Texas Man FaceTimed Girlfriend While He Strangled Their 2-Year-Old Daughter

A Texas man who FaceTimed his girlfriend and her father while he strangled their 2-year-old daughter has been convicted of capital murder, according to reports.

Deontray Flanagan was convicted of the March 2023 murder of his daughter Zevaya Flanagan, according to The Houston Chronicle and local KHOU. Jurors will begin deliberating Flanagan’s sentencing on Monday, Jan. 13, according to KHOU.

Prosecutors accused Flanagan of murdering his daughter during a 45-minute police chase after picking up Zevaya from daycare. Zevaya’s mother Kairsten Watson and her grandfather Curtis Watson watched on FaceTime as Flanagan strangled and beat his daughter and then drove wildly without the 2-year-old girl strapped into a seatbelt, causing her to toss around the vehicle during the prolonged police chase, prosecutors alleged, according to KHOU.

The 2-year-old girl was transported to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead shortly after the chase, according to the outlet. Prosecutors alleged the injuries she suffered while being tossed around the car during the police chase are what caused her death.

Curtis Watson, the girl’s grandfather, told a Houston courtroom that he and his daughter Kairsten tried to reason with Flanagan on FaceTime while he beat the child.

“But then he showed me the lifeless corpse of my granddaughter,” Curtis said, according to KHOU. “I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. To have to go through that type of anguish and pain.”

The grandfather then addressed Flanagan directly in court: “You may have taken her last breath, but you cannot kill her spirit, her memory, or her name,” he said.

The 2-year-old’s mother previously told ABC 13 that she tried to warn authorities that Flanagan was threatening her and her daughter, and that he was dangerous.

“I told [the authorities] over and over and over that something was going to be wrong,” Watson said after her daughter’s 2023 murder, according to ABC 13. “They could have at least tried to find him, but even with his past, no. I said, ‘Are y’all going to wait until something happens to her?'”

Watson said she showed authorities several messages where Flanagan threatened to harm their daughter, ABC 13 reported. “They didn’t believe me,” Watson said, according to the outlet. “They thought I was just making this up, and he was the father.”

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.