Mom allegedly slashed daughter’s throat, fatally suffocated her, put body in laundry bag, drove to ER
10/17/2022 12:57 pm PDT
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (TCD) -- A 37-year-old mother has been charged with capital murder after she allegedly slashed her daughter’s throat and strangled her to death.
According to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, on Sunday, Oct. 16, Melissa Towne allegedly drove to the emergency room in Tomball and asked hospital personnel for a wheelchair because her "daughter’s body was hurting." A nurse reportedly went out to Towne’s Jeep Cherokee and found the little girl wrapped in a mesh bag with a laceration on her neck.
Harris County Sgt. Ben Beall with the office’s homicide unit said in an initial press conference a doctor pronounced the child dead at 12:10 p.m.
Tomball Police responded to the scene, but Towne allegedly told officials she killed her daughter at Spring Creek Park. Deputies went to the park to try to identify a homicide scene while detectives took Towne into custody and questioned her.
The body was reportedly on the floor of the car and had been covered in a blanket.
Beall said the child had suffered a neck wound, which was "consistent with what the mother said."
At her bond hearing, the prosecutor’s office said Towne told investigators she "made a conscious decision" to kill her daughter because she "needed to end the child’s life."
Towne allegedly said she parked her car at Spring Creek Park and took her daughter to a remote area. She reportedly made the little girl kneel, then pulled her hair back and sliced the girl’s throat. The girl, however, "began to scream and fight."
Towne then allegedly put a trash bag over the girl’s head and strangled her for 30 to 45 minutes, sat on her body, and used the girl’s hand to cover her mouth.
The prosecutor’s office said during hearing Towne told detectives she "wanted to end the child’s life because she was evil and didn’t want to deal with her anymore."
Towne is in custody at the Harris County Jail and her bond was set at $15 million.
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