Friday, June 12, 2009
Dan Dent has been Hill County district attorney for 29 years, but it didn’t take him long to categorize last week’s nightmarish incident in which Debra Janelle Jeter reportedly slashed the throats of her two daughters a week after undergoing psychiatric treatment.
“In all that time, it is either one of the worst, or the worst, that I have seen,” Dent said. “I have been thinking about that. It’s right up there at the top.”
Dent has visited the abandoned, rural Hill County ranch house where Jeter, 32, reportedly fatally slashed the throat of her younger daughter, Kelsey, 12, and critically injured 13-year-old Kiersten the day after a custody and visitation hearing in Jeter’s divorce case with her husband, Lee Jeter.
Dent has listened to the 9-1-1 call in which a woman identified as Debra Jeter tells authorities that she just killed her two daughters. Nothing he has seen or heard makes any sense or answers why Jeter might have killed one daughter and tried to kill the other just weeks after she tried to kill herself in front of the girls.
“From what I understand, (Lee Jeter) agreed to the visitations, and I think no one would have thought that she would have harmed those children,” Dent said. “Who contemplates that sort of thing? But then you think, who knows her better at this point in time than her husband? Who knows what people are capable of?”
At the custody hearing June 4, Debra Jeter, who remains jailed in lieu of $1.5 million bail, told Hill County Court-at-Law Judge Lee Harris that she had been living with her parents in Malakoff, Texas, since her hospitalization at the DePaul Center in Waco from May 22 to May 26. Jeter was hospitalized after her suicide attempt in front of the girls at her home on Brazos Street in Hillsboro.
She testified that she was taking 100 milligrams of the antidepressant Zoloft each morning and had been diagnosed with depression but was not bipolar.
Lee Jeter, a Hill County auto-dealership employee, told the judge that he “had no problem” with allowing his estranged wife unsupervised weekend visits with the girls. He added that he would like to have access to her medical records reflecting her time at DePaul. He also asked the judge to order that his wife tell him where the girls were going to be staying on her weekend visits. The judge approved each request, according to a transcript of the hearing.
Lee Jeter’s attorney, Gregg Hill of Hillsboro, declined comment about the hearing or anything relating to the Jeters’ case.
“My client does not want to talk to the media,” Hill said Thursday. “He wants to be left alone.”
Whitney attorney Phil Weaver, who has been appointed to represent Debra Jeter in the criminal case, would not accept a call from the Tribune-Herald, a spokeswoman in his office said Thursday.
Dent said it likely will be a month or two before he presents Debra Jeter’s case to a grand jury.
twitherspoon@wacotrib.com
757-5737
Comments
By val jean james
Sep 2, 2009 4:26 PM | Link to this
I know this womanher father was ?is ther father of my chil whom is in her 30 now > I ws placed in a foster home when i was 9 years and he had sex with me on a nightly basis .Once again the child welfare system fail anotherre child and i will find someone to check in to how how thsese children keeep sl;ipping thru the crcks. I believe two on my children went to a case manager that worked for the systm And ZMy oldest went to her father whom it took me 40 years to face the fact that he is a sex offender. He is still with the woman who helped take my daughter.Whom cries her eyes out daily over how this could have happen to her tywo niece's whom she loved with all her heart she was treaqted like a step child by Janice Kay Moore all her life and Deb was the angel so they thought welll i am very thankfull for the daughter i have she is thye love of my heart. I would like to taklk to the DA and a fgew others of how we children keep being letting go back to parnts that do not need u nsupervised visits at thye least some one outm htee who carese about the children talk to me i'm 40 and just figured our i was rapped molested what ever you want to call it val James
By val
Sep 2, 2009 4:25 PM | Link to this
I know this womanher father was ?is ther father of my chil whom is in her 30 now > I ws placed in a foster home when i was 9 years and he had sex with me on a nightly basis .Once again the child welfare system fail anotherre child and i will find someone to check in to how how thsese children keeep sl;ipping thru the crcks. I believe two on my children went to a case manager that worked for the systm And ZMy oldest went to her father whom it took me 40 years to face the fact that he is a sex offender. He is still with the woman who helped take my daughter.Whom cries her eyes out daily over how this could have happen to her tywo niece's whom she loved with all her heart she was treaqted like a step child by Janice Kay Moore all her life and Deb was the angel so they thought welll i am very thankfull for the daughter i have she is thye love of my heart. I would like to taklk to the DA and a fgew others of how we children keep being letting go back to parnts that do not need u nsupervised visits at thye least some one outm htee who carese about the children talk to me i'm 40 and just figured our i was rapped molested what ever you want to call it val James
