Jessica Tata

Victims
4 deaths - 1 felony murder conviction, for Elias Castillo, and 3 further counts dismissed so she could begin serving her sentence; the deaths followed her leaving seven children alone with oil heating on a stove, not an intent to kill
Years active
February 24, 2011
Location
Houston, Harris County, Texas, USA
Method
Fire
Status
Fled to Nigeria after the fire and was returned to the United States in March 2011. Convicted by a Harris County jury on November 13, 2012 of ONE count of felony murder, for the death of sixteen-month-old Elias Castillo, and sentenced on November 19 to eighty years and a ten thousand dollar fine. The three remaining felony murder counts, three counts of abandoning a child and two of reckless injury to a child were DISMISSED so that she could begin serving, with prosecutors retaining the option to refile. She appealed with a court-appointed attorney. She remains in custody and is not eligible for parole until 2041.

Tata was born in 1988 and ran a licensed home day care in west Houston. On February 24, 2011 she left seven children in her care, aged from eighteen months to three years, alone in the house, with oil heating in a pan on the stove, and drove to a shop. The house caught fire.

Four children died: Elias Castillo, eighteen months; Shomari Dickerson, three; Elizabeth Kojah, twenty months; and Kendyll Stradford, twenty months. Three others were injured.

She flew to Nigeria days later and was returned to the United States after being detained there.

She was tried on a charge of felony murder, the death having occurred in the course of another felony, the abandonment of children, convicted, and sentenced on November 19, 2012 to eighty years. She later pleaded guilty in the remaining cases.

This is a case of criminal negligence with four child deaths, not a serial killing, and the entry says so. It is in the archive because the roster carries it. Along with Melissa Marvin's, it is among the entries a classification field would most obviously separate out.