JONATHAN FOSTER - 12 yo - (2010) Houston TX

In some other articles I read (I will need to find again) I think maybe this roomate of the mothers and Mona might have been in some sort of a relationship w/eachother before possibly. It said that Angela and Jonathan moved in with the roomate this month b/c of the problems she was having with her boyfriend. Maybe Mona was jealous of Angela living with the roomate ( I will need to find her name again also)? And I do belive the boyfriend is tied in w/ this somehow too. If you look on her Myspace page there is another girl on her comments who posted a comment saying she needed Monas help (interesting to me b/c it seems like she is a "tough lady") So sad that someone could have so much evil in themselves to do such a thing :(

A family acquaintance has been arrested in connection with the
disappearance and death of 12-year-old Jonathan Foster whose badly
burned body was found in a ditch in North Hudson Tuesday, police sources
said. Mona Yvette Nelson, a maintenance worker
for several different apartment complexes in Houston, was taken in
custody Wednesday morning and has been charged with capital murder for
the death of the young boy. Sources told CBS affiliate KHOU
that the body found in the ditch not far from the suspect's home is
likely that of Jonathan who was last seen alive by his stepfather David
Davis on Christmas Eve. The medical examiner is still working to confirm the identity. The search for the boy, which was aided by Texas Equusearch, was called off Wednesday afternoon. Investigators
said the suspect met Foster's stepdad two weeks prior to the boy's
disappearance, and witnesses said they had seen her around the apartment
complex where the stepfather lived. Court audio reveals that
Foster's mother, Angela Davis, received an alarming phone call from a
woman who made threatening remarks toward her son; when she arrived at
her home shortly after the call was placed Jonathan was missing, says
KHOU. Authorities say the call was placed from the mother's
residence around the time witnesses say they saw a woman matching
Nelson's description pull up to the apartment complex in a gray or
silver pickup. Officers reviewed surveillance video captured near
where the burned body was dumped and saw what appeared to be a woman in
a gray or silver pickup with a chrome box on the bed stop on the side
of the road and discard the body. Investigators could be seen
removing a large amount of evidence from the suspect's home, including
burned carpet and twine which they say matched materials used to tie the
child's hand together, says KHOU. Police say Nelson admitted to discarding the body after the child was killed but did not admit to murder.

Poster's Theory: The step-dad is involved in this. I think the suspect arrested was merely the transportation of the body.

Harris County Sheriff's Office
Public Information Inquiry

LAST NAME NELSON
FIRST NAME MONA
DOB 03/05/1966
SPN NUMBER 00653626
SSN Redacted

CHARGES FOUND =1

INFORMATION ACCURATE AS OF 12/30/2010 - 04:36AM

NAME NELSON, MONA YVETTE SPN 00653626 DOB 03/06/1966

JAIL PROC/244 01A BOOKING DATE 12/30/2010
UP DATE OUT DATE

If the up date is the same as the out date, payment of the fine amount is
not required to release the inmate from custody on that case.

CASE # 129030601010 BOOKING DATE 12/30/2010
CHARGE CAPITAL MURDER
COURT 182 COURT DATE 01/03/2011
BOND AMT 0.00 FINE BALANCE DUE

Here's the mugshot of the accused...

tammers1212 wrote:In some other articles I read (I will need to find again) I think maybe this roomate of the mothers and Mona might have been in some sort of a relationship w/eachother before possibly. It said that Angela and Jonathan moved in with the roomate this month b/c of the problems she was having with her boyfriend. Maybe Mona was jealous of Angela living with the roomate ( I will need to find her name again also)? And I do belive the boyfriend is tied in w/ this somehow too. If you look on her Myspace page there is another girl on her comments who posted a comment saying she needed Monas help (interesting to me b/c it seems like she is a "tough lady") So sad that someone could have so much evil in themselves to do such a thing :(

Thanks Tammers. I removed the article you posted as it was a repeat of one above. Mona looks like a bloke IMO so maybe you are right about a relationship and jealousy for a motive.