By val
Sep 2, 2009 4:24 PM | Link to this
I know this womanher father was ?is ther father of my chil whom is in her 30 now > I ws placed in a foster home when i was 9 years and he had sex with me on a nightly basis .Once again the child welfare system fail anotherre child and i will find someone to check in to how how thsese children keeep sl;ipping thru the crcks. I believe two on my children went to a case manager that worked for the systm And ZMy oldest went to her father whom it took me 40 years to face the fact that he is a sex offender. He is still with the woman who helped take my daughter.Whom cries her eyes out daily over how this could have happen to her tywo niece's whom she loved with all her heart she was treaqted like a step child by Janice Kay Moore all her life and Deb was the angel so they thought welll i am very thankfull for the daughter i have she is thye love of my heart. I would like to taklk to the DA and a fgew others of how we children keep being letting go back to parnts that do not need u nsupervised visits at thye least some one outm htee who carese about the children talk to me i'm 40 and just figured our i was rapped molested what ever you want to call it val James
By Pharmd208
Aug 31, 2009 10:21 PM | Link to this
Very nice site!
By What up
Jun 16, 2009 11:45 PM | Link to this
To Concerned,
Now, lets get real, first of all, the lady was admitted to a mental instituiton. Second of all, she had tried to commit sucide. Can you please explain to me how she thought out the crime? You do know that when you are under the influence of something, your mental state can be diminished. In addition, you do understand that historically, this lady has had issues since she was a kid. I dont believe you have all the details concerning this issue and yes, she will probally claim insanity!!
By Someone With Info
Jun 14, 2009 3:05 AM | Link to this
Sarah, Please, don't be an idiot by wrapping yourself in a flag and carrying a cross. Why all of the hate towards me? If praying is carrying a cross...then I will gladly be labeled as such and if being a good American is wrapping myself in the flag....then I will take that also. I am in the medical profession and not as a nurse and I do agree that in some people SSRI's can be harmful but I believe that the evidence will show that is not the case here. Please do not judge my knowledge too soon. All that we can do now is pray.
By Katie
Jun 14, 2009 1:38 AM | Link to this
I allowed my child to be around her because she is a family friend. She was just one of those.. not so warm people. Really cold. She was real sweet with my child. I never left her alone there with her though. Just that "feeling" I guess a mother has. You know that instinct. I just got back from the funeral this afternoon & as a mother, I just can't seem to grasp any of this. She wasn't the type to change out of being an Athiest. We all knew that. That's not really the point. I'm just saying prayers aren't going to save this monster. Kiersten, Uncle Lee & the rest of the family and friends need the prayers. I hope & pray to God that she thinks about it every second of everyday. Knowing the last time she saw her children she was killing them. (Sorry for the rest of the family reading this) I just feel as a mother you should PROTECT your children. Not kill them. Kids aren't supposed to be murdered at 12, 13...and so on. I don't know if you are just being closed minded about this. Whatever problems that family may have been going through is NO excuse. I pray that Kelsey gets justice out of all of this (as well as family and friends) & not some "Oh, she was mental or that Zoloft trip!" You don't just choose when you want your kids to go or how. I know she is in Heaven watching over Uncle Lee & Kiersten. I know Kiersten didn't only lose a sister, but a mom. But that was Janelles choice. She made that decision.
By Sarah
Jun 13, 2009 10:18 PM | Link to this
Katie--Being an atheist doesn't make her more guilty or less guilty-- or even any crazier than the next person. How do you explain born again Christian's, clergy, bible school teachers, etc... who kill their kids, spouses, others? Even ones who claim God commanded them to committ such an evil act? Your argument is pretty narrow minded. If it was obvious that she was a bad person because she was an atheist, why would you allow your infant child around her? I'm not defending her. But I am familiar with people experiencing psychotic reactions to anti-depressants. It's a mental health issue, not a religious one.
By Katie
Jun 13, 2009 6:20 PM | Link to this
i have NO idea why it posted 4 times. the last one is the one i wanted posted. thanks
By Katie
Jun 13, 2009 6:16 PM | Link to this
feeling sorry for her my mistake
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