March 23, 2023 Investigators will determine if a father fatally strangled his 2-year-old daughter after abducting her and leading Harris County sheriff’s deputies on a 45-minute chase streamed online.
By Nicole Hensley Source Houston Chronicle Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Prosecutors believe a child who died as her father fled Harris County authorities in a car chase may have been strangled to death by him rather than having died by blunt force trauma in the car.
The father, Deontray Flanagan, could be seen in a Facetime video assaulting his 2-year-old daughter, Zevaya Flanagan, during the 45-minute pursuit as the child’s grandmother watched. A deputy watching the Facetime video alongside the grandmother could see that she had swollen eyes and blood coming from her mouth, Assistant District Attorney Gilbert Sawtelle said Wednesday in court.
Sawtelle described her as “almost lifeless” in the images.
She did not survive the flight to a hospital once the chase ended.
An autopsy is expected to determine the extent of the child’s injuries, Sawtelle said. If the child was strangled, Flanagan’s charge could be upgraded to capital murder, he continued.
“Felony murder is the most appropriate charge without knowing more about the medical evidence,” Sawtelle said. “It’s my suspicion that she died due to strangulation.”
Flanagan claimed the child, who was not restrained by a seatbelt or car seat, hit the vehicle’s dashboard during the 30-mile chase, according to court records.
He is accused of taking the girl from her daycare Monday morning and then going to a Walmart to confront the child’s mother. He demanded her phone. Authorities accused him of trying to extort his girlfriend into giving him the password to her phone.
Flanagan allegedly assaulted the woman before fleeing the store with the child. Police were called and deputies chased his red Camaro. His vehicle eventually came to a stop in a field near St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church, about 7 miles from where the chase began.
Nearly 48 hours later, the father appeared in the 337th District Court wearing a yellow jail jumpsuit, indicating that authorities have deemed him an inmate who requires maximum security.
Prosecutors asked Judge Colleen Gaido to consider raising his $1 million bail set Tuesday by a magistrate to $5 million. Flanagan’s defense attorney asked for the bail to be lowered, saying that $1 million is effectively no bail.
The judge declined both requests, noting that while Flanagan is entitled to bail, she interprets $5 million as no-bail. She raised Flanagan’s bail, instead, to $2 million.
Sawtelle outlined Flanagan’s past brushes with law enforcement — including a juvenile arrest. At age 14, he assaulted his 7-year-old brother, who is autistic.
Flanagan pleaded guilty in 2017 to a misdemeanor evading charge and received deferred adjudication. In 2019, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge after hitting his girlfriend. He completed another round of deferred adjudication for a felony criminal mischief charge for driving a car into the same girlfriend’s house.
A felony evading charge stemming from a flight from a Precinct 4 constable’s deputy in December 2022 was dismissed last month because, as prosecutors noted in court records, “no probable cause exists.”
“The video does not match the description given in the offense report,” according to the motion to dismiss.
Intake prosecutors considered charging Flanagan with terroristic threat charge last Wednesday following a complaint by the child’s mother. The prosecutors declined because the evidence did not merit a charge, Sawtelle said. The prosecutors asked the Harris County Sheriff’s Office to do more investigating, such as talking to the defendant, according to a review of the intake disposition report.
Flanagan could not be found, sheriff’s office officials said.