Magnolia mother acquitted in 5-year-old daughter’s 2022 death by reason of insanity

A Magnolia woman with a history of schizophrenia who had been repeatedly institutionalized was found not guilty by reason of insanity Tuesday in the 2022 death of her 5-year-old daughter.

Melissa Towne, 40, was accused of strangling her child and using a plastic bag to suffocate her at Spring Creek Park in Tomball. Her throat had also been slashed when nurses at a Tomball hospital looked at her plastic-wrapped body in Towne’s vehicle in the emergency room parking lot, authorities said.

She told Harris County investigators that she believed her daughter, Chanel, was an “evil child,” police said…

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