On November 16, 1995, Debra Jo Evans, Samantha Jean Evans, and Joshua Ryan Evans were attacked in their home. Debra was 9 months pregnant with the child of her ex-boyfriend Laverne Ward. He came with his cousin Jacqueline Williams and her boyfriend Fedell Caffey to offer Debra money in exchange for the baby. When she refused, they shot Debra and stabbed her 10-year-old daughter Samantha to death. Then they cut Debra open and removed the baby. The attackers initially spared the life of Debra's 8-year-old son Joshua, but after he cried through the night and talked about what they had done to his mother and older sister, they decided to kill him too. They poisoned him, strangled him, and slashed his neck.