Los Angeles couple accused of shooting, setting fire to teenagers, sexually abusing them and refusing to seek medical help

THIBODAUX, La. (TCD) – A 40-year-old woman and her 41-year-old partner were arrested on a slew of charges after a car crash investigators discovered left a young girl shot, burned, sexually assaulted and without medical care.

According to the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office, officers with the Bayton Police Department in Texas responded to a motor vehicle accident on a back road off eastbound I-10 around 11 p.m. on April 20 and made contact with the driver, Terrence Washington. Washington was reportedly holding a firearm, which he handed over to police before being taken into custody. Officers found the 15-year-old in the car and transported her to a hospital due to the “severity of the victim’s injuries.”

The girl’s mother, Latonya Harris, was also taken to the hospital.

The sheriff’s office said doctors at the hospital “discovered the gruesome extent of burns to the victim’s torso as well as gunshot wounds to the victim’s chest and face.”

A Bayton police investigator reportedly called the girl’s injuries “the worst she has seen in her entire career.”

The Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office joined the investigation the following day when officers from the Department of Child and Family Services responded and worked with Baytown police.

Investigators with the Baytown Police Department spoke with Washington, who allegedly admitted to shooting the 15-year-old victim twice in two days – once in the head and once in the chest. Additionally, Washington reportedly said he sexually abused the teen for several months.

A minor who was in the car with the victim, Harris and Washington at the time of the accident reportedly told police she woke up one night near Mardi Gras “to see the victim’s burning body while Latonya Harris stood over her bed.” a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a lighter.

The victim reportedly never received medical attention.

Detectives with the Terrebonne Parish Special Victims Unit obtained a search warrant for Harris and Washington’s home and found evidence that a gun had been fired in the home, as well as blood and the “strong odor of infection and rotting flesh.”

Washington reportedly told investigators in a later interview that he knew Harris burned the girl because she learned of the sexual abuse “that she blamed for the encounters.”

Harris was released from the hospital on May 9 and arrested on charges of attempted first-degree murder, second-degree cruelty to a juvenile and domestic violence. Her bail was set at $1 million.

Washington remains in custody in Texas, but there is a warrant out for his arrest on two counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree cruelty to a child, obstruction of justice, harassment of a juvenile and three counts of indecent behavior toward a juvenile and five counts of Second degree rape.

Sheriff Tim Soignet said in a news conference Friday: “It’s a shock to the conscience, especially when it’s a family member, a mother. I served in the Marine Corps for 22 years and have seen many things. And that shocked me more than most of the things I dealt with in my 22 years in the Marine Corps.

He added: “She is an incredible young lady who is able to understand what she went through and tell our investigators.”

MORE: