The father accused of fatally stabbing his two young children was charged Sunday with two counts of capital murder, according to court records.
After a day on the run, Jean Pierre Ndossoka, 61, shot himself overnight before police found him – still alive – in his car in Pasadena.
He was rushed to Clear Lake Regional Hospital in stable condition with non-life-threatening wounds after authorities located him around 1 a.m., according to the Houston Police Department.
A day earlier, Ndossoka allegedly called his wife, Sabine Ntongo, around 3:30 p.m. and told her he’d killed their kids, a 1-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy.
“He called her and told her he killed her kids,” HPD Assistant Chief Wendy Baimbridge said.
The woman called 911 and rushed over to Ndossoka’s apartment in southwest Houston.
“At that point she came back to the apartment and she found them deceased and the husband had fled the scene,” Baimbridge told ABC 13.
When police arrived, they found both children stabbed to death, lying on the bed.
Ndossoka fled his home in the 10900 block of Fondren, and police put out a vehicle description and mounted a search. Authorities did not immediately clarify how they located him.
The double slayings came shortly after Ntongo dropped her kids off at their father’s apartment for visitation. The couple had been married for six years and recently separated, police said.
The couple emigrated to the U.S. from the Congo several years ago, and are naturalized citizens.
Ntongo’s cousin, Patrice Nsuary, described Ndossoka as verbally abusive.
“I came down here to talk to both of them about the marriage. In Africa, we talk to both the man and wife,” Nsuary said. “I spoke to him yesterday, and he seemed fine.”
The children moved in with Ntongo after she left Ndossoka, “but he wanted to see the children every day,” said Nsuary.
“He’d take them to McDonald’s. Yesterday, I saw him with his son at the grocery store, and he seemed fine,” Nsuary said.
Ndossoka doesn’t appear to have any prior criminal history in Harris County. He’s due in court Monday morning.
Ndossoka doesn’t have an assigned attorney yet. If he’s found guilty, he could face a death sentence.
