Duke Watrous ruins Christmas for all his kids; one dead

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Authorities believe an Oak Point man was intoxicated when he fatally shot his 10-year-old daughter in the head inside their home on Christmas Eve.

It's still unclear what led to the shooting, but investigators do not think 36-year-old Duke Lawrence Watrous meant to kill Ashley Watrous.

"At this point, it doesn't appear to be deliberate, but there's definitely some recklessness involved," said Texas Ranger Tracy Murphree, one of the investigators on the case.

Watrous was being held on a manslaughter charge at the Denton County Jail on Friday night. Bail was set at $200,000.
[...]

The family had company earlier in the evening. At the time of the shooting Thursday night, Watrous, Ashley and two of her siblings, a 9-year-old boy and a 1-year-old girl, are believed to have been in the house.

The boy called 911 to report the shooting, officials said.

"He said her father had shot her," said Denton County sheriff's spokesman Tom Reedy.

It is unclear how much time passed between the shooting and that call. Ashley was pronounced dead about 8:40 p.m. on the family's dining room table, where she had been placed.
[...]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...2.4ba7501.html

Murphree described the firearm as a large-caliber revolver. He said he did not know why Watrous had been handling it.

“We’re still talking to people,” he said.

Duke Watrous shared the house with the girl and two other children, Murphree said. Watrous is believed to have been awarded custody of the children after he and their mother divorced, Murphree said.

A neighbor told The Dallas Morning News that Ashley’s father was a single parent with four children and that she thought Ashley was the eldest.

Watrous was arrested in April on a charge of injury to a child, elderly person or disabled person, according to Denton County jail records. Murphree said he believed that case was dropped after a grand jury declined to indict Watrous.

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedconten....135c64c9.html

[this is going badly]

drunken idiot + gun.

Great role model for kids. The kid called 911?

[Aslan]

investigators do not think 36-year-old Duke Lawrence Watrous meant to kill Ashley Watrous.

Well gee, THAT makes all the difference

At the time of the shooting Thursday night, Watrous, Ashley and two of her siblings, a 9-year-old boy and a 1-year-old girl, are believed to have been in the house.

Where else would they be on Christmas Eve but at home, waiting for Santa?

I bet he had the nickname Walrus

I wish I could club and skin him right now.

[badfish76]

Whether or not he meant to kill her could make all the difference between a frist degree murder charge and manslaughter. And a huge difference in the amount of time he wil serve.

Too bad he can't be incarcerated for the mental anguish the rest of the children are sure to experience for the rest of their lives.

[everhopeful]

How fucking drunk do you have to be to point the gun at your ten-year-old daughter, pull the trigger, and not realize what the outcome will be? Maybe it's just because I've never been drunk that I can't comprehend this, but for fuck's sake! There are other ways to scar and anguish your children over the holidays that don't involve killing them.

[Aslan]

Whether or not he meant to kill her could make all the difference between a frist degree murder charge and manslaughter. And a huge difference in the amount of time he wil serve.

He pulled out a loaded gun. I don't care how drunk he claims to have been. You don't do that. Ever.
And wow, he got off a head shot. Not even an "I accidentally hit her in the arm"
Either he has really bad luck or he was aiming.

Edit: I have no problem with guns. I go to the range to shoot away stress. That being said, anytime I compare with friends the rule is I check 3 times to make sure there is no stray bullet, then I have you check. No sense in being stupid.

[MC30]

Maybe it's just because I've never been drunk that I can't comprehend this, but for fuck's sake! There are other ways to scar and anguish your children over the holidays that don't involve killing them.

hon, ive been plenty drunk...but everyone around here is still alive. the drunk/drug thing never holds water for me. either he wanted her dead or he's an idoit. the sad fact is, that she is still dead.

[Dneilz]

He is not only an idiot... he is fugly as hell.

[LestYeBeJudged]

Not even an "I accidentally hit her in the arm"

I know a chick that got shot in the arm by her father when she was 4. I don't think he was drunk. They were playing cops and robbers or cowboys and indians or something. Apparently he just didn't realize the gun was loaded.

Oh and before you ask - West Virginia.

Jus' Sayin'

[crickett]

I wish the grand jury had done their job before this fucking walrus killed the kid.

[Silvahalo]

I bet Ashley being the eldest child she was mama to baby girl. Baby will miss her most. This is much close to where my sister lives in Dallas, people are so saddened over this.

