A Houston couple has been indicted for capital murder in the death of an 8-year-old boy who died in a motel room bathtub after being severely beaten, handcuffed, and bound with duct tape in March 2021, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Friday.

“The way this little boy died is almost unthinkable and absolutely horrifying” Ogg said. “We believe he was handcuffed, bound at the ankles and legs with ligatures and duct-tape, had his mouth taped shut and was beaten so severely that he either died from blunt force trauma or suffocated on the blood from his broken teeth.”

The attack was carried out by the boy’s mother and her boyfriend, Ogg said.

Mother, Kayla Holzendorf, 25, and her boyfriend, Dominique Lewis, 29, were indicted Thursday by a Harris County grand jury for the incident on March 23, 2021.

The couple called 911 to say that Keyontae Holzendorf, 8, had drowned in the bathtub at the motel where they lived.

First responders with the Houston Police and Houston Fire departments arrived to find the boy was wet and there was steam was in bathroom, according to court records. Lewis had water on his clothes.

Emergency Medical Technicians performed CPR and the boy was transported to Texas Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He had numerous new and old injuries on his body, including severe ligature marks on his ankles and wrists (from handcuffs), broken teeth, and large pieces of skin missing from his thigh, chest, upper arms, and genitalia, consistent with duct tape being ripped off frantically, according to court records.

The couple told police that the boy had not been to school in a year and a half and didn’t have any friends.  Instead, they said, he spends his time with them and they begin their days by buying a large package of muffins from HEB, putting those muffins in a basket and then having the boy sell the muffins in the parking lot of Kroger by saying that his mom baked them.

“This is obvious child torture, and the evidence is clear that the defendants acted intentionally; it was capital murder,” said Assistant District Attorney Gilbert Sawtelle, who is prosecuting the case and is a chief in the DA’s child fatality division.

If convicted of capital murder for killing a child under the age of 10, both could face the death penalty or life in prison without the parole.

Decisions about whether to seek the death penalty are generally made by a committee of senior prosecutors months after a defendant has been charged.

The case was investigated by the Houston Police Department.

A felon who wielded a shotgun as he demanded that space be cleared in the driveway of his girlfriend’s home in the Langwood neighborhood, so he could park his pickup truck, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Friday.

Ricardo Lemos Casares, 43, was sentenced after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a weapon and his fourth DWI.

“He has repeatedly proven himself to be a danger to society and now he is off the streets,” Ogg said. “He pulled out a gun to settle an argument and we are all lucky he didn’t pull the trigger.”

The August 2019 dispute began when Casares got into an argument with his girlfriend’s daughter over a parking space. He wanted her to move her car out of the home’s driveway, so that he could park his pickup there to prevent it being robbed of parts or stolen.

When the girlfriend’s boyfriend stepped in and asked Casares to stop being disrespectful toward her, he grabbed the shotgun.

Casares was previously sentenced to seven years in prison by a jury that convicted him of a 2004 burglary of habitation for an incident in which he broke into his ex-wife’s home, dragged her out of bed, and stomped on her boyfriend’s head. He has other convictions spanning two decades, including theft, evading arrest and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

“Harris County is a safer place when we all do our parts to protect our community; I’m proud to have assisted with the delivery of justice in this case,” said Assistant District Attorney Traci Gibson, who prosecuted Casares.

The case was investigated by the Houston Police Department.