HOUSTON (AP) _ Bond totaling more than $1 million has been set for a Houston woman charged with murder after a fire at her home day care center killed four children and injured three others.
Jessica Tata wasn’t in court Thursday when a judge set bail at $200,000 on each of the four murder charges, which prosecutors upgraded from manslaughter a day earlier. Her arraignment is set for May 12.
Authorities believe the 22-year-old Tata left all seven children alone Feb. 24 before a stove-top burner ignited the fire. She caught a flight to Nigeria two days later, but was returned to the U.S. March 21.
She’s also charged with reckless injury to a child and abandoning a child, which boost her bond to about $1.1 million. She’s in the Harris County Jail.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)