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A MAN who FaceTimed his girlfriend while he beat and strangled their toddler daughter has been found guilty of her horrific murder.
Deontray Flanagan killed his daughter, two-year-old Zevaya Flanagan, in his car during a 45-minute police chase while her mom and grandpa begged for her life over the phone.
Flanagan forced Zevaya’s mom, Kairsten Watson, to watch the devastating scene on FaceTime after picking the toddler up from daycare in Houston, Texas, in March 2023.
Watson and her father pleaded with Flanagan to stop as he strangled the toddler and drove erratically during the police chase, fatally tossing Zevaya around the car as she wasn’t strapped into a seatbelt.
Flanagan was upset with Watson and wanted to punish her because he thought she was dating another man after breaking up with him, according to court records obtained by CBS affiliate KHOU.
“All I was trying to do was provide for my daughter and like move on, and I guess he just didn’t want that,” Watson told the outlet in 2023.
Watson, who remembered her daughter as a bubbly toddler, was haunted by her daughter’s final moments, which she recalled seeing to ABC affiliate KTRK-TV in 2023.
“She was on his lap, and she was gasping for air, and he had his arm around her neck squeezing tighter,” Watson told the outlet at the time.
“He said, ‘This is what you made me do. All you care about is that man.'”
Watson said she responded, “‘No. Stop, please. This is your daughter. She loves you,'” but he continued to hurt the little girl.
After a 30-mile chase, Flanagan crashed into other cars and stopped in a field, leading to a SWAT standoff.
The toddler was then taken to a local hospital where she died.
Prosecutors said the injuries Zevaya suffered while being flung around the car during the police chase led to her death.
Screenshots from the nightmare FaceTime video showed Zevaya’s injuries, prosecutors said.
Curtis Watson, the girl’s grandpa, said in court that he and Kairsten tried to reason with Flanagan over the call while he beat the girl.
“But then he showed me the lifeless corpse of my granddaughter,” Curtis said, according to KHOU.
[Deontray Flanagan] said, ‘This is what you made me do. All you care about is that man.'”
Kairsten Watson
“I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
“To have to go through that type of anguish and pain.”
FOUND GUILTY
Flanagan was found guilty of capital murder nearly two years after killing Zevaya.
Last week, the jury saw a video of Watson screaming and pleading with Flanagan to stop hurting Zevaya during the police chase.
“He’s killed her, he’s killing her,” Watson reportedly cried during the heartbreaking video.
Curtis addressed Flanagan directly in court with a message about his granddaughter.
“You may have taken her last breath, but you cannot kill her spirit, her memory, or her name,” Curtis said.
Flanagan has yet to be sentenced.
