Murder Charges Added to Houston Daycare Owner

HOUSTON (AP) _ Authorities have added four murder counts to the case against the operator of a Houston home day care center where a fire killed four children last month.

Court records show the counts were filed Wednesday against 22-year-old Jessica Tata. She already had been charged with four counts of manslaughter, six counts of reckless injury to a child, and three counts of abandoning a child. One count of reckless injury to a child was dismissed.

The charges stem from the Feb. 24 fire that also injured three children.

Tata went to Nigeria two days after the fire but returned to face charges March 21. She pleaded not guilty to the earlier charges and is scheduled to be arraigned on the murder charges Friday. She remains in the Harris County Jail.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)