JONATHAN PAUL FOSTER - Aged 12 years - Houston, Texas (USA)

KVUE News

December 30, 2010

Police: Woman charged in boy's death admits to dumping body, denies murder

HOUSTON – Police say a 44-year-old woman charged with capital murder in the kidnapping and death of a 12-year-old Houston boy admitted to discarding a body, but said she didn’t kill the child.



Mona Yvette Nelson, a maintenance worker for several area apartment complexes, was arrested and charged on Wednesday.

Investigators believe she kidnapped, killed and burned the body of Jonathan Foster on Christmas Eve.

Foster had been left alone at his mother’s apartment while she and her roommate worked that day.

Homicide investigator Mike Miller said investigators believe Nelson took the boy to her home, where she likely killed him and burned his body.

Investigators said a search of Nelson’s home turned up a "boatload" of evidence, but they were still working to determine a motive.

Jonathan’s mother, Angela Davis, said she’d met Nelson only once, on the night of her son’s disappearance.

Nelson was friends with Davis’ roommate, Sharon Ennamorato, who frequently babysat for Foster.

Police said Ennamorato described Nelson as a friend who used to work in maintenance at an apartment complex across the street. Davis had moved into the home with Ennamorato on Dec. 14, after she and Jonathan’s stepfather split up.

Since both Davis and Ennamorato had to work on Christmas Eve, Foster was to stay home by himself until his mother returned. While at work that morning, a colleague told Davis her son had called the office and was asking for Ennamorato’s number.

According to information read at a probable cause hearing, Davis then received a phone call from a woman who made threatening remarks about her son. Concerned, Davis said she called her home phone repeatedly as she drove there.

She said an unknown woman finally answered around 2 p.m. – just minutes before she made it back to the apartment.

Davis said she asked the woman if she could speak to Foster.

Davis said she heard a woman ask her son, "Is your mama’s name Angela?" And then heard Foster say, "Yes ma’am, my mama’s name is Angela," before the line went dead.

When Davis got to the apartment moments later, she said cartoons were still on the TV, and a game was up on the computer screen.

But when she called for her son, she got no answer.

"The only thing missing in this house is his tan T-shirt with a guitar on it, a pair of jeans, his white sneakers and his black stuffed cat that my grandmother made him," Davis said. "There was no struggle."

A witness reported seeing a woman matching Nelson’s description pull up to Davis’ apartment in a gray or silver pickup truck near the time the threatening phone call was made.

Davis said Nelson stopped by the house later that night, saying she’d come over that morning looking for Ennamorato. Davis said Nelson told her that Jonathan had answered the door wearing no shirt, and it seemed like someone was in the house with him.

Davis reported Foster missing that night, but police didn’t issue an Amber Alert until Monday, citing conflicting stories from Davis and Foster’s stepfather.

Foster’s stepfather told police he’d met Nelson a few weeks before Foster’s disappearance, and witnesses said they’d seen her around the stepfather’s apartment complex, near 43rd Street and Shepherd.

After the Amber Alert was issued, Texas EquuSearch helped lead an effort to find the boy. That search was suspended on Wednesday.

Police said they were led to Nelson by surveillance video taken where the body was dumped. Investigators said the video showed what appeared to be a woman in a gray or silver pickup, with a chrome toolbox on the bed, stop on the side of the road near East Hardy and Schilder and discard a body.

Police first went to Nelson’s home Tuesday night, then returned Wednesday morning to arrest her and search for evidence.

Investigators said they found burned carpet and twine that matched ties used to bind the child’s hands in Nelson’s apartment.

They said after further interrogation, Nelson admitted to disposing of the body, but not to the murder. "Mona Nelson has made what investigators call a self-serving statement, which places her with Jonathan. However, she has not admitted to killing him," Houston police spokesman Kese Smith told the Houston Chronicle. "She is the only suspect."

Nelson’s criminal history includes arrests for robbery, marijuana possession and making a terroristic threat.

She served a 10-year probated sentence for robbery back in 1984.

Nelson was charged in the 182nd State District Court. She was being held without bond Thursday.

http://www.kvue.com/news/112668169.html

Associated Content

Dec 30, 2010

Missing Jonathan Foster Case: Burned Body Identified, Woman Arrested for Capital Murder
Acquaintance of the Family, Mona Yvette Nelson, Admits to Dumping Body in Ditch but Not Murder

The already horrific tale of missing 12-year-old Jonathan Foster added more tragic pages to the telling as Houston Police arrested Mona Yvette Nelson, a 54-year-old acquaintance of the Davis family, for the slaying of
the youth. Police said Wednesday evening that Nelson was charged with capital murder in the killing of Jonathan Foster, whose badly burned body was found discarded in a ditch on Tuesday, after she admitted to dumping his body. However, according to the Houston Chronicle, authorities say she has refused to admit she killed the boy.

