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Background: The Montgomery County Jail in Conroe, Texas (Google Maps). Inset: Jon Rueben Gabriel Demeter (Montgomery County Sheriff”s Office).
In a disturbing case from Texas, a 25-year-old man is accused of secretly administering an abortion drug to the pregnant mother of his child, despite her desire to carry the pregnancy to term. This resulted in a stillbirth, according to law enforcement authorities.
Jon Rueben Gabriel Demeter faces charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon resulting in serious injury, as announced by the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office. The charge is categorized as family violence, with the potential for further charges to be filed.
Authorities responded over the weekend to a situation at a hospital in The Woodlands, just outside Houston, where a woman was experiencing a miscarriage under suspicious conditions. She informed deputies that she suspected the child’s father had secretly given her a drug without her knowledge or agreement to end her pregnancy.
The baby, named Presley Mae by her mother, was stillborn at the facility. The sheriff’s office promptly initiated an investigation, which led them to identify Demeter as the main suspect.
Investigators revealed that Demeter had previously tried to persuade the woman to have an abortion on several occasions, even offering to fund her travel to another state for the procedure. However, she consistently refused, firmly stating her decision to see the pregnancy through to full term.
“Further investigation revealed that Demeter obtained abortion medication and covertly administered the medication to the mother without her knowledge and consent with the specific intent to cause the death of the unborn child,” the law enforcement agency added.
Houston-based ABC outlet KTRK identified the drug as Mifepristone, a “drug that blocks a hormone called progesterone that is needed for a pregnancy to continue,” according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Abortion, including through Mifepristone, is illegal except for limited exceptions in Texas.
Demeter turned himself in to Hamilton County deputies on Monday, his mother told the local TV station. She added that there is another side to the story of the terminated pregnancy, though she would not go into detail.
The defendant’s mother also said that her son has two other children — a 3-year-old and a 15-month-old. It is unclear if they have the same mother as the woman who reported the alleged crime.
Demeter was booked into the Hamilton County Jail and was scheduled to have a bail hearing on Wednesday.