Channel Yonko: Trial date set for mother accused of throwing baby off Galveston balcony

GALVESTON, Texas - Channel Yonko appeared in court on Monday as a trial date has been set after she was accused of throwing her baby off a balcony in Galveston back in October 2024.

The trial date was scheduled for Dec. 1, 2025 and is expected to last two weeks, the District Attorney's Office said.

Channel Yonko charged with capital murder

What we know:

According to court records, Yonko's attorney filed a motion for competent examination to determine if Yonko is fit to stand trial. It was also ordered Yonko undergo a psych evaluation.

Galveston County Defense Attorney Kayla Allen stated the evaluation process is still ongoing, so no conclusions have been reached yet.

RELATED: Mother accused of intentionally dropping infant from Galveston hotel balcony appears in court

The DA's Office said a committee will determine is they will seek the death penalty for Yonko. They will consider Yonko's history, behavior, and mitigating factors.

What happened to 17-month-old Hannah Yonko?

The backstory:

Galveston police received reports of an abandoned child around 10 a.m. on 59th Street near Seawall Boulevard on Oct. 23 outside the Beachfront Palm’s Hotel.

Hannah was found by authorities lying on the ground with obvious injuries covered in blood. She was transported to the trauma center at UTMB Galveston, where she later died.

According to the affidavit by a Galveston police detective, police learned that the girl had three puncture wounds.

Police put out a description of a woman who left the location where the toddler was found, and an officer located a crying woman who matched the description a short time later less than a mile away, according to the document.

MORE ON THE STORY: Channel Yonko accused of dropping 17-month-old from Galveston hotel balcony intentionally: court documents

The woman, now known as Channel Yonko, reportedly asked the officer for help and started making comments about her daughter and that she might have been sick.

Yonko was taken to the police department for questioning. According to the affidavit, she said that she wanted to talk to a lawyer and, initially, wouldn’t give police her name.

According to court records, Channel’s sister told police she had been staying at the hotel with Channel and Channel’s daughter, Hannah. The sister told officials Channel had sole care and custody of Hannah at the time she was in Galveston. 

On Wednesday, the sister and Channel were gathering their things to begin checking out when the sister left to try and speak with her fiancé at The Victorian in the 6300 block of Seawall Boulevard. The sister claims Channel showed up to The Victorian, pushing a stroller. She initially said Hannah was inside but told officials she didn't actually see the child and had no reason to believe she wasn't in the stroller.

The sister told officials she let Channel know she was going back to their hotel to get their luggage since she couldn't find her fiancé, but Channel told her repeatedly, "don't go back to the hotel."

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Court records say detectives found a trash bag in the parking garage under the hotel nearby where the 17-month-old was found and inside was a room key to the room the sisters and toddler were staying in, a "skinning" knife, plastic sand toys, unused diapers, and unopened kids' snacks.

Video footage was obtained by investigators showing Channel in the lobby of the Beach Front Palms Hotel pushing Hannah inside a stroller. The child's foot can be seen moving inside the stroller. Shortly after, video from the second story shows baby Hannah falling from what appeared to be the third floor, landing on grass, and rolling onto the concrete sidewalk. Hannah's empty stroller was found at The Victorian.

Wednesday morning is when a man found the 17-month-old wrapped in a blanket on the side of the road near Kroger on 5710 Seawall Boulevard. Documents state Hannah's clothes she was wearing and the blanket she was wrapped in did not have puncture wounds as were found on her back.

The affidavit states Yonko intentionally and knowingly caused the death of an individual younger than 10 years of age by dropping her from a hotel balcony.