HOUSTON – Jacobe Dante Payton,19, sits inside Fort Bend County Jail on a $500,000 bond, facing charges of murder.
"Police have alleged an offense has been committed; a judge has approved a warrant for his arrest," Ft. Bend County Executive Assistant District Attorney Wesley Wittig said.
The arrest warrant and probable-cause affidavit show Payton was arrested Thursday for the senseless murder of 8-year-old De'Maree Adkins, but police say Payton has been in their custody since Monday.
De’Maree Adkins was riding in the back seat of a car being driven by her mother, Latoyia Thomas, about 2 a.m. Saturday when the vehicle was involved in a crash at the intersection of West Fuqua Street and South Sam Houston Parkway.
Investigators said a white Pontiac Grand Prix and a dark, four-door sedan were speeding down West Fuqua Street when the Pontiac slammed into Thomas’ vehicle.
Thomas told investigators that after the crash, the driver of the Pontiac jumped into the dark sedan. She said the dark sedan pulled up next to her car and an armed woman rolled down a window, leaned out and began shooting at Thomas’ car.
De’Maree Adkins was hit and killed.
Wesley Wittig with the Fort Bend County District Attorney's Office says his office will prosecute Payton if they chose to proceed.
"The next thing that would happen is the police would submit the case to us for formal review and charges," Wittig said.
If they decide to take the case, they will present it to a grand jury and an indictment would follow.
"That means he has a cause number and goes to court, and you start the formal proceedings of going to a trial," Wittig said.
Court documents show Payton has been in trouble with the law before.
In Fort Bend, he had two charges of aggravated assault, both in 2015. And in 2016, in Harris County, he was charged with theft.
The funeral for De'Maree Adkins will be held Saturday afternoon at Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church at 3015 N. MacGregor Way, Houston, Texas, 77004.