HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Alexus Williams is accused of being the mastermind behind the planned “execution-style” killing of a family at their apartment in southwest Houston in June 2021, officials say.
The 29-year-old is charged with two counts of capital murder, one count of capital murder of a victim under 10 years old, and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. They are the same charges that the alleged executor, 29-year-old Xavier Davis, Williams’ childhood friend, faces.
Although Williams was not physically present at the attack, investigators say she was involved over Facetime and phone calls during the incident.
Sean Teare, the chief of Harris County District Attorney’s Office Trial Bureau Division, said homicide detectives were able to obtain phone records that revealed Williams’ role in the attack.
“In some ways, this makes it even more disturbing. To think she didn’t want to be there in person, but she certainly wanted to see the actual commission of the offense and the aftermath,” said Teare.
In court a court hearing on Monday morning, prosecutors did not determine if the death penalty is the route they want to take for Williams.
On Thursday, a judge denied Williams’ bond and restricted contact with the victims’ family after it was revealed she attended the family’s funeral.
“Apparently, it went down that she attended the funeral of the family members she tried to kill,” the judge said during Thursday’s hearing.
According to police and a victim’s family member, Williams was in a relationship with the mother, Donyavia Lagway, but broke up a couple of weeks before the rampage. Williams set the attack in motion by telling Davis that there was cash in the apartment, investigators said.
Lagway, Gregory Carhee, and their 6-year-old daughter, Harmony Carhee, were shot and killed on June 30, 2021. The couple’s 10-year-old daughter was also shot but survived after playing dead, police said.
The couple’s 1-year-old son was not injured. An 8-year-old son was away from the apartment with his uncle at the time of the shooting.
The 10-year-old told police the killer knocked on the apartment door before the rampage.
Police later revealed that Davis reportedly carjacked a man before driving to the family’s apartment an hour before the murders.
Davis was arrested in July 2021. His bond was denied.
