749.
TCSO noted that Gasser allegedly abused his young daughter for “an indefinite time” and previously used the screen name “MedicalMamaJess” on various social media accounts.
According to the probable cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime, the investigation into Gasser began in early February, when a liaison with Cook’s Children’s Hospital contacted authorities about suspected medical child abuse after having learned that the victim had seen several doctors in Texas, Ohio, and Louisiana. Several people at various institutions reportedly told investigators that it appeared Gasser was “a doctor shopping to get what she wanted.”
That month, investigators also learned that Gasser had started a GoFundMe page for her daughter where she was soliciting donations to pay for a trip to Cleveland, Ohio, to get her daughter treated for a rare disease the victim didn’t have. never had and never been diagnosed. with, authorities said.
In March, a doctor at McLane Children’s Medical Center filed a report of suspected medical child abuse after Gasser was allegedly caught “venting” her daughter’s feeding bag, which “prevented the formula to enter the victim’s feeding tube”. Gasser was reportedly caught doing this repeatedly after her child failed to show the symptoms she reported the victim was suffering from.
In May, authorities obtained a search warrant for some of Gasser’s social media accounts and detailed some of the allegedly incriminating conversations she had while direct messaging other users.
For example, after being reported to child protective services by numerous medical providers, Gasser wrote in October 2022 to another user: “I have deleted all TikTok posts and I will delete Instagram and I have deleted all posts and worked on FB posts. They can search for messages with a money order.
Investigators noted that the absence of messages about her daughter’s health indicated that “the suspect deleted at least part of her Facebook account” before the warrant was issued.
Investigators also noted that Gasser allegedly searched the Internet in June for “cases of medical child abuse in Tarrant County”, “how to fix Munchausen by proxy” and “lying to a doctor about a unlawful child,” according to the affidavit.
The affidavit further stated that in the few weeks the victim was cared for by someone other than her mother, the child began to “thrive” physically.
Gasser remained in the Tarrant County Jail Tuesday afternoon, records show.
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