In the quiet hours of a late February night in 2017, eight-year-old De’Maree Adkins was doing what every child should be able to do safely — sleeping peacefully in the backseat of her mother’s car.

No fear.
No danger.
No warning.

But within minutes, that ordinary night would erupt into chaos, violence, and heartbreak. A chain of reckless decisions, speeding vehicles, and one senseless gunman would end a young life before she ever had the chance to wake up.

This is the story of how a little girl became the innocent victim of a crime that should never have happened — and why the search for justice took years.

A Night That Should Have Been Safe

De’Maree Adkins was eight years old — bright, spirited, loved by her family, and full of dreams no child should ever be robbed of. On February 25, 2017, she and her mother were driving home through Houston, finishing a simple, ordinary day. Nothing unusual. Nothing dangerous.

De’Maree drifted to sleep in the backseat, wrapped in childhood innocence.

But just before 3 a.m., three vehicles approached the same intersection — and from that moment forward, everything unraveled.

The Crash That Set the Tragedy in Motion

According to investigators, a white Pontiac Grand Prix was either:

• Racing another car,
  or
• Being chased by it.

Witnesses would later describe the two vehicles as “flying down the road,” speeding so aggressively it seemed inevitable that something would go wrong.

And then it did.

The white Pontiac ran a red light at full speed.
A third vehicle — the one carrying De’Maree and her mother — had no chance to react. The cars collided violently, metal twisting, glass shattering.

In many cases, this would have been the entire tragedy: a reckless driver causing a devastating crash. But this story took a darker turn — one no one could have predicted.

A Shooting No One Expected

Moments after the crash, instead of checking on victims or calling for help, the driver of the second car — the car that had been chasing or racing the Pontiac — stepped out.

He didn’t rush to offer aid.
He didn’t try to call 911.
Instead, he raised a gun.

Witnesses heard five to seven shots fired directly into De’Maree’s mother’s car — the one that had been hit. Bullets tore through the vehicle, smashing through windows, punching through metal, ripping through the air with brutal force.

Inside, little De’Maree — still half asleep, confused, terrified — was struck by gunfire.

Her mother screamed her name.
But it was too late.

A Mother’s Worst Nightmare

Paramedics rushed De’Maree to Memorial Hermann Hospital as doctors fought desperately to save her life. But the bullets had done too much damage.

The little girl who went to sleep in her mother’s backseat never woke up.

Her mother, wounded and hysterical, survived her injuries physically — but no one walks away from something like this unchanged.

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo later spoke publicly, his voice thick with emotion:

“She was not an intended target. She was an innocent child.”

But innocent or not — she was gone.

The Hunt for the Killers

The shooter had fled the scene.
The driver of the white Pontiac had vanished.
The streets were left scattered with broken glass, shell casings, and the echoes of a family’s screams.

For weeks, then months, detectives worked to find the men responsible.

Two drivers.
One shooter.
A senseless death.

The city mourned.
The community demanded justice.
And De’Maree’s family kept asking one question:

Who could shoot into a car without knowing — or caring — that a child was inside?

A Break in the Case

Eventually, police identified the shooter: Jacobe Payton, who was just 19 years old at the time of the killing.

He was arrested and charged with:

• Capital murder of a child under 10,
  and
• Murder.

Under Texas law, capital murder of a minor can carry the harshest of penalties, including life imprisonment.

It seemed, finally, that justice was within reach.

But trials are rarely simple.

Inside the Courtroom: What the Jury Saw

The prosecution presented a case built on eyewitness accounts, ballistic evidence, and the simple, awful truth that a little girl had been hit by bullets Payton fired.

The defense argued that emotions ran high, that the chaos of the crash clouded judgment, that Payton’s intent was not proven to be murder. They argued that the shooting was reckless — not premeditated.

In the end, the jury had to answer one question:

Was this capital murder… or murder without premeditation?

After long deliberation, the verdict came:

Guilty — but of the lesser charge of murder.

Not capital murder.
Not life without parole.
But still a conviction that carried a potential sentence of:

5 to 99 years, or life in prison.

A wide range — reflecting the uncertainty, the complexity, the arguments made on both sides.

Justice — But Not Closure

For many, the verdict was not enough.

For De’Maree’s family, how could any sentence ever reflect the loss of an eight-year-old child? What number of years in prison could ever balance the weight of her absence?

But for the first time since that February night, there was accountability.

A young man pulled the trigger.
A little girl died.
And the justice system would ensure he faced the consequences.

Still, the questions linger.

Why fire at all?
Why pull a gun after a crash?
Why shoot into a car without knowing who was inside?
Was he aiming at the wrong people?
Or did he simply not care?

These are answers that may never fully come.

A City That Refuses to Forget

Years have passed since De’Maree’s death, but Houston has not forgotten her.
Children don’t get killed by stray bullets without a city feeling the impact.

Candles have been lit.
Vigils held.
Her name spoken in courtrooms, in community meetings, in newsrooms across Texas.

Her story is a reminder of:

• How quickly reckless driving turns into tragedy.
• How easily guns escalate chaos into death.
• How innocent children pay the price for the violent decisions of adults.
• 

De’Maree Adkins: More Than a Headline

Too often, victims become stories.
But De’Maree was more than a headline.

She was eight.
She loved to smile.
She had a family who adored her.
She had a future that stretched far beyond the February night when that future was stolen.

Her life mattered.
Her story matters.
And her name deserves to be remembered.

A Lesson Written in Heartbreak

Every tragedy teaches something.
This one teaches many things:

• A red light ignored can destroy lives.
• A gun in reckless hands turns chaos deadly.
• Innocent children are the most vulnerable when adults lose control.
• Justice can come — but it never brings back what was lost.

De’Maree did nothing wrong.
She was simply asleep.
A child.
A passenger.
A life caught in the crossfire of someone else’s choices.

A Legacy Carved From Loss

De’Maree’s death reshaped the conversation in Houston around:

• reckless driving,
• street racing,
• and gun violence.

Her name is often invoked in debates about how to protect children from becoming victims of crimes they have no part in.

If there is any meaning to be found in her loss, it is in the hope that her story prevents another.

The Final Image

A mother, injured and terrified.
A daughter, asleep one moment and gone the next.
A community grieving.
A shooter behind bars.
A justice system that tried — but could never restore what was taken.

De’Maree Adkins was supposed to wake up the next morning.

Instead, she became a symbol of innocence lost, violence unchecked, and justice demanded.

And she remains a reminder that in the blink of an eye, the world can change — and a child’s life can be stolen by the recklessness of strangers.

Her story is not forgotten.
And it must never be.