Surveillance cameras picked up the images of a woman exiting a pick-up truck at a place of business in northeast Houston and depositing the remains that would later be identified as Jonathan. Nelson later admitted to being the woman in the video. A witness also placed her outside the residence where Jonathan Foster lived with his mother and stepfather, Angela and David Davis, on Christmas Eve, the day he went missing.

Police believe Nelson took the 12-year-old to her home and killed him. Investigators found burned carpet at Nelson's home. They also found twine that seemed consistent with string found with the burned body.

Houston Police have yet to determine a motive.

Jonathan Foster vanished under what authorities called "suspicious circumstances" on Dec. 24. Although there had been speculation concerning the involvement of the stepfather, possibly due to his admission that he may have been the last person to see Jonathan, police admitted to being puzzled by all the conflicting information they were receiving from family members and friends. The confusion led to a three-day delay before an Amber Alert was issued, even though a Missing Child Alert was sent out the day the 12-year-old disappeared.

Establishing where the young boy was last seen was also made difficult when Angela Davis lied to police about where he was that day. She said he had been at the babysitter's and went home to get a video
game. Authorities later found out via the mother's admission of committing a falsehood to avoid the embarrassment that she had left her son home alone Christmas Eve. Adding the babysitter had complicated matters, forcing inconsistencies in the stories being told. But David Davis was determined to be the last person to see Jonathan that day, having stopped by around 1:45 p.m. to check on him.

Then Angela received a strange phone call at work. A colleague summoned her to the phone after being told that the call was an emergency. Davis called her home and a woman with a raspy voice answered. After Davis identified herself, she asked whom she was speaking with. The female instead asked someone off phone if Angela was their mother. Davis heard a "yes, ma'am" and then the phone went dead.

Racing home, she and family members searched for about an hour, then called the police. Authorities noted that they arrived between 3:45 p.m. and 4:15 p.m. Earlier reports indicated that Angela Davis notified police at 9:30 p.m. that evening but clarified later that the later time was the official time that a missing persons report was filed for Jonathan Foster.

Later, when the Amber Alert was issued, investigators reported that Jonathan might have been accompanied by a woman with a raspy voice.

It is as yet unknown if the woman with the "raspy" voice that Davis heard on the telephone and Mona Yvette Nelson are one and the same.

As noted, Nelson has denied killing Jonathan Foster.

The Houston Chronicle reported that Nelson's connection to the Davis family was through their sometime babysitter, Sharon Ennamorato. Nelson has spent time in prison as well, although the Chronicle was unable to determine the length of time she spent behind bars. She apparently had her probation for an aggravated battery charge revoked in 1991. The paper was unable to find documents revealing what caused her probation to be revoked.

Mona Nelson was to attend a court hearing Thursday but an unexplained medical issue arose that kept her from appearing. Prosecutors presented evidence against her in her absence and she was ordered held without bond.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/6163274/missing_jonathan_foster_case_burned_pg2.html?cat=17

Houston Chronicle

3 January 2010

Trusting and sweet to the end
Jonathan Foster's wish to live with his mom came true — and put him in harm's way

When Jonathan Paul Foster is buried in South Park Cemetery in Pearland on Tuesday, he will be the first interred in a family plot that will someday hold his grandparents.

That Jonathan eventually will rest with his family offered a little solace to relatives of the 12-year-old boy killed on Christmas Eve, his remains charred and left in a drainage culvert in Houston.

By all accounts, it is an unspeakably sad end for a boy whose family members described him as deeply loving and affectionate. Even after bouncing from house to house in his 12 years — living with his mother, his grandmother and an uncle — he still had the trust of an innocent child.

"He was just so sweet and submissive, always looking for a hug," said Glenn Scrimsher, 33, Jonathan's uncle who raised him from the time he was 6 until a year ago, when his grandmother, Mary Gifford, sent for him in Channelview. "I bet he didn't even put up a fight."

Jonathan's grisly slaying touched even the most veteran homicide detectives, who said the little boy clung to his manners and trust in adults to the end. In the last phone call to his mother, Jonathan was overheard calling his suspected captor "ma'am."

A birthday wish nearly two months ago - that he return to his mother - placed Jonathan into an orbit that included shady characters in an impoverished pocket of Garden Oaks in northwest Houston. There, the forces of his tiny transient life appeared to doom him.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7362771.html

Beaumont Enterprise

4 January 2011

Woman accused of killing Houston 12-year-old goes before court‎

A subdued Mona Nelson, charged with capital murder in the death of a 12-year-old boy, made her first appearance in court Monday. Then, after leaving the courtroom en route to her cell, she burst into wracking sobs.

"She cried her eyes out," her court-appointed attorney, Allen Tanner, said later. "She's not the stone-cold mean woman like the cops have made out."

Nelson, 44, is charged in the death of Jonathan Foster, whose charred body was found in a northeast Houston ditch last Tuesday, four days after he disappeared from his mother's home on Christmas Eve.

