HOUSTON – On this date in 2011, four children died after they were left alone at an Alief home day care and the house caught fire while their caregiver shopped at a nearby store.
Elias Castillo, 16 months, Shomari Dickerson, 3, Elizabeth Kojah, 20 months, and Kendyll Stradford, 20 months, all died in the fire. Three other children were seriously injured.
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The home caught fire when Jessica Tata -- Jackie’s Child Care owner -- left the house to shop at Target while a pan of grease cooked on the stove. Surveillance cameras at a Target captured images of Tata shopping at the store when the fire started. When she got home to Crest Park near Waypark shortly before 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 24, 2011, the house was on fire.
Here are some of the images captured by Sky 2 over the scene and from the scene of the fire.
Tata reportedly fled to Nigeria in the wake of the fire but was captured after about a month, returned to the U.S. in March 2011 and has remained jailed since. She was born in the U.S. but has Nigerian citizenship.
In 2012, Tata was 24 years old when she was convicted of felony murder in the death of Elias. She is now serving an 80-year sentence for the death of Elias. A judge dropped the remaining eight cases against Tata in order for her to begin her prison sentence. She will be eligible for parole after serving 30 years. The District Attorney’s Office has the option to re-file on the murder charges at a later time.
KPRC 2 has followed the case at every stage and has told the story of one family who were victims.
In 2018, KPRC 2 spoke with Tiffany Dickerson who had two children at Tata’s day care. Her 3-year-old son Shomari didn’t make it out.
Her daughter Makayla, then 2 years old, survived, but was severely burned.
Dickerson remembers seeing her daughter that day. “I pulled back the sheet and she looked like a peeled lobster. All I saw was flesh. I was just thinking to myself, ‘I don’t know how they’re gonna be able to save her legs.’”
Makayla was rushed to Shriner’s Hospital in Galveston, and Dickerson credits the medical team there with saving Makayla’s legs and placing her on a path to recovery.
“She calls me a miracle. She says I’m a miracle baby, and I’m a survivor,” Makayla said.
On the day KPRC 2 met her, she allowed Dominique Sachse to touch the scars on her legs.
“It’s like touching rubber,” Makayla said. “My leg is like a whole rubber toy.”
Makayla has had 13 surgeries, and will need another eight as she continues to grow. Read more of her story here.
As of this writing, Tata remains behind bars at Texas’ Mountain View facility.
If you would like to check on your local day care in Texas, go here to check the record of the facility.
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