HOUSTON – Investigators say the 44-year-old woman accused of
kidnapping and killing a 12-year-old Houston boy on Christmas Eve is a
cold-blooded predator, and the case has left even the most veteran
homicide detectives reeling.
"I was one of the detectives to interview Mona Nelson, and I can tell
you that she is a cold, soulless murderer who showed an absolute lack
of remorse in taking the life of Jonathan Foster," HPD Homicide Det.
Michael Miller said. "There are few cases that impact homicide
detectives in this manner, but this is one of them."
Since her arrest Wednesday, Miller said Nelson has admitted to
dumping Foster’s burned body in a ditch near East Hardy and Schilder,
but insists that she did not kill the boy.
Foster went missing on Christmas Eve while his mother and her roommate were at work.
His mother, Angela Davis, said Foster had called her work earlier in the day and spoken to another employee.　
Davis said she thought it was weird, so she called her apartment as
she drove home from work around 2 p.m. She said a woman with a raspy
voice answered.　
When she got to the apartment, Foster was gone.　
Davis told police she looked around the complex for him, thinking he
might be hiding. But when he didn’t turn up, she notified police around
3:45 p.m. Friday.
A police unit responded to the scene, and the case was initially
filed as a missing juvenile. It wasn’t ruled an abduction until Monday,
when an Amber Alert was issued.
But investigators now believe Foster was taken from the apartment, killed and dumped on the same day.　
Surveillance video from a business near the dump site showed a woman
in a silver pickup truck stopping on the side of the road, taking a body
out of the bed of the truck and leaving it in a ditch around 6 p.m. on
Friday.
The body wasn’t discovered until Tuesday.
Meanwhile, detectives were looking for Nelson to question her – not
as a suspect, but because she was said to have spoken to the boy around
12:30 p.m. the day he disappeared.
Investigators working the dump site believed the body was that of a
child, so when they got the surveillance video, they sent an image of
the woman and the truck to the detectives who were questioning Nelson.
Police said though the video appeared to show Nelson and her truck, she initially denied it was her.
She did, however, permit them to search her vehicle and her home, which was about three miles from where the body was found.
"Once we arrived at her house, we stumbled into a wealth of evidence –
evidence that showed that Jonathan’s body was burned at the residence.
Evidence that showed, perhaps, the items that he was burned with.
Evidence that had us fairly shaken up in collecting it," Miller said.
Investigators said they found burned carpet and twine—similar to
material that was found with the body—in Nelson’s home, as well as other
physical evidence in a trash can.
They also found welding torches.
Miller said the killer did not use an accelerant to burn Foster’s body, and the welding torches were being tested for evidence.　
Investigators believe the body was burned at Nelson’s home, but said
the exact cause of death has not been determined by the medical
examiner.
"She is a person who works with her hands – a maintenance worker …
She works with tools – torches—and other equipment," Miller said.
As for why she might have killed the boy, Miller said they just don’t know yet.
He said those who knew Nelson described her as "a bizarre person" who lived in her own world.
And though she’s made several statements implicating others, as well
as herself, in Foster’s death, Miller believes she acted alone.　
"She acted alone in this crime of her own disregard for human life.
She decided to take Jonathan Foster out of our world," Miller said.
"I’ve worked in the homicide division for 14 years and this is the worst
case that I’ve been a part of. An innocent 12-year-old boy who was
described by all as happy, outgoing and well-liked in the neighborhood –
certainly, it’s an absolute tragedy."
Nelson’s criminal history includes arrests for robbery, marijuana possession and making a terroristic threat.
Miller said investigators were looking through other missing
children’s cases to see if they might be connected to Nelson, but so
far, they’ve found none.
"Do I believe she’s done it before? Yeah, I do. I don’t believe she
began and ended with the abduction of Jonathan Foster," Miller said.
Nelson was charged in the 182nd State District Court. She was being held Thursday in the Harris County Jail without bond.
http://www.khou.com/news/Police-Woman-charged-in-boys-death-a-cold-soulless-murderer-112682194.html

Relatives of the fifth grade boy who was found dead and burned beyond recognition say that they have no idea who the woman is that police have charged with the child's murder.
Burned Body Believed to Be Missing Boy


Mona Nelson is "an acquaintance" of the family of Texas fifth grader
Jonathan Foster, whose body was found Monday in a Houston ditch, police
said.
Nelson, 44, has been charged with capital murder and is being held
without bond. According to ABC News' Houston affiliate KTRK, Nelson did
not appear at a court hearing this morning because of an "unspecified
medical issue."
Late Wednesday, the severely burned body
was finally identified as that of Jonathan Foster, the 12-year-old boy
who vanished on Christmas Eve. The cause of death has not yet been
determined.
"Nelson has given what investigators say is a self-serving statement
that places her with Jonathan, but she has not admitted to killing him,"
said Houston Police Department spokesman Kese Smith.
Smith said that Nelson is the only suspect in the case.
Police also said their search for Jonathan was delayed by several days
because the boy's mother, Angela Davis, and stepfather, David Davis,
originally gave cops conflicting information.
Nelson is believed to be the woman who the mother claims answered the
phone at her home on Christmas Eve, a chilling call that had authorities
concerned for Foster's safety.
Mary Gifford, the boy's grandmother, said that when her daughter called
her son back on Friday, a woman she did not know picked up the phone.
"My daughter asked to speak with her son, and then the woman asked
[Jonathan] if Angela was his mother," said Gifford. "He said, 'Yes
ma'am, Angela is my mother,' and then the phone went dead."
Gifford, who had been holding out hope that her grandson would be found alive, told ABCNews.com today that she's devastated.
"I'm trying to hang in there, but what would be going through your mind
if this happened to your child?" she said. "I keep thinking 'Why did she
do it? Did she torture him? Why didn't she just let him come home?"
Gifford said she didn't know Nelson and that she wasn't sure if her daughter knew her either.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/mona-nelson-arrested-murder-burning-jonathan-foster/story?id=12508380

Poster's Note: I watched the video that goes with this news report. Jonathan's Uncle who raised him since he took him in when he was 6 years old said he didn't know he was back with his mother. He took Jonathan in becuase his mother had a drug and alcohol problem. About a year ago Jonathan went to live with his Grandmother, who apparently handed him over to his mother. He should have stayed with his Uncle he said. Jonathan's mother said she had only known Mona few days.

Houston police say Jonathan Foster, 12, might not be the first victim of
murder suspect Mona Yvette Nelson, 44. Now police are looking back at
other missing children cases in the area to see if they could be related
to this murder investigation.

"I've worked in the homicide
division for 14 years and this is the worst case I've been a part of,"
said Houston Police Department Michael Miller.

