After claiming self-defense, woman charged with murder in boyfriend's stabbing
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- When police found Michael Wayne Simmons dead outside the second-story apartment he shared with his girlfriend, investigators listened to Deaira Pitts, who claimed she stabbed her boyfriend in self-defense.
But court documents reveal that when investigators questioned Pitts further, a different story emerged.
The 21-year-old has now been charged with murder.
Pitts told police Simmons came home to the southwest Houston apartment late Sunday night and pounded on the door. The complex is located on Hayes Road, not far from the corner of Wilcrest Drive and Richmond Avenue.
Court documents say Pitts told police she and another man were together in the back bedroom and Simmons pushed his way in. Simmons and the other man started fighting: yelling and shoving each other.
Pitts told police that's when she stabbed Simmons in the back, then threw the knife in the bushes.
When police arrived, Simmons lay dead right outside the front door of his second story apartment. The man who lives below where the deadly attack happened now steps over a blood stain every day.
"It's just sad," said neighbor Joen Chiombiano.
Pitts has no prior arrests or charges in Harris County. The 21-year-old hasn't lived in Houston long. Her ties appear to be in Baltimore. Court documents say she's lived here only eight months.
Prosecutors think Pitts is a flight risk. She's in jail on $100,000 bond.
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