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.