Why Foster was killed is still unknown. But police believe Nelson is a
predator and this isn't the first time she's acted on that impulse.

"Do I believe she's done it before," asked Detective Miller in a press
conference. "Yeah I do, I don't think she began and ended with the
abduction of Jonathan Foster, I don't."

The apartment maintenance worker was described by those that encountered
her as a bizarre person and in her own world. Cops call her methodical
and say she tried to cover up the evidence. They add her eyes showed no
remorse.

"She decided when the time was right and she swooped down and took him
when she felt it was right and apparently she saw the opportune moment,"
Detective Miller said.

Investigators say Nelson knew the person that lived with Foster's parents. That's how she came in contact with the boy.

"She acted alone in this crime, her own disregard for human life, she
decided to take Jonathan Foster out of our world," Miller said.

"If you have a child that wants to go down the block and go to the local
store to get a candy bar, in today's society, it's probably a good idea
for you to go with them," said Bob Walcutt who is the executive
director of the Laura Recovery Center for Missing Children.

He says it's important to prepare your child for the worst.

"You scream, you kick, you scream, you yell you bite, if you feel that
threatened by a situation you do everything you can to get away from
there," Walcutt told us.

RIP Jonathan.

I tend to think Jonathan knew this woman, maybe not very well but from seeing her around because, if he'd been given instructions for staying home alone I would think one of those would have been to not open the door to strangers. My personal opinion is that this "it" had an issue with his mother and that's why she took & killed poor Jonathan, it's the only thing that makes any sense at all.

Police released more details in their case against
Mona Nelson, the woman charged with kidnapping and killing Jonathan
Foster, and they say the 12-year-old boy may not be her only victim.We now know Jonathan's body was burned and dumped on the same day he
disappeared, Christmas Eve, and just miles from where he was last seen
in north Houston. Investigators say Nelson is responsible for it all,
but Nelson told us a very different story. Nelson is charged with capital murder, a crime that carries a potential punishment of death if convicted.As she wiped away tears, she told us her side of the story.
Jonathan's mother did not comment about her son, his murder or the
woman accused of murdering him today, but Houston police did.
"She is a cold, soulless murderer who showed an absolute lack of remorse
in taking the life of Jonathan Foster," said HPD Homicide Detective
Mike Miller. In a news conference Thursday afternoon, homicide detectives were very descriptive when talking about 44-year-old Mona Nelson. "There's only been one or two people I've ever talked to that had eyes like she did; it was pretty cold," said Det. Miller. Sitting in jail, her mood had changed. "She was very remorseful. Was it an act? I don't think it all was an act," said activist Quannell X. This afternoon, Quanell X counseled Nelson and that's when we spoke to her, too. "I'm not a monster. I have five grandkids and I love kids," Nelson said.
From behind bars on the fourth floor of the jail, Nelson gave her side,
telling us one of Jonathan's family members stopped her Christmas Eve
outside his Oak Street home and asked her to dump a plastic container.
She said he paid her $20, and she didn't know what was inside because
she was drunk on vodka. She says she randomly chose a ditch in northeast
Houston. "I didn't know what was in it until they were showing me pictures in the interrogation room," Nelson said. But the body, police say, was not found in a plastic container.
Investigators believe Nelson acted on her own. They say all family
members have alibis. Eyewitnesses placed Nelson's truck at Jonathan's
home at the time of his disappearance. They say they also found burned
carpet and twine used to tie Jonathan's hands at her apartment along
with welding equipment they believe she used to burn the body. "I do have a cutting torch. I'm a welder. I would never do that. I have five grandkids," Nelson said.
Nelson, who attended but did not graduate from Bellaire High School,
has 26-year-old twins -- a boy and a girl who live in north Texas. She
was once a professional boxer and currently does maintenance work. She
says she knew Jonathan's family because they all partied together. Nelson's sister says she spent the four days after the murder, including Christmas Day, with her.
"She showed no signs of doing anything to anybody illegal," said sister
Angie Johnson. "I don't believe at all she has anything to do with
killing a child. That's not Mona." Police call her a predator and say they will look deeper.
"Do I believe she's done it before? Yea, I do. I don't believe she
began and ended with the abduction of Jonathan Foster, I don't," said
Det. Miller. While investigators say they have their suspicions
about a motive, they are not yet releasing that information. Authorities
are also not saying how Jonathan died. Nelson does have a
lengthy criminal history that includes aggravated robbery, drug charges
and threatening a woman. She is due in court on Monday.
Detectives noticeably affected

As the Eyewitness News team watched this afternoon's press conference,
one thing really struck us was just how emotional the detective got
when talking about this case. While day in and day out, police deal
with difficult situations, it's obvious this gruesome case took an
emotional toll on the those worked it. Detective Mike Miller described what it's been like in his own words: "There are few cases that impact homicide detictives in this matter, this is one of them."
"Doing what I do, I don't try to be surprised anymore, but his body did
lay there in a ditch, and it take some time to report it. I don't have
an explanation for that, but yeah I was shocked by that." "For
the sake of the family, I'm not going to go into detail description.
There's been enough of that in the media, of Jonathan's body; it was
incredibly horrible." "Once we arrived at her house, we stumbled
into a wealth of evidence, evidence that showed perhaps his body was
burned at the residence, evidence that showed the items he was burned
with, evidence that had us pretty shaken up in collecting it."
"She decided when the time was right and she swooped down and took him
when she saw the time was right, and she saw an opportune moment."
"I've worked in Homicide Division 14 years and this is the worst case
I've been a part of -- an innocent 12 year old who everybody says was
happy, outgoing and well-liked by everyone in the neighborhood. It's an
absolute tragedy that can't be put into words." For situations like this, HPD has counselors available to help officers deal with what they're going through.
New details released in case

