Saturday's blood bath inside 2211 Falling Oaks was a crime so cold, it's hard for prosecutors to even get the words out.
"Any time you hear about the deaths of this many children, it is hard," said prosecutor Alysia Harvey. "It's hard."
Stoic and dressed in jailhouse yellow, David Conley, the man deputies say methodically executed his ex-girlfriend Valerie, her husband Dwayne and six innocent children faced a judge. He said nothing.
New details emerged about the family's final moments.
"My heart goes out to the mother who received the text from her daughter that she was in trouble and the mother was many states away, but of course did what any mother's going to do, which is call 911," said Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson. "And those deputies out there, God bless them, too."
New surveillance video from across the street captures the chaotic scene as the SWAT scene started to unfold Saturday night. Officers carrying weapons ushered neighbors away from any danger near the home.
Now the home where the massacre happened has turned into a growing memorial to the victims.
All this as court documents from Harris County and Wisconsin shed new light on the complicated relationship between Conley, Valerie and her husband Dwayne.
Valerie had two active Facebook pages, one listed as Valerie Conley, the other Valerie Jackson.
Court records show both Conley and Jackson had tendencies to get violent and aggressive with Valerie.
In 2012, Valerie's husband Dwayne, was charged with holding her and their kids against their will for seven days at a Houston motel. According to documents obtained by KHOU, "when she tried to leave, Jackson took his hands and hit her in the face several times."
He also allegedly threatened to start a fire at her house or even shoot her house up if she left.
That's the same year Valerie tattooed David Conley's name to her body.
She ended up back together with Dwayne in their home on Falling Oaks, but it was Conley who deputies say returned to the home angry the locks had been changed, climbed in a window and killed an entire family, including his own son, Nathaniel.
Other documents obtained by KHOU 11 News show that Child Protective Services took temporary custody of the children in September 2013 after an investigation revealed a pattern of "physical abuse" and "neglectful supervision." The documents state that 7-year-old Caleb Jackson, who had special needs, "walked out of his home on two different occasions" and was discovered at 8:30 one night "wandering near a major intersection."
CPS agreed to return the kids to their mom during a court hearing in October that year.
The parents attending practice for the North Harris County Bengals, the pee wee team for which Nathaniel Jackson played, say they've never seen anything like it before in their lives.
"It just hurts to know that it's one of our family members out here," said parent Shannon Powell.
