A family of six children and two parents were allegedly fatally shot in the head at a Houston home by a man with a violent criminal history who had previously been in a contentious relationship with the mother, authorities said on Sunday.
David Conley, 48, was charged with capital murder in the deaths. Most of the victims had been handcuffed and some had been shot multiple times, police Sergeant Craig Clopton said.
The dead were identified as parents Dewayne Jackson, 50; his wife Valerie Jackson, 40; and children Nathaniel, 13; Dewayne, 10; Honesty, 11; Caleb, 9; Trinity, 7; and Jonah, 6. Nathaniel was believed to be Conley’s son from the relationship with Valerie Jackson. Police had earlier said that there were three adults and five children killed.
“We do not — cannot — fully comprehend the motivation of an individual that would take the lives of so many innocent people. Especially the lives of the young ones,” Chief Deputy Tim Cannon said. “The killer’s motives appear to be related to a dispute with Valerie, who was his former domestic partner.”
Conley, who is being held in jail, did not appear at a court hearing on Sunday where an arrest affidavit was read. The judge denied him bond. Conley does not yet have an attorney.
Authorities were first alerted about a problem at the home when a relative of Valerie Jackson’s contacted the sheriff’s office to conduct a welfare check there.
A standoff ensued for several hours between Conley and authorities until Conley surrendered, Clopton said.
Investigators declined to say when on Saturday the victims were shot, or if any victims were still alive when deputies first tried to enter the residence.
Conley told authorities that he discovered on Saturday morning that the locks had been changed at the home after he had moved out. He entered the home through an unlocked window, according to the affidavit.
Court records show Conley’s criminal history dates back to at least 1988, with the most recent incident last month, when he was charged with assault. In court documents, authorities said the suspect had been arrested for allegedly assaulting Valerie Jackson. The attack happened at the home where the bodies were found and documents said he had a relationship with her.
Authorities declined to comment on assault charges Conley had faced in the past in connection with his relationship with Valerie Jackson or what prompted relatives to worry and request that deputies be sent to the home on Saturday.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion