Alexus Williams received a 40-year prison sentence after admitting her role in the 2021 killings of a couple and their 6-year-old daughter.
HOUSTON, TX — A woman accused of helping set in motion a deadly attack on a Houston family pleaded guilty Tuesday to three counts of murder and was sentenced to 40 years in prison, more than five years after a couple and their 6-year-old daughter were killed inside their apartment.
Alexus Williams, 33, had originally faced three counts of capital murder in the June 30, 2021, deaths of Donyavia Lagway, 29, Gregory Carhee, 35, and their daughter, Harmony Carhee, 6. Prosecutors had accused Williams of directing Xavier Davis to the family’s southwest Houston apartment before Davis carried out the shootings. Williams did not fire the shots, according to court records and reporting on the case. Her guilty pleas to the reduced murder charges resolved her case before a planned capital murder trial.
The killings happened at an apartment complex in the 12100 block of Fondren Road. Investigators said Davis entered the family’s apartment after knocking on the door. Lagway, Carhee and Harmony were killed, while the couple’s 10-year-old daughter was shot in the arm and survived. Authorities said the girl played dead before contacting relatives for help. A 1-year-old child who was also in the apartment was not physically injured.
Prosecutors said Williams knew Davis from childhood and had been in a relationship with Lagway before the killings. Authorities alleged that Williams directed Davis to the apartment and told him there was money inside. Evidence presented during Davis’ later trial showed Williams helped guide him to the family’s home because he did not know where they lived, prosecutors said.
Williams’ defense disputed prosecutors’ characterization of her as the mastermind behind the killings. Defense attorney Mario Madrid said the state may have been able to establish that Williams was a party to the crime but could not prove that she planned the killings for money or orchestrated the entire attack. The dispute became significant as Williams faced the possibility of a capital murder trial and, if convicted, life in prison without parole.
Williams initially rejected a proposed 40-year plea agreement in the days before her scheduled trial. Prosecutors withdrew that offer, but a nearly identical agreement was presented Tuesday. After hours of discussions involving lawyers and Williams, she signed the deal and pleaded guilty. The agreement reduced the capital murder charges to murder and set her sentence at 40 years in state prison. She will be eligible for parole after serving 30 years.
Davis had already admitted responsibility for the killings. He pleaded guilty to capital murder in March 2025, shortly before opening statements in his trial. Because of the plea, jurors were left to decide whether he should receive life in prison without parole or a death sentence. After an 18-day proceeding that included testimony about the killings and Davis’ background, jurors sentenced him to death in April 2025.
The surviving daughter, who was 10 when the attack occurred, later testified during Davis’ trial at age 14. Her testimony provided a firsthand account of what happened inside the apartment. Investigators also relied on phone records and other evidence as they examined the relationship between Davis and Williams and reconstructed the events surrounding the killings.
Williams was arrested in 2022, about eight months after the shooting. Prosecutors maintained that the family would not have been targeted without her involvement, while her attorneys challenged the extent of her responsibility for Davis’ actions. Her guilty pleas bring the criminal case against her to a close without requiring a jury to decide the disputed allegations that would have been presented at a capital murder trial.
Williams is expected to return to court Friday for victim impact statements. Her 40-year sentence leaves her eligible for parole after 30 years, while Davis remains under a death sentence for the three killings.
Author note: Last updated September 29, 2026.