HOUSTON – A man has been arrested after a woman he is accused of bringing to Houston from Las Vegas to act as a prostitute was hit and killed by a vehicle on Interstate 610 over the weekend.
Deandros Finks, 29, was charged Wednesday with murder and compelling prostitution after the body of a 23-year-old woman was found about 3:20 a.m. Sunday on the West Loop feeder road near Alabama Street.
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According to Sean Teare, of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, investigators were originally told by Finks that the woman had been out drinking with friends and her ride-share driver had dropped her off on the wrong side of the freeway. Finks said she was too drunk and was hit while trying to cross the highway, Teare said.
Teare said investigators determined that the victim and several other women were brought to Houston by Finks after the coronavirus pandemic prompted the closure of casinos in Las Vegas. Teare said Finks and the women were staying in a vacation rental in the Afton Oaks neighborhood when the victim decided she wanted to leave.
“She, on surveillance, left that location,” Teare said. “She had her suitcase with her. She seemed determined, on the surveillance footage, to leave, to get away.”
Teare said the video showed Finks chase after her and the two of them arguing before Finks tried to force her back to the house. Teare said the video showed the woman dropped everything and ran toward I-610 with Finks in pursuit.
Teare said the woman nearly made it across I-610 before she was hit. The woman died at the scene, Teare said.
Finks later told detectives that the victim was a prostitute and one of her johns had dropped her off on the wrong side of the freeway.
“Once he was confronted with the obvious video surveillance, that none of that was true, he admitted that they had gotten into a pretty big argument,” Teare said.
Teare said they are also looking at whether Finks, who has a criminal record in both Nevada and Florida, can be charged with human-trafficking related crimes.
Teare said authorities want to help any of the other women Finks brought to Houston to get back home and get out of prostitution. He asked them to contact the Houston Police Department or the District Attorney’s Office.