In 182nd District Court on Monday, Judge Jeannine Barr apprised Nelson of her rights and appointed Tanner as her attorney.

Tanner said he plans to meet with Nelson in the next few days to discuss the case.

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Woman-accused-of-killing-Houston-12-year-old-goes-936157.php

KPRC Houston

4 January 2011

Slain 12-Year-Old Laid To Rest‎
Mona Yvette Nelson Accused Of Killing Jonathan Foster

Jonathan Foster disappeared from his home on Oak Street on Dec. 24. His burned body was found in a drainage ditch on Dec. 28.

Family and friends gathered to say goodbye at the Garden Oaks Baptist Church in northwest Houston.

"He taught me unconditional love," said Mary Gifford, Jonathan's grandmother.

Gifford said she had too many fond memories to single out just one.

Jonathan's uncle said he took the boy hunting and fishing for the first time and raised Jonathan from 6 to 11 years old. He said Jonathan loved computer games, flying kites, going to the beach and museums.

"(He will be) remembered not as the 12-year-old who was murdered, but as an energetic young man," Glenn Scrimsher said. "How do you choose one memory? We can't choose just one memory. We have all these to think about."

http://www.click2houston.com/news/26361993/detail.html

Houston Chronicle

4 January 2011

Family, friends remember 12-year-old Jonathan Foster‎

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7365181.html

KHOU

5 January 2011

Missing child's death brings councilwoman to tears during meeting‎



A Houston city councilwoman broke down in tears during Wednesday’s council meeting as she asked for a moment of silence to remember the child.

Police said 12-year-old Jonathan Foster’s body was set on fire and dumped in a ditch a few days after he disappeared on Christmas Eve.

Authorities have charged Mona Nelson with capital murder. The 44-year-old grandmother of five was seen on surveillance video dumping Jonathan’s body in a ditch, police said. The motive remains a mystery.

http://www.khou.com/news/local/-Missing-childs-death-brings-city-councilwoman-to-tears-during-meeting--112984169.html

WBAN

7 January 2011

Former Female Pro Boxer Accused of Murder!‎

http://www.womenboxing.com/NEWS2011/news010711nelsonmonamurder.htm

About - News & Issues

13 January 2011

Houston Suspect May Be Serial Killer‎

The 44-year-old woman accused in the death of 12-year-old Jonathan Foster is a cold-blooded predator who may have other victims, according to homicide detectives. Mona Yvette Nelson has admitted to dumping Foster's badly burned body in a ditch near the Houston airport, but insists that she did not kill the boy.
She has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with his death.

"I was one of the detectives to interview Mona Nelson, and I can tell you that she is a cold, soulless murderer who showed an absolute lack of remorse in taking the life of Jonathan Foster," Houston Homicide Det. Michael Miller told reporters. "There are few cases that impact homicide detectives in this manner, but this is one of them."

http://crime.about.com/b/2011/01/13/houston-suspect-suspected-as-serial-killer.htm

Ultimate Aldine

17 January 2011

Police still want to know why Houston boy, 12, was killed‎

Hours after Christmas Day dinner at her sister's Third Ward apartment, Mona Yvette Nelson, a nomadic 44-year-old maintenance worker, was jolted by a TV news report detailing the disappearance of 12-year-old Jonathan Foster from a ramshackle Garden Oaks enclave.

"I know those people," she reportedly told her sister, Angie Johnson, 62, after watching Jonathan's mother, Angela Davis, plead for help in finding her son.

Four days later, Nelson found herself in a Harris County jail cell, charged in the boy's slaying as veteran homicide detectives with uncharacteristic candor painted her a monster.

"She is a cold, soulless murderer who showed an absolute lack of remorse in taking the life of Jonathan Foster," said Michael Miller, the lead homicide detective on the case for the Houston Police Department.

http://www.ultimatealdine.com/stories/227911-police-still-want-to-know-why-houston-boy-12-was-killed

abc 13

15 February 2011

HPD honored for missing child case‎

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The Houston Police Department is being honored for its work in the Jonathan Foster case.

Foster was kidnapped on Christmas Eve. Days later, his badly burned body was found. After investigators arrested Mona Nelson, they talked publicly about the emotional toll of this gruesome case.

At this afternoon's city council meeting, Texas EquuSearch gave HPD plaques of appreciation for their hard work and dedication to the case.

Nelson is scheduled to be in court later this week.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7961401

Thanks for all this Twiggy. It is a barbaric case. Thoughts are with the family and friends. RIP Jonathan.

Checked 17/3/2011 - no further news

After going through pages and pages online the only information I can find at this moment is as follows:-

Court documents filed with the Harris County District Clerk's Office - Houston, TX, state that Mona Yvette Nelson's jury trial was scheduled for 15 October 2012 at 9 a.m. in Houston, Harris County, TX. State District Judge Jeannie Barr was to preside over the case.

The latest I found on Facebook is that the trial has been delayed as apparently the D.A and the attorneys are not quite ready to proceed with the case...