The Texas girls, 5 and 7, were allegedly shot dead by their mother hours after police responded to the home
HENDERSON COUNTY, Texas — A north Texas mother accused of fatally shooting her two young daughters planned the killings for at least two weeks, a sheriff told CBS DFW.
Henderson County Sheriff Botie Hillhouse says 29-year-old Sarah Nicole Henderson confessed to shooting the girls, 5 and 7, in a Payne Springs home, but showed no remorse. Friday, bond was set at $2 million on a capital murder charge.
Hillhouse says deputies were summoned around 11:30 Wednesday night to the home after emergency medical services received a call about a possibly suicidal woman. But when deputies arrived, Henderson and her husband reported no problems.
About three hours later, however, Henderson’s husband called 911 to report she had shot her two daughters.
Deputies returned to the scene and found the two young girls dead, the station reports. Their bodies have been taken for examination to Dallas, about 60 miles to the northwest.
Hillhouse told the station Henderson also tried to shoot her husband, but the gun jammed. The husband took the gun from her and called police, Hillhouse said.
The husband is reportedly not the father of the two girls, Kaylee and Kenlie.
Hillhouse didn’t detail why investigators believe Henderson plotted the killings, and a motive hasn’t been released.
The murders have left family, friends and neighbors in shock.
“There’s no reason for this, none at all,” neighbor Bridget Golds told CBS DFW. “How could someone do this to them?”
Jaylyne Palmer, who lives across the street, described the girls as “adorable” and said they would often come over to her home on their bicycles.
She told CBS DFW she would hear Henderson yelling at the girls all the time, very loudly from the porch. But Palmer said she never heard or saw any other alarming behavior.
“Not easy to think about. (They’re) innocent little girls. It breaks our hearts,” said Palmer.
Officials with Texas Child Protective Services confirmed to the station that there had been contact with the family in 2011, but said the details were confidential.
Henderson remains behind bars and on suicide watch.
