Drunk custodial dad in custody for shooting and killing 10-year-old daughter on Christmas Eve (Oak Point, Texas)

Observe that in the second article cited from the Dallas News, dad DUKE LAWRENCE WATROUS is identified as a "single parent" (e.g. custodial dad), though mention of this is curiously omitted from the first article. Funny that you can no longer access this second article at the News website either. The only reason I have it is because a friend emailed it to me--hat tip to Annie here--so I'm passing it on to you.

Seems Daddy got a little wasted on Christmas Eve and got a little "reckless" (or so that's the excuse we're being fed). The girl's body is hardly cold and we're already being assured that Daddy wasn't really responsible for her shooting death. Why is he getting the kid glove treatment already? If "it's still unclear what lead to the shooting," then why are the cops sweeping all suspicions under the rug so early in the investigation by concluding that Daddy hadn't "meant to kill"? If it's truly not clear, then how do you people know what he meant or didn't mean? Stuff just happens? Next we'll be hearing about how that 10-year-old girl went and got her self shot, don't you know.

Note that this is not exactly new stuff for Daddy either. Back in April, he was arrested on some unspecified abuse charge. So are we to conclude that this was also "unintentional"? I'm smelling a rat.

And what happened to the mom in all this? Why did this drunken idiotic gun freak of a father have custody? Let's get on the ball, Dallas News, and do some real reporting. Not just suck up to vague and contradictory police reports. Hint: the divorce and custody records are public record. Look them up.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-childkilled_26met.ART.State.Edition2.4ba7501.html

Alcohol may have been factor in Oak Point girl's shooting death; father in custody

11:17 PM CST on Friday, December 25, 2009
By SCOTT GOLDSTEIN and TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News
sgoldstein@dallasnews.com
teiserer@dallasnews.com

Authorities believe an Oak Point man was intoxicated when he fatally shot his 10-year-old daughter in the head inside their home on Christmas Eve.

It's still unclear what led to the shooting, but investigators do not think 36-year-old Duke Lawrence Watrous meant to kill Ashley Watrous.

"At this point, it doesn't appear to be deliberate, but there's definitely some recklessness involved," said Texas Ranger Tracy Murphree, one of the investigators on the case.

Watrous was being held on a manslaughter charge at the Denton County Jail on Friday night. Bail was set at $200,000.

Police also recovered several other guns, some of which were not properly secured, from the home in the 500 block of Naylor Road in Oak Point, which is east of Denton. Watrous has not provided police any information about what happened, Murphree said.

The family had company earlier in the evening. At the time of the shooting Thursday night, Watrous, Ashley and two of her siblings, a 9-year-old boy and a 1-year-old girl, are believed to have been in the house.

The boy called 911 to report the shooting, officials said.

"He said her father had shot her," said Denton County sheriff's spokesman Tom Reedy.

It is unclear how much time passed between the shooting and that call. Ashley was pronounced dead about 8:40 p.m. on the family's dining room table, where she had been placed.

Police and paramedics who responded to the call were shaken by the death.

"It was just devastating to everybody who was there," Murphree said. "Being Christmas Eve just compounded the tragedy and everybody involved, including myself, was very upset about it."

Maria Gonzalez, a neighbor, said Ashley and one of her brothers brought over a Christmas tin filled with cookies earlier this week.

"I thought it was so precious of her," Gonzalez said. "It's something they did almost every year. I told her I didn't have anything for her and she said, 'That's OK.' That was very sweet."

In April, Duke Watrous was arrested on one count of injury to a child or an elderly person or disabled person. Details about the case were unavailable.

According to public records, Watrous owns a moving company named MoveCo.net.

Father held in Christmas Eve shooting death of Oak Point girl

12:16 PM CST on Friday, December 25, 2009

By TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News
teiserer@dallasnews.com

A 10-year-old girl died on the dining room table of her Oak Point home Christmas Eve after being fatally shot.

Ashley Watrous was pronounced dead at about 8:40 p.m. Thursday. The girl’s father, Duke Lawrence Watrous, 36, was being held on count of manslaughter. Bail had been set at $200,000.
Details were sketchy regarding what occurred in the 500 block of Naylor Road in the community of Oak Point in northeast Denton County.

Tom Reedy, a Denton County Sheriff’s spokesman, said authorities received a call Thursday night from Ashley’s brother.

“He said her father had shot her,” Reedy said. “As far as the circumstances, I have no idea.”

The case is being investigated by the Oak Point Department of Public Safety and Texas Ranger Tracy Murphree. Neither could be reached for details about the case.

Maria Gonzalez, a neighbor, said Ashley’s father was a single parent with four children and that she thinks Ashley was the eldest.

Earlier this week, she said Ashley and one of her brothers brought over a Christmas tin filled with cookies.

“I thought it was so precious of her,” Gonzalez said. “It’s something they did almost every year. I told her I didn’t have anything for her and she said, ‘That’s OK.’ That was very sweet.”

In April, Duke Watrous was arrested on one count injury to a child or an elderly person or disabled person. Details about the case were unavailable.

According to public records, Duke Watrous owns a moving company named MoveCo.net.