HOUSTON – A man accused of stabbing his mother to death last week sobbed Monday morning as he made his first appearance in court.
Blake Jefferson, 22, is charged with murder in connection with the Friday morning death of his mother, Dedre Jefferson, at her Garden Grove Court home.
According to investigators, Dedre Jefferson was on the phone with her mother when Blake Jefferson began to stab her. He ran to a nearby home, broke in and tried to hide from police, authorities said.
Dedre Jefferson told her mother that her son was acting strange before he started to stab her, investigators said.
"He had a normal life, like I said, an intelligent young man. So this is an intelligent young man who something in his own mind went wrong," Jefferson's pastor said.
On Facebook three days before the murder, it appears Jefferson was wrestling with some issues.
"Don't lose your Queen trying to find yourself because I did.. but I trust & Believe God will bring my Queen back..." one post read.
On the same day, there was another entry that read "i love ALL my blood family whether you know it or not..."
"This isn't a young man that was violent or anything like that, there must have been something that set him up I don't know exactly what," his pastor said. "This is an intelligent young man who something in his own mind went wrong."
A handcuffed Blake Jefferson broke down in court Monday when he saw the family in attendance. He listened to the judge, signed some paperwork and wailed and patted his chest as he was escorted out of the room.
The family in the courtroom could be heard crying as they left Monday’s hearing.
Dedre Jefferson was a member of the Alief Independent School District board.
"She loved Alief, she grew up here, she went to school here," Ann Williams, the board president, said. "No one saw this coming. The family, no one thought this would happen."
"I just saw both of them Tuesday night. They were loving and playful as always, just chatty and talking. I talked to her later that night and there was no indication. I can't even begin to speculate what happened," Williams said. "If there is ever and shed of mental illness among family members, we as a people should be the first ones to step up and talk about it."
Dedre Jefferson's funeral will be held Thursday. Public viewing will be from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. at the Southwest Community Baptist Church at 14880 Bellaire Boulevard. The actual funeral will be held at 10 a.m.