Overview
- Police say Tajauna Thomas, 38, and Richard Mouton, 34, face capital murder charges over a Jan. 26 break-in in Houston’s Kashmere Gardens that left a 72-year-old homeowner dead.
- Officers arrived to find the suspects and the woman wounded after an exchange of gunfire inside the Lockwood Drive residence, and Houston Fire Department paramedics pronounced the woman dead at the scene.
- Court records identify the victim as Linda Martinez, though authorities have not formally released her name.
- Law-enforcement sources report the masked suspects entered through an unlocked back door and demanded jewelry, and that Thomas had been upset over the victim’s prior refusal to post her bail.
- Records show Mouton missed a court appearance days earlier, triggering arrest warrants, while Thomas was out on bond in a misdemeanor case as investigators continue to examine motive and entry details.