TEMPLE, TX — A woman who was arrested for child endangerment after two girls were removed from a Temple home was found incompetent to stand trial. This is the same home where two other children were found dead.
According to the Temple Police Department, 36-year-old Terrikah Haynes was arrested in October 2019 on two counts of abandoning or endangering a child with imminent danger of death or bodily injury.
On December 20, 2019, a Bell County judge signed an order stating she was incompetent to stand trial.
She is currently awaiting transfer to a state hospital for competency restoration. Proceedings are on hold pending the outcome.
According to the arrest affidavit, on September 30, officers with TPD responded to a home in the 1500 block of South 35th Street, to perform welfare check.Officers had been told a woman and her children had not been seen in several days, and the safety bolts were locked from inside the home.
Officers knocked on the front and back door of the home, but no one responded. One officer looked into the bedroom window and smelled an odor of decay.
Officers then discovered one of the bedroom windows had been broken out from inside the home. When the screen was removed, the officer discovered a "very young child" who "appeared very frightened and was on the ground" by a woman, who was also on the ground.
The officer entered the home through the window and moved two children, a 6-year-old girl and a 4-year-old girl, onto the bed and checked on the woman.
According to the affidavit, the woman was conscious, but would not speak. Her pupils appeared dilated.
The two children were taken to McLane Children's Hosptial, while the woman was taken to Baylor Scott & White.
Officers also found the bodies of two other children, later identified as two-year-old boy, Terric Boyd, and one-year-old girl, Janea Boyd.
The home did not have electricity or running water. The affidavit states the home's water service had been disconnected on September 3.
Empty two-liter bottles of soda and empty juice boxes were found on the floor in various rooms of the house, however officers could not find anything for the children to drink in the home.
According to the affidavit, the only food found in the home was a few bags of dried beans and uncooked rice. However, there was no way to cook the food, since the home did not have electricity.
Officers reported the toilet was accessible, but there was no way to remove the waste. The bathtub did not appear to have any recent signs of use, and had coffee beans inside.
The temperature inside of the home was 87 degrees, while the average outside temperature for the week was in the mid to high-90's.
Officers later met back with the two children at McLane Children's Hospital. The affidavit states the children were "wearing clothing that had the odor of decay and trash." After receiving food and water at the hospital, the children commented "they had not had this much food in a long time."
Both girls described living on "fruit snacks," while one said she had not been able to take a bath because it was not working, according to the affidavit.
The six-year-old girl and four-year-old girl were placed into the care of Child Protective Services.