It was surveillance cameras where Jonathan's body was found in
northeast Houston that gave investigators their break. At the news
conference, HPD Captain David Gott said around 6pm Christmas Eve,
surveillance video showed a silver truck pull up to a ditch outside of a
building on East Hardy. A person can be seen getting out of the truck,
taking a body out of the bed of the truck and placing it in on the
ground. That person was recognized by neighbors and family as Nelson. Capt. Gott said Nelson drives a similar truck.
"The fire department has dogs that can detect accelerants such as fuel
and that was not found on Jonathan. We don't know how he was burned;
Mona was a welder," said Capt. Gott. That same day, authorities
searched her apartment. Torches and other welding tools were found
inside Nelson's northwest Houston home. Authorities beleive Jonathan was
taken there, killed and burned beyond recognition the same day within
hours. Twine used to tie Jonathan was also found inside Nelson's home.
His body laid in the culvert through the Christmas holiday until he was
discovered on Tuesday. Jonathan's mother, Angela Davis, did not
comment about Nelson when we saw her today at a makeshift memorial near
Jonathan's apartment. A next door neighbor gave a chilling statement,
saying Nelson was there while Jonathan's family was looking for him on
Christmas Eve. "Yeah, she was just sitting there, looking at what was going on," said neighbor Rita Jackson. Jonathan's body was identified Wednesday by his dental records. A cause of death has not been released. Nelson, 44, is being held at the Harris County Jail with no bond.
Authorities will look at other cases now of missing children. They ask
anyone with information about Nelson to contact Houston police.

‘Stone cold without a soul’


Suspect in boy’s death has had other run-ins with law, records show



• Update: KPRC-Channel 2 reported on Friday that services for slain 12-year-old Jonathan Foster will be held on Tuesday.

• • •

When Houston police brought Mona Yvette Nelson in for questioning in the disappearance of 12-year-old Jonathan Foster, she seemed unfazed, even chatty, a veteran homicide investigator said.

She breezily signed consent forms allowing authorities to search her truck and home, Officer Mike Mil­ler said, and showed no emotion even when told she was being charged with capital murder in the slaying of Jonathan, who vanished from his northwest Houston home on Christmas Eve.

Miller has interviewed hundreds of suspects in 14 years on the homicide squad but said he saw something in Nelson's eyes that he's only seen once before — in the gaze of an accused serial killer.

It was a "dead look," the investigator said. "Anything but remorse … Stone cold without a soul."

Nelson declined an interview from a Harris County Jail cell Thursday, but police and people who know the woman - born Mona Preston on March 5, 1966 - described her as an adept plumber and welder, a boxer, an immigrant smuggler, a mother and grandmother.

Miller found her "a hard nut to crack," he said. "You just can't figure her out."

Nelson, 44, is no stranger to criminal activity.

She pleaded guilty to fleeing the scene of a 1984 armed robbery in a hail of gunfire, according to court documents obtained by the Houston Chronicle.

She and a friend held up a barbecue restaurant in Houston with a rifle, according to court records. When the robbery went sour, the pair fled as the restaurant owner shot at the car. Police stopped the duo after a brief chase.


High school dropout



In one document from a 1985 pre-sentencing investigation, Nelson shared her life story with authorities in hopes of a more lenient punishment.

She says she attended five Houston-area schools, earning B and C grade averages. She dropped out of Bellaire High School in 11th grade and completed her GED at Houston Community College.

She left home at age 15 and met her future husband, Michael Nelson, shortly before her 16th birthday. The couple married on May 7, 1983, when the bride was 17 and the groom 28.

Two months later, Nelson reportedly gave birth to twins - a boy and a girl - three months prematurely.

Nelson said she'd been living in Cookville in East Texas since January 1985, in a house owned by her father-in-law, Clyde Nelson, a sex offender who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl in August 1985. A probation officer who visited the home in September 1985 reported the home was clean and Nelson's children appeared well cared-for.

The family lived on the $900 per month earned by her husband, a carpenter.

Nelson said she was studying pre-med at Northeast Texas Community College with the goal of becoming a physician.

She reported working summer jobs in 1980 and '81 at the Martin Luther King Center in Houston, where she assisted with clerical duties and recreational activities and tutored at the center's day care. A supervisor there described her in court documents as a hard worker who "has demonstrated herself to be a good mother."
Border incident in 1991



The judge granted probation in 1986, but five years later border patrol agents caught Nelson trafficking Mexican nationals.

U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested Nelson in Kenedy County in July 1991 with five illegal immigrants allegedly smuggled in for $600 each.

She served six months concurrent with the 10-year sentence imposed and was paroled after three years.

In 1997, she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor theft by check case out of Daingerfield and served 30 days in jail. In 2002, she served 30 days in jail after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor marijuana possession in McKinney.

In 2005, she was charged with making a terroristic threat to another woman and with misdemeanor criminal mischief in Mount Vernon, Texas. She served one year probation and two months in jail for the threat and a concurrent sentence for the mischief charge.

