Debra Jeter is a Hillsboro, Texas woman serving life without the possibility of parole for murdering her 12-year-old daughter Kelsey and attempting to murder her 13-year-old daughter Kiersten. She cut both girls’ throats inside an abandoned farmhouse during a custody visit on June 5, 2009, then called 911 and told the dispatcher, “I just killed my children.” She pleaded guilty to capital murder and attempted capital murder on May 25, 2010.1NBC Dallas-Fort Worth. Life for Hillsboro Woman for Killing Her Daughter
The Custody Visit
Jeter, then 33, was estranged from her husband, Lee Jeter, who had filed for divorce. According to Lee, Debra was distraught over the pending divorce and had told him that “if she couldn’t have me and the kids, then nobody else could.” He had sought a protective order, but at the hearing a judge granted Debra visitation with the two girls. Lee said he did not object because “no one on earth would ever think that the mother would do this to her children.”2CNN Transcripts. Nancy Grace Transcript
June 5, 2009 was her first unsupervised visit with the girls. She told them she was taking them somewhere for a “surprise,” and drove instead to an abandoned farmhouse on Highway 77, north of Hillsboro. According to Hill County District Attorney Dan V. Dent, she entered the property without permission, a fact that helped support the capital charge.3TCADP. Death Penalty News – Texas
What Happened Inside the Farmhouse
Jeter attacked both daughters with a knife. Kelsey, 12, was killed. Kiersten, 13, survived a slash to her throat that cut her airway and an artery, and required surgery.3TCADP. Death Penalty News – Texas Lee Jeter later said Kiersten had “threw her body in front of her mom and her sister” trying to shield Kelsey.2CNN Transcripts. Nancy Grace Transcript
The 911 Call
Jeter called 911 herself. She opened the call by telling the dispatcher, “I just killed my children,” and gave the location as an abandoned house off Highway 77. She confirmed she had used a knife but said it was no longer in her hand. Reporters who later heard the recording described her tone as calm.4CBS News. Debra Janelle Jeter 911 Call Released
She told the dispatcher one daughter was “dead, dead” and the other “wants to be saved,” urging them to hurry because Kiersten had “bled out a lot” and “might die.” She also refused, repeatedly, to give her own name. When officers reached the farmhouse they found the knife on top of Jeter’s car and Jeter on the ground. She was arrested without incident.4CBS News. Debra Janelle Jeter 911 Call Released
Guilty Plea and Life Sentence
Jeter was found competent to stand trial and did not raise an insanity defense. On May 25, 2010, she pleaded guilty to one count of capital murder and one count of attempted capital murder. The plea agreement removed the death penalty, and she was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.5ABC 7 Amarillo. Life for Hillsboro Woman in Death of Daughter Lee Jeter said Debra told him the plea “was the last decent thing she could do for her daughter,” sparing Kiersten from testifying at trial. He also said Debra had confessed to him that she had intended to kill both daughters and then kill him in his sleep.2CNN Transcripts. Nancy Grace Transcript
Kiersten’s Survival and Where Debra Jeter Is Now
Kiersten survived. By the time of her mother’s sentencing, Lee Jeter said she had finished her school year and had told him she “wasn’t going to let this ruin her life.” He called her his “inspiration to keep going.”2CNN Transcripts. Nancy Grace Transcript Debra Janelle Jeter remains incarcerated in the Texas prison system under her life-without-parole sentence.