Full Notification

On Monday, March 20, 2023 at approximately 9:30 AM, Deontray Flanagan picked up his 2-year-old daughter, Zevaya Flanagan, from daycare. About 45 minutes later, Flanagan arrived at the Wal-Mart store, where the child’s mother works.

They had a brief argument. Flanagan assaulted the child’s mother, took her cellular telephone and left the store with the child. Flanagan was driving a red Camaro. Flanagan was in telephone contact with family members who were able to track the phone.

Harris County Sheriff’s Office Deputies, in marked patrol cars, located Flanagan near Greens Road and Interstate-45.

Flanagan fled from Deputies in his car. During the pursuit, Deputies received information from family members that the child was still in the car and that Flanagan was physically abusing the child.

Units with the Houston Police Department (HPD) assisted in stopping Flanagan’s car. The pursuit ended when Flanagan attempted to drive through a field at Stuebner Airline and Castleglen and his car became disabled.

When Flanagan refused to exit the vehicle, Sheriff’s Office SWAT members approached the car and forced Flanagan into custody.

Deputies removed the unresponsive child from the car. Emergency Medical Technicians with the ESD-11 immediately initiated CPR on the child and continued until Life Flight arrived on the scene.

The child was flown to Hermann Hospital, where she was pronounced deceased.

Harris County Sheriff’s Office Homicide and Crime Scene Investigators responded to the scene and conducted the scene investigation. Deputies took Deontray Flanagan to the Homicide Unit where he provided investigators with a statement.

UPDATED March 21, 2023: Deontray Flanagan, 25, has been charged with the murder of his 2-year-old daughter Zevaya Flanagan.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) is conducting an internal investigation to determine whether all the agency’s policies and procedures were followed.

The investigation will include a thorough review of the timeline, camera footage, dispatch communications, and radio traffic.

Both HCSO and the Houston Police Department responded to the scene. Both agencies coordinate regularly and this review is being conducted to assess all actions taken and to improve future collaboration.

Previously, HCSO has responded to calls for service at the mother’s residence in North Harris County.

On March 15, 2023, Harris County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the mother of the deceased child’s home to investigate Flanagan for an alleged terroristic threat. After taking the mother’s statement, the responding deputy consulted with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, and it was determined that there was insufficient evidence to support filing a criminal charge at the time.

A welfare check was conducted in an attempt to locate Flanagan, but all attempts to locate him were unsuccessful.