On June 5, 2009, Debra Jeter grabbed her girls and took them to an abandoned house.
She attacked them viciously and then admitted, horrifyingly, over the phone to 911, “I just killed my children.” She saw her daughters, Kiersten and Kelsey for the first time in fifteen days.
In addition to being given temporary custody of the daughters and filing a temporary restraining order against Jeter, her husband had been in a mental facility.
But the injunction was lifted after she was freed. It was the first time Jeter had been let to spend time with her daughters alone.
After all, though, one unanswered question remained: What could have driven Debra Jeter to harm her two young daughters with such aggression?
The Jeter family’s challenging home life
The public only knows a few specifics about Debra Jeter’s life.
She was a typical mother before the attack on her girls. She was born in the late 1970s and finally got to know her husband, Lester “Lee” Jeter.
Kiersten and Kelsey, her two daughters from their relationship, were born.
Regretfully, there was trouble in the Jeter home. After the relationship broke down in 2009, Lester filed for divorce.
According to The Sun, Debra Jeter was accused of assaulting her daughter Kiersten in 2004 and spending some time in a mental health facility; however, those accusations were eventually withdrawn.
The Jeters’ relationship suffered between 2004 and 2009, and Debra’s mental state appeared to suffer at the same time.
In May 2009, not long after Lester filed for divorce, Debra made an attempt on her life in front of their daughters.
Afterward, she was checked into a mental health hospital for therapy.
Kiersten and Kelsey were placed under Lester’s temporary guardianship during that period.
Additionally, Lester obtained a temporary protection order against Debra.
But once Debra got out, the judge dismissed the restraining order and the requirement that Debra’s meetings with her daughters be under supervision.
Thus, following fifteen days of being apart from her girls, Debra informed them that she had a surprise planned for them and took them to an abandoned house located in a rural area of Texas.
“I Just Killed My Kids”: The heartbreaking 911 call
On her Facebook profile the previous day, 12-year-old Kelsey wrote, “I get to see my mom tomorrow! Happy!”
However, on June 5, 2009, there would be no joyful reunion.
Jeter initially attacked 13-year-old Kiersten in the toilet of an abandoned ranch house in rural Hill County, Texas, while holding a knife.
Kiersten screamed for her sister to run as her mother struck her.
After dropping Kiersten, Jeter went after Kelsey, caught her in a moment, and then chopped her throat. She passed away quite quickly.
Shortly after 9 p.m., Debra Jeter called 911 three hours after picking them up and said to the dispatcher, “I just killed my children.”
Jeter showed an almost total disregard for Kiersten’s health throughout the call, complaining that her daughter was “in the house walking around” while she was bleeding out and getting angry with the dispatcher, saying things like, “Get an ambulance out here to save the one that didn’t die.” C’mon, get moving!” and “Bitch, give them a call!” Have you given them a call yet?
During the call, Kiersten is audibly heard saying something in the background at one point. Telling her daughter to “hold on,” Jeter speaks to her.
“I was unable to handle her request for salvation, so now…” The nursing student Jeter stated.
“It has been a while. Given how much she’s bled out and, hold on, what baby, she may already be dead”.
“How did you say that? I’m speaking with 911 right now. Please move quickly, she urged”.
Jeter met the cops outside the house in the driveway when they arrived. She had given up and set down the knife.
When the police entered, they discovered Kiersten barely alive and Kelsey dead.
Why did Debra Jeter attack her daughters?
Debra had acknowledged the assault and killing, but the one piece of information the police were lacking was motivation.
When she had finally been permitted to visit her children, what had driven this mom to attempt suicide?
Jeter entered a guilty plea to the charges against her and stated that her recent divorce was the cause of her conduct during her sentence.
It was said that she had been unable to deal with her family’s disintegration. She tried suicide once before, but this time she went considerably further.
Debra agreed to a plea bargain to avoid facing the death penalty.
Rather, she received a life sentence without the possibility of release. That made her 33 years old.
Lester Jeter and Kiersten met Debra in prison almost a year after the attack.
Later on, he remembered that Debra had admitted to him that she was sorry for what she had done, even if she still loathed him.
She told him she was upset about their breakup and the ensuing custody dispute.
Where is Debra now?
Jeter, who was 33 at the time, accepted a plea deal in May 2010 and pled guilty to all of the counts brought against her.
She was spared the death penalty as a result, and her surviving daughter was spared from having to bear witness against her.
Upon elucidating that her conduct stemmed from her incapacity to manage her divorce, she has imposed a life sentence devoid of parole.
She was permitted to see her ex-husband before being sent to a jail in Gatesville, where she will spend the rest of her life.
She apologized to him but also voiced her hatred for him.
In summary
Debra Jeter’s heartbreaking story and Kelsey’s tragic death still profoundly affect people who know the family and the larger community.
The case’s heartbreaking circumstances serve as an unsettling warning of the possible outcomes when mental health issues are ignored.
But Kiersten’s perseverance and survival offer a ray of hope in the face of hardship.
This sad instance emphasizes how crucial it is to deal with mental health concerns early on.