The sudden death of a 7-year-old girl at her home in Dallas last week is under investigation.
Royalty Rose Martinez was found unresponsive by Dallas police and Dallas Fire-Rescue, who were dispatched to her home in the 700 block of Goldwood Drive at around 3:30 p.m. on March 12. The child — who was just a few days away from her eighth birthday — was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.
The Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Royalty had died at 3:17 p.m., but the cause of death is still unclear and is now being investigated by the Dallas Police Department.
Royalty’s father told NBC 5 DFW that she had been sick, with doctors at a children’s hospital diagnosing her with strep throat two days before her death. She was given antibiotics, which is a common course of action against the infection.
Around 1,100 to 1,600 people die from strep each year in the United States, with the infection’s risk for mortality typically peaking within 48 hours. Invasive strep cases surged nationwide last spring, with the bacterial infection spreading throughout a person’s body and potentially causing sepsis, septic shock, necrotizing fasciitis, or streptococcal toxic shock syndrome, as previously covered in The Dallas Express.
While the authorities continue to look into the child’s unexplained death, her family — including her single mother and six siblings — are in mourning. A GoFundMe set up for the family described Royalty Rose as a helpful and outgoing young girl who loved school, sports, puppies, and gardening. So far, the fundraiser has collected $3,810 of the $20,000 goal to help pay for funeral services and support household expenses as the family grieves.
“We don’t understand this. Who will ever understand the loss of a child?” wrote her grandmother, Sandra Ruiz, who organized the fundraiser.
