Ericka Nicole McDonald (Houston County District Attorney’s Office)
A Texas woman who donned a mask and black clothes, broke into her mother’s apartment through a window and fatally stabbed her before leaving, changing clothes, returning and pretending she had no idea what happened was sentenced to 30 years for the murder.
Ericka Nicole McDonald, 31, was sentenced this week in the killing of her mother, Terri Mendoza, 51, at her apartment in Houston on Aug. 16, 2021, prosecutors said on Friday. McDonald cannot appeal the conviction or the punishment and must serve at least half of the prison sentence before being eligible for parole.
“This is a tragic case and should not have happened, but prosecutors with our Homicide Division were able to get justice for the victim,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said.
McDonald was staying with family members at a nearby apartment when she killed her mother, prosecutors said. An eyewitness identified McDonald as the intruder, despite the mask, and Houston police arrested McDonald, authorities said.
“It was important to get justice in this case, and a plea agreement means she will go to prison for what she did and cannot appeal,” said Assistant District Attorney Casey Smith, who prosecuted the case.
Investigators said once McDonald was in Mendoza’s apartment, she just “began stabbing” both her mother and her then 63-year-old aunt. A witness saw McDonald attempting CPR on her mother before leaving the scene, according to Houston ABC affiliate KTRK-TV. Mendoza died at a hospital.
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Detectives said McDonald was under the impression that the mask had sufficiently concealed her identity and returned to her mother’s apartment soon after the stabbing, where she told police that she was not involved in the crime. Her wounded aunt told investigators she could identify McDonald as the culprit.
KTRK reported that police later found bloody clothes and a knife in McDonald’s apartment.
Officials said at a bond hearing then that she was intoxicated at the time.
Police said that hours before the attack, McDonald had gotten into a fight with her mother and her aunt that prompted family members to call the police to the apartment twice that day, once at 3 p.m. for a disturbance call and again about 30 minutes later for a wellness check. The responding officers reportedly wanted to arrest McDonald, who was allegedly drunk at the time, on charges of child endangerment and assault. But the Harris County District Attorney’s Office told KTRK prosecutors declined to move forward due to a lack of evidence.
About six hours later, Mendoza was fatally stabbed.
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