Texas murder victim texted mother in La Crescent to get help before shooting deaths

One of eight victims of a 2015 mass murder in Texas reportedly sent Facebook messages for help to her mother in southern Minnesota on the day of the killings.

Jurors at the David Conley trial in Houston, Texas have heard that Conley’s ex-girlfriend, Valerie Jackson, messaged her mother in the La Crescent area to call 9-1-1, also saying Conley had a gun.

Jackson, her six children, and her husband were shot to death in August of 2015 at their house in Texas, and Conley allegedly confessed to the shootings.

Both Conley and Jackson lived in the La Crosse area years before the murders, and the eight shooting victims are buried at a La Crescent area cemetery.

Jackson’s mother Barbara Yanske testified in court about the calls she made from Minnesota to the Harris County sheriff’s office in Houston, asking for a welfare check at the house. Deputies reportedly testified that they were unable to contact anyone in the house, and did not have a warrant to enter before Conley came out of the house that night.

Yanske said she called sheriff’s officers in Texas three times that day, to get them to check on Jackson and the grandchildren.

Conley’s trial in Texas had been delayed for years because of legal arguments, and partly due to the pandemic.

According to Wisconsin court records, Conley pled guilty in La Crosse County to a domestic abuse charge in 2008. That same year, a restraining order was issued in La Crosse against Conley, reportedly requested by Valerie Jackson.

The trial may last until the end of this week.