Texas Mom Texted Boyfriend He Was ‘Dangerous’ Weeks Before 3-Year-Old’s Death — Now They’re Both Charged with Murder

A Texas mother and her boyfriend are facing capital murder charges after investigators say her 3-year-old son suffered weeks of abuse before he died.

Chelsea Berg, 30, and Christopher Alexander, 30, were formally charged this week after Berg’s son, Dawson Zamora, died on Sunday, Dec. 7, according to CBS Texas.

The case began on Oct. 14, when Alexander brought an unresponsive Dawson to Medical City McKinney. Hospital staff told police the child’s severe injuries did not match Alexander’s claim that he simply heard a thud from another room, the outlet reported.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Dawson had significant brain trauma, bleeding in the brain, bruises in different stages of healing across his body and anal trauma.

Berg told detectives she left home at around 7:20 a.m. that day, leaving Dawson in Alexander’s care while she went to work. She said that after lunch, Alexander messaged her in a panic, saying he was taking Dawson to the hospital, the affidavit states.

When Berg arrived, Alexander allegedly told her he had no explanation for what happened. The affidavit says he then retained an attorney at the hospital and refused to speak with detectives.

Investigators later obtained warrants for Berg’s and Alexander’s cellphones and found numerous text messages discussing bruises and other injuries to Dawson in the month before Oct. 14, according to the affidavit.

In one message, Berg wrote to Alexander: “You’re reckless. He had progressively been getting more and more hurt with you!!! Leave me alone!! I’m not blind. You’re DANGEROUS.”

The affidavit also cites messages Berg sent Alexander on Sept. 18, including:

• “Let’s hope [Dawson] isn’t ever left alone with you, he probably wouldn’t survive”
• “You being in my life is quite literally a threat to [Dawson]”
• “100000% serious. You bruise him, hurt him, and cause damage every single time you are alone with him.”
• “Chris, no. I overlooked the bruising on [Dawson] knowing it could have happened at school but now this???… I cannot believe you. You really don’t care that you can get my kids taken away from me due to YOUR negligence. ABSOLUTELY NOT.”

Berg and Alexander were initially arrested in October on charges of injury to a child, a first-degree felony, according to the affidavit. Alexander also faced an additional charge of tampering with evidence.

After Dawson’s death on Dec. 7, prosecutors upgraded the case to capital murder.

Berg was arrested again on Monday, Dec. 8, on the new charge. Alexander, who had remained in custody since his October arrest, is now also charged with capital murder, CBS Texas reports.

Dawson’s biological father, Dahrian Zamora, confirmed his son’s death in a social media post, writing that the boy “held on to spend one last birthday” with him before he died. Dahrian shared that Dec. 7 is his own birthday and said “[Dawson] refused to go until then.”

“My son didn’t have to die, this could have been prevented. He should have been protected and now he was murdered. My THREE YEAR OLD MURDERED and I’m left carrying this and I don’t know where to go from here. I’m at a loss of words so please keep my daughter Harper and I in your prayers as I come up with a way to navigate all of this,” he continued.

Priscilla Moore, Dawson’s great-aunt, previously wrote in a GoFundMe campaign — created before his death — that her “family’s world [has been turned] upside down.”

“Dawson was tragically abused by his mother’s boyfriend, leaving him with severe, life-threatening injuries. He has already undergone emergency treatment, and doctors expect him to be hospitalized for many months as he begins the long journey of healing—physically, emotionally, and mentally,” she wrote at the time.