Debra Jeter shocked the world in 2009 when news broke of her actions. Even today, she continues to serve time in jail for it. However, her actions still beg the question: what drove a mother to attack her kids and ignore their dying pleas?
Here’s all we know about her.
Who Is Debra Jeter?
Debra Jeter was born on November 20, 1962, to Billy Jeter and Palona Jeter in Georgia. She is an American citizen and a mother of two children. She made headlines for her gruesome crimes, including harming her children and ultimately murdering one of them.
Jeter worked at West Georgia Technical College as a program specialist in academic affairs. She welcomed her daughters with a man named Lester Lee. However, their marriage ended unhappily.
He filed for divorce in May 2009. Around that time, their neighbors claimed to have been disturbed by frequent noise and even called the police to intervene. Jeter did not take the split well and attempted suicide before her kids on May 31, 2009.
Following that incident, she was hospitalized for treatment in a mental health facility. According to some reports, she had been in a mental health facility once before, in 2004, after abusing her daughter Kiersten but all charges were dropped.
While she received treatment, her husband was granted temporary custody of their kids and filed a temporary restraining order against her. The restraining order remained until the day after Jeter was released from the facility, after which a judge removed the order, and she was granted unsupervised visits with her children.
It proved to be a fatal mistake.
What Happened to Debra Jeter?
After Jeter’s second episode, her husband was worried for his kids. Just before Jeter was released, he expressed his concerns at a hearing requesting that the restraining order remains in place.
He told the court: “She may be released within a few days, and I am concerned about her possible actions regarding the children.”
The hearing happened just a day before Jeter visited her two daughters. However, the judge lifted the restraining order, and Lee agreed since she had never expressed malice towards the children.
When the girls heard they would be seeing her, their excitement knew no bounds. One of her daughters, Kelsey, took to her Myspace page to express her happiness. She wrote, “I get to see my mom tomorrow! Yay!”
On June 5, 2009, Jeter visited her daughters following a 15-day separation claiming to have a treat for them. She drove her two daughters, Kiersten and Kelsey, to an abandoned house in rural Texas and promptly attacked them with a knife.
Kelsey succumbed to her wounds, but Kiersten continued to fight for her life. While she struggled to stay alive, her mother called 911 and calmly told the dispatcher what happened.
She even prompted them to hurry but did not attempt to help Kiersten, even though she was a nurse. When the authorities arrived, they arrested Jeter and took Kiersten to a hospital, where she received life-saving surgery.
Is Debra Jeter Still Alive?
Yes, Debra Jeter still lives. However, she will spend the rest of her life behind bars, having narrowly missed the death penalty.
Debra Jeter Case
Jeter was charged with murder and attempted murder. She was granted a bond of $1.5 million. Jeter pleaded guilty to both charges in May 2010 and accepted a plea deal of life without parole, barely avoiding the death penalty.
She is serving her life sentence in a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison unit in Gatesville. Before being transferred, Jeter met with her husband and their surviving child and apologized for her actions.
Debra Jeter Kids
Jeter welcomed two kids with her husband. They were girls; one was named Kelsey, while the other was called Kiersten. Sadly Kelsey lost her life in the gruesome altercation with her mom, but Kiersten lives on in the care of her father.
Debra Jeter Movie
The shock of what Jeter did resulted in creation of a film that revealed details about what happened. According to sources, Debra Jeter’s story was showcased in Netflix’s 2022 original film, “Case and Survived Daughter.”
In the movie, Kiersten Jeter reveals the full story behind what happened.
How Did Debra Jeter Die?
Debra Jeter is still alive. However, she is serving time for her crimes in Texas.
What happened to the Jeter family was a tragedy that will take time for the survivors to heal. Crimes committed by families against each other always provoke a lot of speculation.
Another case that shocked the world is that of Lindsay Nichols, who was gruesomely murdered by her ex. However, unlike Jeter, the murderer turned the gun on himself after the murder.