Misael Martinez drove more than 1,000 miles from Chicago to Houston after learning his 2-year-old daughter had been beaten at a Spring home. He spent days at Yanessa Martinez's bedside, praying she would recover.

Doctors told him there was no hope.

Yanessa was brain dead. She later died.

"She was my princess," Martinez told KHOU 11 on Friday, Aug. 14, describing Yanessa as an independent little girl full of life.

Yanessa died after suffering a fractured skull, broken pelvis and lacerated liver while visiting her mother in the Houston area for the summer, according to court documents. She was supposed to return to Chicago the week of Aug. 14. Instead, her father is raising money to bring her body home.

Martinez, who told KHOU he has full custody of Yanessa and her 7-year-old sister, is collecting donations through a GoFundMe campaign launched Aug. 13 to cover the cost of transporting Yanessa's remains from Houston to Chicago for burial.

As we reported Aug. 13, Yanessa's mother, Jazmin Cisneros, 28, and Cisneros's boyfriend, Gerardo Gonzalez, 29, are both charged with injury to a child causing serious bodily injury. They remain in the Harris County Jail.

According to charging documents, Gonzalez admitted striking Yanessa in the head about four times on Aug. 1 and hitting her again on Aug. 6 in the chest, lower back and buttocks area and stepping on her. Investigators said those actions were consistent with her skull fracture, lacerated liver and broken pelvis.

Cisneros told investigators she knew Gonzalez had hit Yanessa days before the toddler became unresponsive but did not seek medical attention or contact law enforcement because she knew Gonzalez would go to jail, according to the documents.

On Aug. 6, after Gonzalez told Cisneros that Yanessa was not breathing, the two left their home on Rendezvous Court and encountered Harris County Precinct 4 deputies at an Exxon station on Cypresswood Drive. Deputies began lifesaving measures before Yanessa was airlifted to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Gonzalez is held on a $1 million bond after a judge declined to lower it. Cisneros is held on a $500,000 bond. During an Aug. 14 hearing before Judge Ana Martinez in the 179th District Court, prosecutors revealed that Cisneros allegedly admitted to a prior unreported incident of child abuse in July, according to Fox 26. The judge denied a defense request to reduce Cisneros's bond.

Cisneros's defense attorney, James Stafford, told the court that Gonzalez allegedly used "cartel connections" to threaten Cisneros and her family, forced her to sell her car and drained her bank account, according to KHOU's bond hearing coverage.

Assistant District Attorney Tiffany Dupree of the Crimes Against Children division told Fox 26 on Aug. 14 that prosecutors would seek justice "to the fullest extent of the law."

If convicted on the current first-degree felony charges, both face five to 99 years in prison. The Harris County Sheriff's Office said investigators are reviewing the case following Yanessa's death, and prosecutors have said a capital murder charge is possible. No upgraded charges have been announced.

Yanessa's 7-year-old sister was also visiting Houston at the time but was not physically injured, Martinez told KHOU. The child has since been placed with family in Chicago.