Mother charged with capital murder in stabbing death of 4-year-old girl

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - A mother has been charged with capital murder in the death of her 4-year-old daughter. Laquita Lewis is now in the Harris County Jail  charged with Capital Murder after allegedly stabbing her daughter to death following an argument with the little girl’s father.  The 34-year-old mother is currently on probation for pulling a knife on her 16-year-old son a few months ago.

It was in the Timberwalk Apartments in Northwest Harris County where 4-year-old Fredericka Allen’s short life came to a tragic end allegedly at the hands of her own mother.

Harris County Sheriff's deputies responded to a welfare check at an apartment in the 5600 block of Timber Creek Place Drive in west Harris County Sunday night. Deputies entered the Timber Walk apartment at around 8:40 p.m. and discovered a 4-year-old girl's body.

Harris County Sheriff’s investigators say 34-year-old Laquita Lewis stabbed her 4-year-old daughter in the chest several times Sunday evening, then left the girl alone, bleeding to death on the master bedroom floor.  Lewis drove away, got into a minor car accident and was taken to the hospital.  That’s when prosecutors say on Father’s Day the little girl’s dad received several tragic text messages and phone calls from Lewis who confessed to what she did.

“The father and aunt told the 911 dispatcher the defendant told the father their daughter was no longer alive and was in heaven.  She told him she stabbed her in the chest with a knife,” the prosecutor explained during the probable cause hearing. 

Houston Police officers detained the woman at the hospital. HCSO homicide investigators then took her into custody.

According to the District Attorney’s Office, on Thanksgiving Day Lewis was arrested for threatening to kill her 16-year-old son with a knife and she allegedly pulled a knife on the teen.

The single mother of four was sentenced to 15 months probation and on a risk assessment test she showed “zero” chance of doing anything like that again.  Now seven months later and investigators say that evaluation is clearly wrong.

Some neighbors say they heard a child screaming on Sunday but thought they were hearing kids playing, not a 4-year-old spending her last moments alive.  "She always looked really sweet.  She was really nice.  She would always tell me my dog was cute,” says Sarai Medina about the 4-year-old girl. 

CPS gave custody of Lewis’ three surviving children to their father, her ex-husband Donnell Lewis, following that Thanksgiving Day incident.  Although 4-year-old Fredricka is not his child, the ex-husband also had custody of her, taking care of all four kids over the last few months. In May, CPS returned for Fredericka.

"When the CPS worker came here to pick her stuff up I hadn't even packed anything," said Donnell Lewis' wife Yolanda Lewis. "I had told the lady 'I can't let you take her.' Their reply was there's nothing we can do about it, she's not biologically yours."

"I'm mad as hell," said Donnell Lewis, "because at the end of the day CPS failed her, her parents failed her, and I feel like I failed her because I feel like I was trapped. There was nothing that I could do."

Relatives say Fredericka had only been back with her mother about a month and now the little girl has left her mom’s home for good this time.

"There's not enough words to describe what a horrible-- for the death of this child," said senior Deputy Thomas Gilliland. "We have chaplains out here that are dealing with the family members and we also have chaplains out here for the deputies that arrived on the scene and made the discovery."

Gilliland said if Lewis had not been in the traffic accident, deputies might still be searching for her. The 34-year-old mother has been denied bond.  She could face the death penalty if found guilty. On Tuesday night, there will be a 7pm Vigil for 4-year-old Fredericka Allen at the Timber Walk Apts. 5635 Timber Creek Place