Recently, Nelson worked in maintenance at several apartment complexes in north Houston.

An employee of the Sherwood Lane Apartments who asked not to be identified said Nelson used to fix plumbing problems there. She said Nelson had spoken of her children and said she recently had a grandchild. Another co-worker said Nelson talked about how she used to box in Detroit.

On her MySpace page, Nelson lists herself as single and her interests as working out, going to the beach and watching forensic science TV shows.

Nelson was friends with Jonathan's mother's roommate, Sharon Ennamorato, who also was Jonathan's frequent babysitter. Ennamorato has said she knew Nelson as a maintenance worker at an apartment complex across the street from the cottage Ennamorato shared with Jonathan and his mother.

Police believe Nelson kidnapped Jonathan from the cottage - where she found him home alone around 2 p.m. on Christmas Eve - and killed him at a two-unit garage apartment in the 8800 block of Allwood, in northeast Houston, later the same day.
Being held without bail



A neighbor who declined to give her name said she thought the home and garage apartments were vacant. Another said Nelson lived in a rear apartment but "kept to herself."





more....

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7359495.html

Nelson: Stepdad Paid Me To Dump Body

Excerpt:

Quanell X said that Nelson told him she feels wrongly accused and that Davis had a hand in the boy's death.

"She said the stepfather, David, paid her $20 to dispose of a container, and in that container she later learned it was the child's body," said Quanell X.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/26330826/detail.html

Dec. 31, 2010 —



Mona Nelson, the lady charged with murdering 12-year-old Jonathan Foster and blazing his body, shielded herself opposite hideous allegations by arguing which she is a parents mom who loves kids.

"I'm not a monster," she told ABC associate KTRK.

"I have 5 grand kids and I adore kids," Nelson said.

Nelson, the mom of 26-year-old twins, has been charged with collateral
attempted murder and is being hold but down payment in Harris County
Prison in Houston, Texas. Jonathan's physique was identified after he
passed on Yuletide Eve. His physique was so really bad burnt which he
had to be identified regulating his dental records.

Investigators are not tender with Nelson's defence which she is not a monster.

"She is a cold, soulless killer who showed an comprehensive miss of distress in receiving the hold up of Jonathan Foster,"
Houston Military Offer Mike Miller pronounced told a press discussion
Thursday. "There's usually been one or two people I've ever talked to
which had eyes similar to she did; it was flattering cold."
Miller additionally believes which Jonathan may not be Nelson's initial victim.

"Do I hold she's finished it before? Yeah, I do. I do not hold she began and finished with the kidnapping of Jonathan Foster, I don't," Miller said.

Houston Military Department orator Kese Smith said, "We hold she acted alone."

From jail, Nelson, 44, shielded herself, observant which she was approached by Jonathan's family on Yuletide Eve.

Nelson claims which they she knew Jonathan's family and which they stopped by her home and asked her to bail
out a cosmetic enclosure in sell for $20. She pronounced which she was
dipsomaniac on vodka and never looked to see what was inside the
enclosure when she forsaken it in to a embankment in northeast Houston.

"I didn't know what was in it until they were display me cinema in the inquire room," Nelson told KTRK.

Child Killer Suspect Mona Nelson Is Former Boxer, Welder


Investigators do not hold Nelson's story. Jonathan's physique wasn't found in a cosmetic container. Military hold Nelson acted on her own and which Jonathan was killed on Yuletide Eve, the same day he disappeared.

Nelson is a former fighter who now functions as a upkeep workman and a welder.

Nelson boxed professionally in 2004, winning one compare and losing
three. During her short army as a boxer, she was dangling for 30 days
by the Association of Boxing Commissions. The jot down does not state
why Nelson was suspended.

Burned runner and weave which may have been used to tie the immature
boy's hands were found in Nelson's apartment. Nelson's fusing or
melting apparatus was additionally found at her apartment. Military
consider the fusing or melting apparatus may have been used to bake the
fifth grader's body.

"Once we arrived at her [Nelson's] house, we stumbled in to a resources
of evidence, justification which showed maybe his physique was burnt at
the residence, justification which showed the equipment he was burnt with, justification which had us flattering jarred up in pciking up it," Miller said.
Nelson certified to being a welder, but not to being a murderer.

"I do have a slicing torch. I'm a welder. I would never do that," Nelson told KTRK.

Nelson's sister shielded her observant which she outlayed Yuletide day with her.

"She showed no signs of you do anything to anybody illegal," Angie
Johnson, Nelson's sister, told the station. "I do not hold at all she
has anything to do with murdering a child. That's not Mona."

But Houston Military hold she did kill Jonathan.

"She motionless when the time was right and she swooped down and took
him when she saw the time was right and she saw an well-suited moment,"
Miller said.

Nelson has a rapist story which includes charges of aggravated robbery, drug charges and melancholy a woman.

A subsequent doorway nearby resident of Jonathan's mother, Angela Davis,
told KTRK which Nelson was with the family when they were seeking for
the blank boy on Yuletide Eve.
"She [Nelson] was only sitting there, seeking at what was starting on," Rita Jackson told KTRK.

Houston Military wouldn't criticism on the neighbor's claims.
Smith described Nelson as an "acquaintance" of Jonathan's family. "She
knew [Jonathan's] mother's roommate and she was a former upkeep workman
at the unit complex," Smith said.

