Woman arrested for allegedly killing teenage girlfriend

A 24-year-old Texas woman has been arrested and charged with allegedly murdering her 18-year-old girlfriend, who died as a result of “compression to the neck.” The teen’s sister says the woman physically abused the victim leading up to the murder.

On January 5, Houston Police Department officers found the body of Tierra Horn in the Buffalo Bayou area of downtown Houston. Horn’s family hadn’t seen or heard from her since January 2. The family reported Horn missing on January 4, KRIV reported.

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The victim suffered domestic abuse, police say, and held a $330,000 life insurance policy.

Horn’s sister, Rokeisha Calton, said that after seeing a news article about police discovering a body, officers notified her and said the body was probably her sister’s.

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Calton said the geolocation tracking on her sister’s phone showed that her last known location was at the apartment belonging to her girlfriend, 24-year-old Shania Laneice Turner. Horn’s body was reportedly found around the corner from that location.

An autopsy report found that Horn died from “compression to the neck,” likely cutting off oxygen to her brain. Police eventually arrested Turner on Thursday, January 11, in connection with the murder. They booked Turner into the Harris County Jail.

Calton said Horn met Turner shortly after the death of Horn’s mother in 2021. Calton called her mother death’s “hard on the whole family.” After Horn and Turner began dating, Calton said, Horn would often have injuries on her face but wouldn’t tell her sister how she got them.

“I can’t help if you don’t tell me,” Calton said she told her sister, adding, “We could have reported it.”

“I am mad about it,” Calton added. “I will forgive them [but] I want them to pay for what they did.”

Around 44% of lesbian and 61% of bisexual women have experienced forms of physical domestic violence by an intimate partner, compared to 35% of straight women in the U.S., according to the DC Volunteer Lawyers Project.

LGBTQ+ domestic violence is vastly underreported and unacknowledged, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCAVP). A 2015 NCAVP report found that one in four LGBTQ+ survivors of domestic violence said that when they reported such violence to police, officers were “indifferent or hostile” towards them. This, combined with the fact that some queer victims have been denied services by domestic violence groups due to their sexual orientation or gender identity, can make LGBTQ+ people reluctant to report their abuse.