Kyle woman sentenced to life without parole for infant son's death

KYLE, Texas - A 24-year-old Kyle mother has been convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the 2018 death of her infant child.

Dazrine Chagoya-Williams was convicted of capital murder of a child under 10 years of age on May 6 and received the automatic sentence in capital murder cases where the State does not seek the death penalty.

Trial evidence in the case showed that on July 4, 2018, Chagoya-Williams called 911, claiming her 20-month-old son Mason Williams was found not breathing after a nap. Kyle fire and EMS crews attempted to save Mason and noticed bruising and other evidence revealing he had died hours earlier. 

Investigators later learned that up to twelve minutes before calling 911, Chagoya-Williams and her 27-year-old husband, Stevie Dwayne Williams, Jr. had placed multiple calls to tell family members the baby was dead, says the county.

Both the medical examiner and a pediatrics expert testified that Mason’s death resulted from squeezing the child’s body, depriving his brain of oxygen, says the county. The day following Mason’s death, his eight-month-old sister was removed from their care by CPS and physicians discovered multiple serious injuries on her similar to those Mason suffered. A jury in 2019 terminated the couple's parental rights to Mason's sister.

Chagoya-Williams gave multiple statements containing numerous inconsistencies and denying knowledge of her children’s injuries, however extractions from the couple's phones showed injuries to both children over several months. In addition, CPS caseworkers testified to observing similar injuries on Mason in 2017. The boy had been returned to his parents by CPS just four months before his death, only after the pair completed required services, says the county.

Stevie Williams was convicted of capital murder in October 2021 and is also serving life without the possibility of parole.