Nelson is additionally believed to be the lady who Jonathan's mom claims
answered the phone at her home on Yuletide Eve, a chilling call which
had authorities endangered for Foster's safety.

Smith pronounced which Houston military are still questioning the phone call.

Did Jonathan's Family Know Mona Nelson?


Mary Gifford, the boy's grandmother, pronounced which when her daughter
called her son on Friday, a lady she did not know picked up the phone.

"My daughter asked to verbalise with her son, and afterwards the lady
asked [Jonathan] if Angela was his mother," pronounced Gifford. "He
said, 'Yes ma'am, Angela is my mother,' and afterwards the phone went
dead."

Gifford, who had been land out idea which her grandson would be found
alive, told ABCNews.com progressing this week which she's ravaged over
his death.

"I'm perplexing to cling to in there, but what would be starting by your
thoughts if this happened to your child?" she said. "I keep meditative
'Why did she do it? Did she woe him? Why didn't she only let him come
home?"

Glenn Scrimsher, Jonathan's uncle who had cared for the boy for 4 years
until Nov 2009 when he went to live with his grandmother, pronounced
currently which he had regularly disturbed about his nephew vital with
his mother.

"I was worried," pronounced Scrimsher. "Because of my sister's state of
thoughts and her lifestyle was not which of a caring mom who looks after
her children."

Scrimsher pronounced he didn't know Jonathan was vital with his mom
until after the fact. Foster altered behind in with Davis only final
month.

"The final time I saw him was the day he was withdrawal for his
grandmother's," pronounced Scrimsher. "He was happy to see his
grandmother. He called her his granny."
"He desired her really most and he longed for her," Scrimsher said.

Gifford, has pronounced which she believed the Houston military waited
too prolonged to emanate an Amber Rapt for the blank boy. The rapt was
released on Monday afternoon, scarcely 3 days given he had final been
seen.

"Regardless of how this turns out, my idea is to get the Amber Rapt law
changed," she said. "There should not be criteria for an Amber Rapt
which depends on either cops consider the kid has run away."

"The cops kept meditative [Jonathan] ran away," she said. "But he had
waited too most years to go behind with his mama, that's what he wished
for on his birthdays, to be behind with his mama... Which doesn't
receptive to advice similar to a kid who wants to run."

Police orator Smith shielded the timing of the Amber Alert, observant
which opposing accounts of what happened the day Jonathan went blank
done the box even harder for investigators.

While he wouldn't mention what the opposing stories were about in good
detail, Smith pronounced which the mom and the boy's stepfather David
Davis had creatively pronounced which Jonathan was home with a
babysitter when he disappeared, but after pronounced he had been at home
alone.

HOUSTON (KTRK) --
Funeral arrangements are now set for 12-year-old Jonathan Foster, the boy who was kidnapped and killed on Christmas Eve.

PHOTOS: Missing boy's case
View all 13 photos

Foster's funeral will be held next Tuesday at the Garden Oaks Baptist Church. The woman accused of killing Foster, Mona Nelson, is charged with capital murder.

In an exclusive interview, Nelson told Eyewitness News her side, saying, "I'm not a monster. I have five grandkids and I love kids."

Family members say the charges are surprising, but police have a much different opinion.

"(I) don't believe at all she has anything to do with killing a child," said Nelson's sister, Angie Johnson. "That's not Mona."

"She Is a cold soul-less murderer," said HPD Homicide Detective Mike Miller.

Foster's charred remains were found in a ditch earlier this week.

Detectives say evidence at Nelson's house linked her to the murder.

I understand why councilors had to come in to help seasoned police officers try to deal with this. I am shaking with such horror and rage right now!.

Every time I read a update on this case it is more and more ghastly!

This is the last article I read (I didn't see it here, sorry if it is and I'm re-posting)

***

Police Believe Child Was Killed With Welding Torch
WATCH IT: Police Believe Child Was Killed With Welding Torch

HOUSTON -- Homicide investigators said a welding torch is the likely weapon used in 12-year-old Jonathan Foster's death, Local 2 Investigates reported Friday.

"We're talking crematorium-type of hot," said one Houston Police Department Homicide Squad officer assigned to the investigation.
Police said they confiscated a badly burned section of carpet from the home of Mona Yvette Nelson, 44, who stands charged with capital murder.

She had a welding background and police found welding equipment in her home on Allwood Street in the Fifth Ward area of Northeast Houston. Police said a section of carpet was badly burned and the smell of a human body filled the area around that carpet.

DNA tests are being ordered to analyze any bodily fluids.

One investigator assigned to the case said it now appears Foster was killed at that spot in Nelson's home within hours of being kidnapped from his family's home near Shepherd Drive and 43rd Street in Northwest Houston.

Police say she was acquainted with some members of the boy's family.

One officer said on Friday that the autopsy has ruled out any trauma on the child's body. There were no broken bones or any signs of strangulation or head wounds, so officers said it now appears the child was killed with a welding torch that could be capable of 6,000-degree flames.

"I've never seen burns like this," said one officer who viewed the boy's body after it was found in a ditch off the Hardy Toll Road on Tuesday.

He said that killers often try to cover their tracks by burning the victim's corpse, but in this boy's case, the burning was so intense and thorough that many veteran homicide investigators are struggling with the notion of such a grisly and painful way to die.

