From left: Alexus Chenelle Williams (Harris County Jail), Harmony Carhee, Donyavia Lagway and Gregory Carhee (Jammie R. Pruitt Funeral Home). Background: Totoro Place Apartments in Houston, Texas (KHOU).
A Texas woman who watched via FaceTime as a hired gunman killed three people—including her former girlfriend and the woman’s 6-year-old daughter—has been sentenced to decades in prison.
Alexus Chenelle Williams, 33, pleaded guilty to three murder charges and received a 40-year prison sentence for the deaths of Gregory Carhee, 35; Donyavia Lagway, 29; and Lagway’s 6-year-old daughter, Harmony Carhee.
The killings took place June 30, 2021, at the Totoro Place Apartments on Fondren Road near West Airport Boulevard in Houston. According to court records obtained by local CBS affiliate KHOU, Williams recruited her childhood friend, Xavier Davis, who was 28 at the time, to carry out the attack. She told him there was money inside the apartment that he could take. Williams had previously been romantically involved with Lagway.
Lagway had since reconciled with her husband, Carhee, and was pregnant with his child when she was killed.
Williams watched through FaceTime as Davis entered the apartment after Carhee answered the door and opened fire. The gunfire killed Carhee, Lagway and Harmony. The couple’s 10-year-old daughter was also struck, but she survived by pretending to be dead while holding the hand of her 1-year-old brother.
Once Davis fled, the 10-year-old alerted relatives, who contacted police.
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A tip led investigators to Davis, who was arrested carrying $3,000 and ammunition matching shell casings recovered at the apartment. Detectives later found the suspected murder weapon at the home of Davis’ girlfriend.
Investigators suspected Williams from the beginning, but waited several months to arrest her while they developed the case.
“The one who’s not in custody, even though I’m not going to say your name, you know who you are, and so do we,” then-Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said during a news conference.
Williams also attended the victims’ funerals, KHOU reported.
Text messages exchanged between Williams and Davis became a central piece of evidence linking her to the murders. Police arrested Williams in March 2022, roughly eight months after the attack.
Davis later pleaded guilty to three counts of capital murder and was sentenced to death in April.