- One officer said the girl’s condition was the worst she had seen in her entire career
- The local sheriff said he is “grateful” the violent offenders were taken into custody
A Louisiana couple has been arrested after a teenage girl was shot, tortured and set on fire but miraculously survived.
Sheriff Tim Soignet said the 15-year-old was found barely “clinging to life” after a car crash in Texas last month.
Baytown law enforcement officials received multiple calls reporting a car driving recklessly along Interstate 10 before crashing on a service road on April 20.
Latonya Harris, 40, and her 41-year-old boyfriend Terrence Washington, who was driving the vehicle, were subsequently taken into custody.
The teen’s upper body was severely burned; Soignet called the injuries “horrific.”
An investigator in Baytown, about 30 minutes east of Houston, described the teen’s condition as the “worst she has seen in her entire career.”
The couple’s dilapidated trailer on the side of a road in Louisiana. The sheriff of the local parish said he is “unable to express how grateful I am that these extremely violent offenders have been taken into custody;
The couple was arrested and charged with multiple violent and serious crimes following a car accident in Texas
The girl’s other injuries included gunshot wounds to the chest and face.
Washington reportedly admitted during an interview with police that he had sexually abused the girl “over many months.”
He also said he shot her during an argument he had with Harris in Thibodaux, Louisiana.
Washington reportedly told police that he had a gun in his hand and the weapon went off, hitting the child in the face.
He also said he was responsible for burning the girl in February and that she was being treated by the couple at home.
Soignet said the couple was with the teen and another minor when they crashed after leaving their home in Louisiana.
The minor child was taken home after the parents’ arrest, while the teen was transported to an area hospital.
Investigators obtained a warrant to search the couple’s home, which they said contained evidence of a shooting, including blood and a “strong odor of infection and decomposing flesh.”
A local news package showed the couple’s dilapidated trailer on the side of a road in Louisiana. Yellow police tape currently surrounds the alleged scene of many heinous crimes.
Harris refused to cooperate with officers after being released from a Texas hospital and taken into custody.
She was charged with attempted first-degree murder, second-degree cruelty to a minor and child endangerment by domestic violence.
She is currently being held on a $1 million bond.
Washington was charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder, second-degree cruelty to a minor, obstruction of justice, sexual assault of a minor, several counts of indecent behavior toward a minor and five counts of second-degree rape.
Currently, Washington remains in the Harris County Detention Center on charges of alleged crimes committed in the state of Texas.
Later he will be handed over to the authorities of the parish of Terrebonne.
The Louisiana sheriff said the investigation is ongoing at this time.
“This is the kind of case where it is not only difficult to deal with the circumstances, but also difficult to imagine the violence and evil that can happen at the hands of one human being,” he said.
“I cannot express how grateful I am that these extremely violent perpetrators have been taken into custody.”
John String, Baytown’s police chief, said it is “both tragic and incomprehensible” when a “child is abused by a family or household member.”
‘When the very people on whom a child should be able to rely for protection and love abuse them. We wish both physical and psychological healing for the victim of this heinous crime,” he added.