A DEAF couple have been charged in the beating death of their five-month-old daughter who was allegedly killed after an argument about who would care for the crying infant.

Hector Rene Cupich-Quinones, 35, and Maria Guadalupe Zuniga, 37, of Richardson, Texas, have been arrested and charged in the death of their baby. Both parents are deaf and mute, America's ABC News reports.

Richardson Police Sgt. Kevin Perlich told ABCNews.com: "They could sense when the child was upset and crying."

Cupich-Quinones has been charged with capital murder and Zuniga has been charged with injury to a child.

Richardson police responded to a report of an unresponsive child around 5:30am (local time) on Sunday. When they arrived, the father had the child in his arms and the baby was "pale, not breathing, and had bruises on her arms," according to a police search warrant.

The officer performed CPR until paramedics arrived and took the child to a hospital. The hospital reported that the child had suffered "massive trauma to back of the head, bruising to the child's back, chest, and both arms".

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