Ashley was a sweet girl. Brother and baby saw her die as paramedics try to revive her.

Investigators said Watrous was intoxicated and acting recklessly with a large caliber revolver when one bullet discharged.
There were no other adults at home at the time. However, officers said the shooting happened in front of Ashley's one-year-old sister and nine-year-old brother.
The boy called police, telling dispatchers his father shot his sister.
"At first we started praying, asking the Lord, 'Don't let it be so serious,'" said Maria Gonzalez, who lives next door. She said Watrous was a single father raising four children.
On Wednesday, Ashley delivered her a tin of Christmas cookies.
"She was so sweet, smiling, saying, 'I brought you a Christmas gift!'" Gonzalez recalled. "I thought it was wonderful — wonderful and beautiful of her to do that, but I wasn't surprised, because this wasn't the first time she brought me a gift."

Just horrific. I can only imagine the scene.

A 10-year-old Denton County girl was shot in the face Christmas Eve night and died on a dining room table, authorities said. Her father was taken into custody early Christmas morning, a Denton County official said Friday.The
girl, identified as Ashley Watrous, was pronounced dead at her home in
the 500 block of Naylor Road in Oak Point, which is in Denton County on
the shore of Lake Lewisville."The brother of the victim called
authorities and said she had been shot by her father,...

Ashley Watrous, rest in the heavens. You deserved a far better chance at a good life.


Source.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

The Oak Point man accused of fatally shooting his 10-year-old daughter on Christmas Eve had been investigated repeatedly by Child Protective Services, and police believe he was probably drunk when he fired the shot, according to officials and court records.
[...]

Ashley Watrous was one of Watrous' five children, and one of three who lived with him at his Oak Point home, according to court records and police officials.

Watrous and Ashley's mother – identified in court records as Brandy Michelle Washburn-Rives, 29 – have been investigated on allegations of child abuse and neglect in Texas and Oklahoma since 2003, according to records filed Monday in a Denton County court by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which includes CPS.
[...]

CPS determined in March that Watrous had abused a child from a previous relationship who lived with his mother but visited him regularly, according to court records. It was unclear whether the agency tried to remove Ashley and her siblings at the time.

Watrous was arrested in April on a charge of injury to a child, but a grand jury declined to indict him in June, according to Denton County court records.

CPS spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales said she was unaware of any attempts by the agency to remove the children from Watrous' home after the March investigation.

"In some cases, if you don't have an outcry of abuse from the other children in the home and ... they appear to be in good condition, you won't necessarily have a legal basis to remove them from the home based on an injury suffered by another child in the home," Gonzales said.
[...]

Court records paint a disturbing picture of a family racked by conflict and allegations of abuse.

A judge limited Washburn-Rives' custody of the children after a 2003 investigation found she had abused them, CPS caseworker Hiza said in an affidavit filed Monday.

CPS investigators found that Washburn-Rives had emotionally abused Ashley and neglected Ashley and her brother, according to the affidavit.

The caseworker described Watrous and Washburn-Rives' relationship as turbulent and said each has accused the other of abusing the children.

Washburn-Rives told the caseworker she was at Watrous' home hours before Thursday's shooting and saw him drinking beer, according to the affidavit. Washburn-Rives admitted knowing that Watrous kept guns in the house, had an alcohol problem and became aggressive when he drank, Hiza said in the affidavit.

Washburn-Rives said Watrous had "mind control" over her that made her unable to make decisions about the children, according to the affidavit. She also said Watrous abused her, and she recounted a time when he choked her to the point that she "saw stars," the affidavit says.

Watrous' two children from a prior marriage are believed to be living with their mother, identified in court records as Aude Freeman. Her husband, Allen Freeman, said she would not comment on the shooting.
[...]

Aude Freeman also accused Watrous of abuse in court records related to their 2007 divorce and subsequent custody battle. In an affidavit filed in March, she accused Watrous of abusing several of his children, including Ashley and their 7-year-old son.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...t.3b01a45.html

[Tundratot]

. . . Duke Watrous, who lived in the Little Elm area, accidentally fired a round that struck his young daughter in the face, killing her. He is accused of drunkenly firing a gun, and the incident was caught on videotape from his surveillance cameras.

Watrous lost custody of his other children in a November Child Protective Services hearing, and he is scheduled to stand trial for manslaughter in April. . . .