Nelson told a community activist from behind bars that she had nothing to do with killing the boy, and she mentioned her own grandchildren as proof that she would never harm a child in such a manner.

As for a motive, one HPD investigator said officers believe sexual abuse was behind the crime.

The officer said there is no evidence to confirm the theory at this point, but police say there was no ransom demand after the boy was kidnapped, so one officer said, "That's the only other motive (that makes any sense)."

Neighbors near the home where police believe the child was killed with a torch are struggling with the new details of the crime.
"That's sick. That's really sick, and I think the person who did it needs to pay for it. Pay dearly," said one business owner on the same block.

Connie Morris also works nearby, saying, "That's just cruel and mean if anybody would do that to a 12-year-old innocent boy."
Nelson is jailed without bond with a court appearance set for Monday.

Police spent Friday interviewing the child's family once again, shoring up the timeline of events and filling in routine gaps in the statements that were given immediately after the crime.

They also spent several hours organizing the carpet and other evidence confiscated from Nelson's home. One officer said, "We got all we need (from there)."

January 3, 2011 at 6:08 PM

HOUSTON – Addressing the media outside a Houston courtroom Monday, local activist Quanell X questioned whether a woman accused of capital murder in the abduction and death of a 12-year-old Houston boy acted alone.

Mona Nelson,44, appeared in court to hear her rights Monday morning.

Prosecutors say she kidnapped, killed and dumped the burned body of Jonathan Foster on Christmas Eve.

Foster disappeared from his apartment while his mother and her roommate were at work.

His charred remains were found in a ditch four days later.

"Clearly, it’s an awful case. And anytime you have the death of a child – particularly in the manner that this child died – it makes it even more heart-wrenching," prosecutor Connie Spence said.

Nelson was an acquaintance of Foster’s mother and a friend of the mother’s roommate, police said.

Investigators have said they believe Nelson acted alone, but they’ve yet to establish a motive.

"Right now, I don’t know exactly what the motive is," Spence said. "Really, there’s probably only one person who knows that, and she has an attorney at this point."

Spence praised HPD’s investigation, but noted that there was still work to be done.

"I’m sure everybody’s curious as to why this happened, why this defendant is involved with a 12-year-old boy, and I can’t answer that right now," she added.

But Quanell X, who said he’s spoken with Nelson and promised her he’d attend her first court appearance, said he believes she had no motive, and that there may have been others involved. "This is an awful tragedy. This child is dead, yes. This child should be alive. But I do not believe Miss Nelson had a motive to harm this child," he said. "I don’t believe this case has been solved yet at all. So I think the public should not rush to judgment solely on Miss Nelson’s lone guilt, as if she’s the sole suspect in this case. There’s a lot more to this case."

The activist said he believes there was a drug debt involved in the murder.

Investigators have said they found a "boatload" of evidence in Nelson’s apartment, including burned carpet and twine similar to material found on the body. They said they also found welding equipment
and torches in her home, as well as other physical evidence in a trash can.

Police said Nelson was captured by surveillance cameras dumping Foster’s body around 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 24.

Initially, investigators said Nelson denied having anything to do with Foster’s death, but she later admitted to disposing of his body.

Still, she’s insisted that she did not kill him.

Quanell X said he believes she is protecting someone. "She appears to be a hardened lady – you know, a tough lady. Tough enough to where she would try to protect others who were involved in this," he said.

Nelson was being held in the Harris County Jail Monday without bond.

Family, friends remember 12-year-old Jonathan Foster

By SUSAN CARROLL
Copyright 2011 HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Jan. 4, 2011, 12:13PM


Scene from Jonathan Foster's funeral Jan. 4, 2010.

Family of dead child speaks

The funeral for Jonathan Foster was held Tuesday. The 12-year-old boy went missing on Christmas eve and his burned body was found in a ditch three days later.

As visitors started trickling into a Garden Oaks church to pay their respects to 12-year-old Jonathan Foster this morning, family members held a brief press conference requesting a day of remembrance for a sweet, trusting boy. Sitting before a bank of TV cameras, Jonathan’s grandmother and uncle requested that the media refrain from questions about the investigation into his Christmas Eve murder.

The woman charged with his murder, Mona Yvette Nelson, has made allegations through community activist Quanell X that Jonathan’s death involved other suspects and was related to a drug debt.

"I just hope that he will be remembered not as the 12-year-old boy who was murdered and discarded like everyday garbage, but as the energetic young man that he was," said Jonathan’s uncle, Glenn Scrimsher, 33.

Scrimsher, a bearish man with five children of his own, broke down in tears talking about Jonathan, who he said was like a son to him. Scrimsher raised Jonathan on a farm in rural Missouri from the time he was 6 until he was 11, when he went to live with his grandmother in Channelview.
Jonathan lived with his grandmother, Mary Gifford, until November, when he requested as his birthday wish to live with his mother, Angela Davis, and moved into an apartment complex in Garden Oaks.

"Jonathan taught me something very special — a new meaning for the words ‘unconditional love,’""Gifford said. "Cause he did. When he loved you, he loved you. He didn’t care if you had to ground him because he didn’t do his homework, or whatever the case might be. That was just him."

Jonathan, a fifth-grader at Durham Elementary School, was abducted Christmas Eve, his burned body discovered in a ditch days later.

Visitation and a memorial service will be held today at Garden Oaks Baptist Church, 3206 North Shepherd, the staging ground for the search for Jonathan after he disappeared. The service will be followed by internment in South Park Cemetery in Pearland.

