The attorneys representing the mother of a missing infant said police should consider her a witness and a victim -- not a suspect.
Tamaira Creagh, 19, told police Saturday that her 9-month-old daughter, Daisja Weaver, had died in the care of her father, who later threw the baby's body into Lake Lewisville.
She had originally told police that a man who tried to sexually assault her had kidnapped the child.
Police arrested the baby's father, Alandus Weaver, 20, late Saturday night on suspicion of tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony.
Police later arrested Creagh on suspicion of tampering with physical evidence.
But her attorneys, Roderick C. White and Roberta Walker, said in statement that police have "erroneously" made her a suspect.
Creagh's attorneys said she is a victim of long-term domestic abuse who was forced to help cover up the death of her child.
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Creagh said she did not call the police because Weaver is "violent toward her when it comes to anything to do with" Daisja, according to Creagh's arrest affidavit.
White and Walker said Creagh went along with Weaver's attempt at a cover-up because of "actual and threatened physical abuse."
"If domestic violence and abuse is devastating to older, more sophisticated and more experienced suburban women, just imagine its effects upon this young, poor, inexperienced teenage mother," White and Walker said in the statement.
Domestic violence affects how the victims think and how they handle a crisis, the attorneys said.
"Her initial participation in Alandus Weaver's cover-up story was simply a byproduct of the grief, shock and fear associated with domestic violence and abuse," White and Walker said.
Despite her arrest, their client is still "willing and anxious" to cooperate with police in their investigation, the attorneys said.
Creagh was being held Tuesday on a $25,000 bond.
