Conley had threatened his former partner Valerie Jackson earlier too.
By Raif Karerat
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WASHINGTON, DC: David Conley, the Texas man accused of killing eight people, including his son and an ex-girlfriend, during the weekend in a Houston-area home was charged on Monday with three counts of capital murder, a crime punishable by the death penalty.
Valerie Jackson, 40, her husband, Dwayne Jackson, 50, and six children — Nathaniel, 13; Honesty, 11; Dwayne, Jr., 10; Caleb, 9; Trinity, 7; Jonah, 6 — were found shot to death in three bedrooms of their Harris County home Saturday night, Harris County Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Tim Cannon said. Some had been handcuffed, and some were shot multiple times, Cannon stated, according to NBC News.
Nathaniel was believed to be Conley’s son from the relationship with Valerie Jackson.
Cannon said that Conley was Valerie Jackson’s former domestic partner and that the killings were “related to a dispute” between the two.
Police were called to the Harris County home after Earl Yanske, the brother of Conley’s ex, Valerie Jackson, told them about a harrowing phone conversation he’d just had with Conley, which he detailed for the Houston Chronicle:
Around 11 p.m., Yanske’s cell phone rang. It was Conley.
“I need to ask you a question,” Yanske said. “Did you kill my sister?”
Conley’s voice was flat.
“He said, ‘Yes I did.’ It was like me asking if he went to the grocery store and he said, ‘Yeah.’ There was totally no emotion in his voice.”
“While awaiting response for the [unit], the body of an unidentified child was observed through a window at the residence,” said Cannon, according to the Huffington Post. “Deputies on scene forced entry into the home and were immediately met with gunfire. The deputies withdrew from the home … and awaited the arrival of the unit.”
Conley has been arrested at least twice since 2000 for allegedly attacking and threatening Valerie Jackson. In 2013, he was sentenced to nine months in prison for putting a knife to her throat. In another case, he was accused of punching her in the face and wrapping an electrical cord around the neck of one of her children, reported the New York Daily News.