Andy Kahan, a crime victim advocate, described an "outpouring of love for Jonathan.""Relatives said another memorial service was being held today for Jonathan in Kansas, where he had extended family.

"Today is Jonathan’s day," Kahan said. "He’s touched the lives of so many Houstonians and people all over the nation and the world."

Gifford said the family has struggled with doubts and regrets, asking why Jonathan was killed, and how they could have stopped it from happening. "We can’t answer the question why," she said. "There is guilt in each and every one of us for not being able to save him."

She asked that people instead focus on Jonathan’s unfailingly polite manners, his sweet smile, how he loved flying kites and going to the beach and museums and watching the History Channel.

"One of the things we have to keep telling ourselves is that vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord, so that we can learn to forgive and move on," she said.

I'm not going to believe Jonathan was killed the way they say. I just can't. I'm telling myself he was smothered, while still unconscious from the stun gun. Otherwise I'll never sleep again. She could easily have put a plastic bag over his head while he was unconscious and done the "welding work" after he was dead and there would be no way for the coroner to know because the body was so destroyed.
As usual I often focus on what was the first thing that happened - the first choice an adult made that set the thing in motion that lead to a dead child. I do this because I don't believe we can ever get rid of murderers, but we can focus on preventing children from crossing their path as much as we can. I find it peculiar that Jonathan's mother, who had only seen him once in years, all of a sudden wanted this 12 year old boy to come and live with her and her husband - who was a stranger to Jonathan I presume. The husband was obviously not a kind, gentle man because it didn't take him long to start beating Jonathan. She must have known what type of character her husband was. Jonathan's mother worked 6 days a week - 60 hours a week. So why did she, and presumably her husband, decide they wanted Jonathan to live with them? The mother was hardly ever going to see Jonathan. It looks like she had given no thought to, or made any plans, for who was going to look after Jonathan while she was working 6 days a week. I can't imagine the husband saying "hey great, I'm so looking forward to looking after a 12 year old boy I don't know every Saturday".
I've been wondering whether they just wanted to claim a dependent on taxes or something. And of course they therefore wouldn't want to waste any money on a babysitter or other child minding programmes for Jonathan. That would defeat the whole purpose of Jonathan being there. Anyway, it may have gone down something like that. How can we stop parents from making stupid decisions that aren't in their children's best interest that sometimes put them in the path of a murderer?

I wrote about him on badbreeders.net this morning. My heart aches for his family.

I need a nap now....

A Houston city councilwoman broke down in tears during Wednesday’s
council meeting as she asked for a moment of silence to remember the
child.

Police said 12-year-old Jonathan Foster’s body was set on fire and
dumped in a ditch a few days after he disappeared on Christmas Eve.

Authorities have charged Mona Nelson with capital murder. The
44-year-old grandmother of five was seen on surveillance video dumping
Jonathan’s body in a ditch, police said. The motive remains a mystery.

Jonathan’s funeral service took place at Garden Oaks Baptist Church, the same place volunteers gathered to search for the boy.　

The search was based in Council Member Brenda Stardig district and she attended Jonathan's funeral.

"If we could just take a moment of silence to remember Jonathan's
energetic and sweet spirit, if we could just for a moment," she said.

She went on to say that anyone who thinks they're going to get away with the murder is sadly mistaken.

I hate that fugly ditch pig. She took a trust, sweet boy and put out his little fire. On the plus side, Texas has the DP and I hope this bitch gets it.

April wrote:I hate that fugly ditch pig. She took a trust, sweet boy and put out his little fire. On the plus side, Texas has the DP and I hope this bitch gets it.

fugly ditch pig--LOVE IT! Keep 'em coming April.

kiwimom wrote:I'm not going to believe Jonathan was killed the way they say. I just can't. I'm telling myself he was smothered, while still unconscious from the stun gun. Otherwise I'll never sleep again. She could easily have put a plastic bag over his head while he was unconscious and done the "welding work" after he was dead and there would be no way for the coroner to know because the body was so destroyed.
As usual I often focus on what was the first thing that happened - the first choice an adult made that set the thing in motion that lead to a dead child. I do this because I don't believe we can ever get rid of murderers, but we can focus on preventing children from crossing their path as much as we can. I find it peculiar that Jonathan's mother, who had only seen him once in years, all of a sudden wanted this 12 year old boy to come and live with her and her husband - who was a stranger to Jonathan I presume. The husband was obviously not a kind, gentle man because it didn't take him long to start beating Jonathan. She must have known what type of character her husband was. Jonathan's mother worked 6 days a week - 60 hours a week. So why did she, and presumably her husband, decide they wanted Jonathan to live with them? The mother was hardly ever going to see Jonathan. It looks like she had given no thought to, or made any plans, for who was going to look after Jonathan while she was working 6 days a week. I can't imagine the husband saying "hey great, I'm so looking forward to looking after a 12 year old boy I don't know every Saturday".
I've been wondering whether they just wanted to claim a dependent on taxes or something. And of course they therefore wouldn't want to waste any money on a babysitter or other child minding programmes for Jonathan. That would defeat the whole purpose of Jonathan being there. Anyway, it may have gone down something like that. How can we stop parents from making stupid decisions that aren't in their children's best interest that sometimes put them in the path of a murderer?

This is an excellent post.