A man Missouri City police are calling a person of interest in the stabbing death of a pregnant Missouri City woman is still in custody in Harris County on unrelated charges.
Missouri City police have questioned 23-year-old Cornelious Harper in connection with the Sept. 26 murder of 27-year-old Leiah Jackson, but said they are waiting on pending lab results to move forward with the case.
The father of Jackson’s unborn child was murdered just hours before Jackson was attacked. Missouri City resident Yancy Daniels, 30, was shot several times at an apartment complex at 6363 West Airport in Houston around 12:30 a.m. Sept. 26.
A woman leaving her apartment around 9:55 a.m. that morning saw blood on the sidewalk and found Daniels lying on the ground beneath a bush.
Daniels and Harper were cousins.
Jackson was attacked around 1 a.m. at her duplex in the 3300 block if Palm Desert Lane. She was stabbed multiple times, but made it out of her garage and to the unit next door where her mother lived. She banged on the front door, and told her mother that the man who stabbed her was a relative of her unborn child’s father.
Jackson was taken by helicopter to a hospital where she and the baby died.
Police have not released a possible motive in the two killings.
Harper was arrested by Houston police Sunday and charged with possession of marijuana and for allegedly stealing a car. Houston police have confirmed that they have a person of interest in the Daniels murder, and that Harper is in custody, but will not confirm that Harper is the person of interest.
Harper is being held without bond due to parole violations.
