Mother Charged With Capital Murder After Two Sons Die at Home

By Dana Whitfield. Oct 11, 2026

A 911 Call Sends Deputies to a Family Home

A Waxahachie mother faces two counts of capital murder after authorities say her two sons were fatally injured inside their home, leaving their father asking for justice for both boys.

Ellis County sheriff’s deputies were sent to the 900 block of Big Sky Drive at about 4:13 a.m. on October 1 after a 911 call reporting an unknown emergency. NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth reported that dispatchers received a hang-up call, reached the caller again, and were told that all units were needed before the call disconnected.

Deputies entered the home and found two brothers with critical injuries. Christopher Scott Pitre, 21, was pronounced dead at the scene. His 15-year-old brother was taken to a hospital, where investigators said he later died. Authorities initially withheld the younger victim’s name because he was a juvenile.

The brothers’ mother, 42-year-old Colleen Nichole Lemmon, was also found at the home with non-life-threatening injuries. She received medical treatment before being booked into the Wayne McCollum Detention Center.

Investigators File Two Capital Murder Counts

The Ellis County Sheriff’s Office said investigators developed probable cause through the scene investigation and recovered evidence that led them to accuse Lemmon of causing both deaths. She was charged with two counts of capital murder.

The charges are allegations, and Lemmon has not been convicted. The motive for the deaths has not been publicly established in the approved reporting. That gap matters because the relationship alone cannot explain why two brothers died inside the home they shared with their mother.

NBC 5 reported that bond had not been set at the time of its October 2 update pending arraignment. The sheriff’s office said the father of the victims had been notified, and the investigation continued.

Some public records contain graphic details about the scene and injuries. Those details are not necessary to understand the case. The essential facts are that deputies responded to an emergency call, found two sons mortally injured, and later arrested their mother on two counts of capital murder.

A Father Speaks for Two Sons

The victims’ father, Scott Pitre, told NBC 5 he had celebrated his younger son’s 15th birthday with him at a lake just days before the deaths. He said he wanted to be a voice for justice for his sons.

That recent birthday gives the family’s loss a concrete timeline without turning the teenager’s life into a crime-scene detail. One son was 21. The other had just turned 15. Both were part of the same family, and both died after the early-morning emergency at their home.

Sheriff Brad Norman offered condolences to the victims’ father, relatives and loved ones. Funeral plans were being made while the criminal case moved toward its first court proceedings.

Because one victim was a minor, restraint is especially important. The public record supports the relationship, the two deaths, the charges and the father’s comments. It does not support speculation about motive, family dynamics before the incident or what the boys may have experienced in their final moments.

The legal process will determine whether prosecutors can prove the two capital murder counts. For the father and extended family, however, the case already has an irreversible outcome: two sons from the same home are gone, only days after one of them celebrated his birthday with his father.

The early-morning 911 sequence also explains why deputies arrived without a clear description of what they would find. Dispatchers first received a hang-up, then reconnected with a woman who said more units were needed before communication ended again, according to NBC 5. Investigators later said evidence at the scene gave them probable cause to charge Lemmon. Authorities have not publicly supplied a motive. Keeping that unknown visible is especially important in a case involving a mother and her children, because the family relationship is verified while any explanation for the deaths remains unproven.

References: NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth | FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth