TOMBALL – The Houston area mother who admitted to stabbing her 5-year-old daughter to death in 2022 has been found not guilty by reason of insanity, according to court documents.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office says Melissa Towne will be civilly committed for a term the length of what would have been a prison sentence. The office said this term could potentially be the rest of her life.
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What happened?
In Oct. 2022, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said that Towne admitted to stabbing her 5-year-old child in the neck at Spring Creek Park in the Tomball area.
According to court documents, the child started screaming, “I’ve been good,” to her mother while making “a great effort to stay alive.”
But Towne’s told the girl to “stop fighting it” and allegedly placed a plastic bag over her daughter’s head and sat on the child to suffocate her until her body became lifeless.
Towne then reportedly drove to a nearby hospital and asked for a wheelchair because her daughter was hurting. A nurse then found the child wrapped in plastic and mesh bags inside Towne’s vehicle. The child was unresponsive, and the nurse said a cut was found on her neck. Shortly later, the child was pronounced dead.
Court documents showed that, before the deadly incident, Towne had believed that her child was evil and stated that she “didn’t want to deal with her anymore,” even comparing her to the “Chuckie” doll featured in horror films.
We also learned that Child Protective Services had been involved with Towne multiple times and there was an open investigation on her before her daughter’s death.
Towne has three additional children, ranging in age from 2 years old to 18 years old.