A Texas woman has been apprehended in Louisiana on suspicion that she fatally shot her boyfriend in the head as he slept and then dismembered his body with a machete.
Investigators with the Baytown Police Department in Texas say Cierra Sutton, 30, gunned down 32-year-old Steven Coleman after an argument in their home at the Briarwood Village Apartments in suburban Houston on August 16.
According to court documents, the girlfriend then butchered Coleman’s body using a machete and tossed the remains in several different dumpsters around town to cover up the crime.
Gruesome crime: Cierra Sutton, 30 (left), is being held in jail for allegedly murdering her boyfriend, Steven Coleman, 32 (right) and butchering his body last month
Deadly spat: Police in Texas say Sutton shot Coleman in the head as he slept after an argument
Investigators say Sutton confessed to the grisly killing to several of her friends, telling them she cut up her boyfriend’s body because it was too heavy to carry.
The accused killer also allegedly told her confidants that her 10-year-old daughter was sleeping on the coach inside the apartment at the time of the killing and dismemberment, according to KHOU.
Two days after the slaughter, Sutton reported her boyfriend missing at the local police station.
While police were searching for Coleman, Sutton was staying in touch with his family while using the dead man’s credit cards to make purchases, including a duct tape and a mattress pad, reported the station KTRK.
Crime scene: Police later found blood all over Sutton’s apartment in Baytown, Texas (pictured)
Confession: Sutton (left) allegedly told friends she cut up Coleman’s body with a machete because the man (right) was too heavy to carry
Macabre clue: A man’s torso matching Coleman’s description turned up at a landfill (pictured) about a week after his disappearance
Then on August 22, a male torso was recovered from a landfill in Baytown that matched the description of Steven Coleman.
Police had contacted Sutton on multiple occasions asking to interview her, but she would not cooperate, according to detectives.
Unable to locate her, police executed a search warrant at Sutton’s apartment in the 1700 block of James Bowie Drive and found blood all over the unit, including in the bedroom, the bathroom and the kitchen.
More blood was later found inside Sutton’s Jeep, according to police.
According to court records, a long-time friend of Coleman’s told a detective that the man had warned her on many occasions that if he were to ever go missing, police should consider Sutton a suspect, reported Baytown Sun.
Sutton eventually fled to Metairie, Louisiana, where she was arrested on Thursday.
As of Monday morning, Sutton remained at the Jefferson Parish Jail in Louisiana without bond, pending her anticipated extradition to Texas.
Fugitive: Sutton fled to Louisiana but was arrested there on Thursday. She is currently in jail awaiting extradition to Texas