La Marque police: 14-year-old confessed to stabbing pregnant mother

LA MARQUE, TX (KTRK) -- A 14-year-old boy has confessed to strangling and stabbing his pregnant mother, Nita Moseley, more than 20 times in an attack at the home they shared south of Houston, investigators said Thursday.

La Marque police say the stab wounds were to Moseley's neck and back area. She was four to five months pregnant at the time of the attack.

The 33-year-old mother was found dead at her home in the 2800 block of Fannin last Saturday. Both Moseley's 14-year-old son and her vehicle were reported missing at the time.

On Sunday, Moseley's son and car were both located in Houston when a family member called police.

Police say the motive is still under investigation, but authorities say Moseley's son provided "a voluntary statement in which he confessed to causing the death of his mother."

The boy was charged with a juvenile count of murder earlier this week and is being held at a juvenile detention facility.

Investigators have determined that after the killing, the teen took a vehicle that had been loaned to his mother and drove about 200 miles west to Seguin, near San Antonio. He then traveled back to the Houston area before being taken into custody, police said. It's not clear why the boy drove to the San Antonio area.

Authorities have not said when the woman was attacked or how long she may have been dead before a neighbor discovered her body Saturday.

Child welfare officials said the teen and a younger sibling had twice been removed from the woman's custody because of her substance abuse and her partner's domestic violence.

Estella Olguin, spokeswoman for Harris County Child Protective Services, has previously said the teen was first removed from the mother's custody in October 2005 and was in foster care until his paternal grandmother received custody of him in March 2007. He again was removed from his mother's custody in April 2010 and was in foster care until his father was awarded custody in February 2011.

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The Associated Press contributed reporting to this story.