Friend shocked by teen’s arrest in girl’s killing

When police arrested 19-year-old Jacobe Dante Payton this week, a longtime family friend thought it was for unpaid traffic tickets.

Until recently, the Houston resident had been a student at Willowridge High School, in the southwest portion of the city. After class, he watched his 8-month-old son and 2-year-old daughter while their mother, his high school sweetheart, worked.

“He didn’t have a mean streak in his body,” said Carla, the longtime friend who declined to provide her full name. Carla said she is the daughter of Payton’s former guardian.

On Wednesday, the Houston Police Department identified the teen as the alleged killer of 8-yearold De’Maree Adkins, who died last Saturday.

Early morning crash

As De’Maree’s family plans the third-grader’s funeral, Payton’s friend and lawyer are questioning how the father and student they knew could have shot a child.

“I can’t imagine how he could get mixed up in something like this,” said Tiffany Hill, a lawyer the court appointed to represent Payton for two unrelated charges. “He seemed like one of those students that stays on top of himself.”

Payton had been out of the house that Saturday with friends, Carla said.

Early Saturday morning, De’Maree’s mother, Latoyia Thomas, crashed into a Pontiac at the intersection of Beltway 8 and West Fuqua, while driving herself and De’Maree home from a hair appointment. After the collision, a person opened fire at Thomas’ Honda and hit De’Maree, according to police reports. A fourdoor sedan fled the scene. Thomas, who was uninjured, held De’Maree in her arms and begged her daughter to stay alive.

Paramedics transported De’Maree to a hospital, where she died of her injuries.

The Houston Police Department is still investigating the case.

Pending assault cases

This isn’t Payton’s first brush with law enforcement.

In September, he was arrested in Harris County and accused of stealing 15 flash drives, three hard drives, a laptop, a computer bag and cash, valued between $2,500 and $50,000. He was released on bond and then arrested again in January for failing to appear in court. He appears to have been released on bond again in early February, according to court records.

He also has two assault cases pending in Fort Bend County, both of which Hill said happened at school. One alleges he got in a fight in January 2015 and struck another student. The second, filed about a year later, alleges he slapped his girlfriend.

Both were misunderstandings, Hill said. Payton pled not guilty to both in his arraignment. He was scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday for both charges.

By then, he had already been taken into police custody for De’Maree’s murder.

Because the shooting happened in the portion of Houston that is in Fort Bend, not Harris, County, Payton is being held in the Fort Bend County jail with a $500,000 bail. He was charged in the 240th State District Court in Fort Bend County.

De’Maree’s family announced her funeral will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday at Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church at 3015 N. MacGregor Way, Houston.