Katy mother charged in deaths of 2 toddlers found in pool with cocaine in systems

HOUSTON – Two Katy-area toddlers who reportedly drowned in a backyard pool earlier this year had cocaine in their systems at the time of their deaths, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.

On May 8, HCSO homicide detectives charged Laura Nicholson, 23, with two counts of injury to a child in connection with the deaths of her daughters, according to the sheriff’s office.

OUR FIRST REPORT: Two toddler girls drown in pool at Katy-area home

Sheriff Gonzalez said detectives began investigating the deaths of the two sisters, ages 2 and 3, after deputies responded Feb. 11 to a home in the 21000 block of Creek Edge Court in the Katy area for a reported drowning.

Authorities said both girls were found in the backyard pool by their grandmother. Investigators said it is not known how long the children had been in the water before they were discovered.

According to investigators, Nicholson was asleep on a couch inside the home when the children were found.

She later told authorities she woke up to her mother “screaming and hollering” after the children were discovered in the pool. Nicholson and the children’s grandmother then pulled the girls from the water, according to court records.

Investigators said Nicholson was arrested Monday in Florida by the Violent Criminals Apprehension Team working alongside the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. She was booked into the Lee County Jail.

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic deaths of two young toddlers — sisters — in our community,” Gonzalez said in a social media post announcing the arrest. “May these little ones rest in peace.”

Timeline laid out by investigators

Court records state deputies detained Nicholson and both grandparents at the scene while investigators worked to determine what happened.

The children’s grandmother told investigators she left the home around 9:30 a.m. to run errands. Before leaving, she said Nicholson was asleep on the couch while the children played in the living room.

The grandmother returned home shortly after 11 a.m. and noticed the back door partially open before finding both children in the pool, records state.

The children’s grandfather told investigators he returned home from work around 8:30 a.m., played with the girls while they were eating, and then went to bed around 9:30 a.m.

According to court documents, the grandfather said Nicholson was fit to care for the children but added that she “falls asleep a lot and this causes issues.”

Nicholson reportedly told detectives she had been staying at the home for about a year. She said she went to bed around 12:45 a.m. the night before while the children went to sleep around 8:30 p.m.

She told investigators the girls woke up around 7:45 a.m. and that she fed them before they started watching a movie.

Nicholson also told detectives the latch on the back door had been broken for two days and could not lock. She reportedly said the children had previously gotten out of the house and gone toward the pool area.

What investigators learned later

On April 30, officials with the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences released findings from the girls’ autopsies.

According to investigators, both children had cocaine and benzoylecgonine — a cocaine metabolite — in their blood.

The medical examiner noted drowning can be difficult to determine through an autopsy alone and is often determined through the facts and circumstances surrounding a death.

Officials said the autopsies could neither confirm nor rule out drowning as the cause of death.

However, the medical examiner stated that the children having access to the pool without proper fencing or functioning locks was “extremely dangerous,” and that inadequate supervision “could certainly have been a contributing factor” in the deaths.

Forensic experts also stated that any amount of cocaine in a 2- or 3-year-old child can cause serious bodily injury and substantially increase the risk of death.

Authorities have not determined how the children ingested the drug.

Investigators also learned from Child Protective Services that Nicholson’s mother previously accused her of using cocaine during an interview conducted after the children’s deaths. CPS had reportedly questioned Nicholson last year regarding separate drug allegations.