CINDY GEORGE
Houston Chronicle
Reprinted with Permission

The owner of a west Houston child care facility faces felony murder counts in the deaths of four toddlers last month in a fire at her home business while officials said she was away shopping.


Last week, 22-year-old Jessica Tata was arraigned on charges of manslaughter, abandoning a child and reckless injury to a child. She has pleaded not guilty.

The newest charges, filed at 6 p.m. Wednesday, upgrade the four counts of reckless injury to felony murder. Court records say the fire was caused by a pan of oil on a stove burner, which had been left on.

The criminal complaint filed Wednesday calls both "fire" and "a heated stove" deadly weapons.

The filings also allege that on the day of the fire, Tata "did then and there unlawfully, commit and attempt to commit the felony of abandoning a child with the intent to return … under circumstances that exposed [each child] to an unreasonable risk of harm" and "did not voluntarily deliver [each child] to a designated emergency infant care provider" as required under Texas law and "did commit an act clearly dangerous to human life, namely by leaving [each child] without adult supervision in a house with a pan containing oil on top of a heated burner that started a fire that caused the death of [each child]."

Tata's attorney, Mike DeGeurin, could not be reached for comment late Wednesday.

Tata's home-based facility, Jackie's Child Care, went up in flames Feb. 24. The fire claimed the lives of 16-month-old Elias Castillo, 19-month-old Elizabeth Kajoh, 20-month-old Kendyll Stradford and Shomari Leon Dickerson, 3. Three surviving children were injured.

Investigators have recovered surveillance footage and a receipt showing Tata was shopping at a Target less than a mile away from the child care just minutes before or as the fire erupted, a previous criminal complaint showed. She returned to the house at 2810 Crest Park as smoke billowed from the structure.

Tata twice refused to speak to investigators on the day after the fire — once when they tried to interview her at a hospital where she was being treated, and later at a friend's residence where she was staying, federal court documents show. During the second incident, Tata told investigators she had a lawyer and they should refer all their questions to him.

Tata is charged with felony murder, which under the Texas Penal Code is defined as someone being killed while the accused is committing another felony. The filings identify child abandonment as the underlying felony.

After investigators tried to question her about the fire and before criminal charges were filed, Tata fled to Nigeria, where she has relatives. After an intense international manhunt, Interpol officers tracked her to the west African nation and authorities returned her to Houston last week. Since then, Tata has been held without bail in the Harris County jail.

The fire also injured 22-month-old DaJohn Ashley, who was burned on 18 percent on his body, records show. Shomari's sister, Makayla Dickerson, 2, suffered burns to 26 percent of her body. She has been released from the hospital, but faces two years of surgery, relatives said last week. The third survivor was 3-year-old Ryland Lwanga.

Tata's first court appearance on the felony murder charges are set for Friday.

Chronicle reporter Todd Ackerman contributed to this report.