HOUSTON — A Congolese man living in Houston listened to his 8-year-old son beg for his life before slitting the boy’s throat, as well as that of his toddler daughter, and leaving their lifeless bodies as “a present” for his estranged wife, police said.
Jean Pierre Ndossoka, 61, is charged with two counts of capital murder in the Aug. 4 slayings of Marcel Ndossoka, 8, and Anna-Belle Faith Ndossoka, 1, at his Houston home. Ndossoka was found early the following morning in Pasadena, Texas, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Ndossoka was taken to Clear Lake Regional Hospital in stable condition, Houston police officials said. He was booked into the Harris County Jail two days later, where he remained Monday. Ndossoka is being held without bail.
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Court records depict the heartbreaking moments before Ndossoka is accused of killing his children inside his apartment at The Willows Apartment Homes. The Houston Chronicle, which obtained the records, reported that Ndossoka's wife, Sabine Ntongo, dropped Marcel and Anna-Belle off at their father's home the morning of the slayings for a scheduled visitation.
The couple, who married six years ago, had recently separated, police said. Ndossoka, a native of Congo, is a U.S. citizen.
Ndossoka called Ntongo repeatedly throughout the day while she was at work, the Chronicle reported. That afternoon, he told her that she needed to come to his apartment because he'd killed the children and "left her a present."
Ndossoka told her she could use a key left under the doormat to get inside, the court documents said.
Ntongo rushed to the scene and found the children lying on a bed with their throats slit. She called 911, the Chronicle reported.
Responding officers found her screaming and crying at the scene, KPRC2 in Houston reported.
Ndossoka left behind the bloody knife used in the slayings, as well as a handwritten note in French. He wrote in the note that Ntongo would "carry the burden of our souls, me and my two children," KPRC2 said.
"I am dying with my two children," Ndossoka also wrote, according to the news station.
Police put out a description of Ndossoka and his vehicle, a 2008 black Nissan Titan, which was found about 1 a.m. Aug. 5 in Pasadena. Ndossoka was inside, bleeding from a gunshot wound but still alive.
Though he initially told detectives he did not remember what had happened, Ndossoka eventually admitted he “did something bad,” the court documents said.
"The defendant then admitted that he had done something to his children and when asked, 'What?' he motioned towards his neck," the documents said, according to CBS46, which also obtained the court records.
Ndossoka told investigators he first choked the children before using the knife, the news station said.
"Daddy, I'm sorry," Marcel reportedly pleaded before he was slain, the court documents said.
Anna-Belle “just kept crying,” Ndossoka told investigators.
If convicted of the murder charges, Ndossoka could be sentenced to death.