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedconten....7350d9f4.html

[Shadow]

i don't think the 1yr old will remember, when she's older.. she might have some broken fragmented memories, but not enough to put it together, unless someone reminds her.... the boy on the other hand, yeah.. that's going to be some serious couch time. :( poor babies. i have to wonder what was this fucktard's thought process when he drew bead on his daughter... :\

~shadow

[Hellsbells]

Father pleads guilty in girl’s fatal shooting

The jury sitting in the 16th District Court today in the Duke Watrous trial will be deciding only punishment for the manslaughter charge Watrous faces in the Christmas Eve 2009 shooting death of his 10-year-old daughter.

Before jury selection began Monday, Watrous pleaded guilty to the charge and asked that the jury hear only evidence to decide his punishment. He could receive a maximum of 20 years in prison. He had been free on $100,000 bail but was taken into custody after the plea.

Brenda LaMae Ashley Watrous

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedconten...275cfb4da.html

[Hellsbells]

Dad Gets 12 Years for Killing Daughter on Christmas Eve

DENTON, Texas - A North Texas man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for the videotaped fatal shooting of his 10-year-old daughter while he was drinking.

Jurors in Denton could have sentenced Duke Watrous of Oak Point to 20 years behind bars over the accidental Christmas Eve 2009 shooting.

Watrous, who said he didn't remember the fatal shooting , pleaded guilty to manslaughter on April 11

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/041...-Christmas-Eve

[Tundratot]

A North Texas jury watched a chilling video Tuesday of a man accidentally shooting his 10-year-old daughter fatally in the head during a drunken lesson on handling handguns. . . .

The video came from cameras Watrous had installed in his home to show child-welfare caseworkers after being investigated during custody disputes with two ex-wives, according to the Denton Record Chronicle.

On the video, Watrous lines his daughter and her 9-year-old brother up for the lesson as the carol "Joy to the World" plays in the background. The video shows Watrous tracking Ashley with a shotgun, rubbing her face and shoulder with the barrel and drunkenly asking, "Does that scare you? Are you scared?"

Then, he picks up a .44-caliber Magnum handgun. As the words "Merry Christmas" come from a television in the background, the guns goes off, the bullet goes through Ashley's head and lodges in a cupboard.

Watrous picks up his daughter, lays her out on the table, gathers up his guns and locks them in a gun safe. As she whimpers and chokes, her brother pleads with her, "Stay with me, Ashley."

Watrous returns and bends over the girl.

"Ashley can you hear me?" he asks. After a moment, he says, "Ashley's dead."

Read more on myFOXdfw.com: http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/041...#ixzz1Jtgsbupb

His parental rights to all the other children [from a previous marriage] were terminated last year, and the two surviving siblings of the little girl are in foster care.

The 9-year-old boy called for help at about 8:35 p.m. that Christmas Eve, saying that his father had shot his sister in the face. Oak Point police and medical personnel responded but were not able to revive the little girl.

Watrous smelled strongly of alcohol when the first-responders arrived, according to reports.

The boy told Oak Point police, sheriff’s deputies and Texas Ranger Tracy Murphree that his father was intoxicated and playing with a “cowboy gun” and a long gun. The boy said that earlier in the evening his father offered to trade him the handgun for a Star Trek toy he received for Christmas, according to the affidavit used to obtain an arrest warrant.

The boy told officers that his father directed the two older children to stand together and then a bullet from the handgun struck the girl in the face, the reports state.

Authorities said the gun was not in sight and neither was the 12-gauge shotgun Watrous also had been handling. He would not tell investigators the whereabouts of the weapons, but they followed a blood trail to a gun safe. He gave several wrong combinations to the safe before the officers finally forced it open.

Inside, the officers found a bloody .44-caliber Magnum revolver and a blood-spattered 12-gauge shotgun, the reports state.

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedconten...275cfb4da.html

Sheeeee-it! Yep, he videotaped his wonderful parenting techniques and killed his own daughter on tape for witnesses. I suppose in his drunken glory it never occurred to him that the social workers would be very interested in the fact that he pointed his guns at the kids, much less that he caressed them with the barrels and taunted them about their fear. What a supreme jackass!

I'm shocked he only got 12 years. FFS!

[princessgrandma]

I don't know what to say. The man videotaped himself shooting his daughter. Unbelievable.