Officers have arrested a 23-year-old woman after two young children were found drowned in a swimming pool.
Authorities in Texas say they were called to a home on February 11, 2026, after receiving a report that two girls, aged two and three, were drowning in a residential pool.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation into the deaths. After roughly three months of reviewing the case, investigators concluded that cocaine was present in both children’s systems when they died.
Police say the children’s mother, Laura Nicholson, was taken into custody on Monday in Fort Myers, Florida. She was charged on May 8, 2026, with two counts of injury to a child.
Under Texas law, the charge can apply not only to direct actions but also to failures to act that place a child in immediate danger or result in serious bodily injury.
Officials have not publicly detailed what specific conduct they believe supports the charges filed against Nicholson.
They also have not said when toxicology tests confirmed the presence of cocaine, or whether the findings were returned early in the investigation or closer to the time charges were authorized.
At this stage, authorities have not released evidence explaining how the substance entered the children’s bodies, nor have they described what information led prosecutors to pursue the two injury-to-a-child counts.
According to law enforcement, Nicholson was located in Florida after the Harris County Sheriff’s Office Violent Criminals Apprehension Team coordinated with the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force to track her across state lines.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office said deputies found her at a local mental health treatment facility, where she was taken into custody.
Nicholson has since been booked into the Lee County Jail. Officials say she will need to be extradited back to Texas, where the case will proceed in court.
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno commented on the arrest in a statement to Fox News Digital: “This arrest highlights the strong partnership the Lee County Sheriff’s Office has with the US Marshals Service and law enforcement agencies across the country, working together to locate and apprehend wanted fugitives.”
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez also addressed the case on social media, confirming Nicholson’s arrest and writing: “We are deeply saddened by the tragic deaths of two young toddlers — sisters — in our community. May these little ones rest in peace.”