Trigger Warning: This article contains descriptions of child deaths, alleged child neglect, substance abuse, and references to dr*g exposure involving minors that some readers may find distressing.
A 23-year-old mother was arrested in Florida three months after her two toddler daughters, aged two and three, were allegedly found drowned with c*caine in their systems, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said.
Laura Nicholson was arrested in Fort Myers on Monday, May 11, after authorities found her at a local mental health treatment facility around noon and took her into custody without incident. On May 8, police had charged her with two counts of injury to a child for her alleged role in the tragic deaths of their two daughters that happened in Texas.
The New York Post reports that under Texas law, “injury to a child can include acts or omissions that cause serious bodily harm or place a child in imminent danger.”
Three months earlier, on February 11, deputies with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) responded to a call at a home in Katy, Texas, after two toddler sisters, Kelsey Kite and Kinsley Kite, ages two and three, respectively, were reportedly found drowned in the family backyard pool.
@HCSOTexas deputies are responding to a residence at the 21000 block of Creek Edge Ct (Katy), in reference to the potential drowning of two female toddlers (possible ages of 2 & 3 yrs old).
Circumstances, ages, conditions are unknown at this time. Lifeflight has been requested.… pic.twitter.com/DX5pIfiJ5K
— Ed Gonzalez (@SheriffEd_HCSO) February 11, 2026
Investigation carried out by HCSO detectives revealed that both the sisters had c*caine in their systems at the time of drowning, Sheriff Gonzalez said in a post to X, formerly Twitter. Gonzalez shared that on Monday, the “Violent Criminals Apprehension Team (VCAT) coordinated with the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force, who arrested Nicholson in Florida and booked her into the Lee County Jail.”
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic deaths of two young toddlers — sisters — in our community. May these little ones rest in peace,” Gonzalez wrote.
Arrest update:
On 2/11/26, @HCSOTexas detectives investigated the reported drowning of two toddlers; 3 and 2-year-old sisters at a residence located in the 21000 block of Creek Edge Court (Katy).
Our investigation determined that both children had cocaine in their systems at… https://t.co/WxWlTv1fj9 pic.twitter.com/HxxIX2hFDn
— Ed Gonzalez (@SheriffEd_HCSO) May 11, 2026
Click2 Houston reports that the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences released the findings from the children’s autopsies on April 30.
Investigators found that both girls allegedly had c*caine and benzoylecgonine, a c*caine metabolite, in their blood.
Forensic experts working on the case said that any amount of c*caine in a two- or three-year-old child can result in serious bodily injury and significantly increase the risk of death, reports Click2 Houston. As per the publication, the medical examiner said that drowning is difficult to determine through an autopsy alone and is usually concluded through the facts and circumstantial evidence relating to a death.
The medical examiner reportedly added that the Texas toddlers having access to the pool without fencing or functioning locks was “extremely dangerous” and that the inefficient supervision “could certainly have been a contributing factor” in the sisters’ deaths.
According to Click2 Houston, court records show that authorities detained Nicholson and the children’s grandparents at the scene as they investigated what happened.
The children’s grandmother told investigators that she left the house around 9:30 a.m. to run errands. At the time of her departure, she said Nicholson was asleep on the couch and that the toddlers were playing in the living room, per the media outlet.
Court records indicate that when the grandmother reached home shortly after 11 a.m., she found the back door slightly ajar. She then discovered the children in the pool, reports Click2 Houston.
The grandfather told investigators that he had played with the sisters that morning after returning from work around 8:30 a.m., before retiring to bed around 9:30 a.m.
😡Cocaine Found in 2 Toddlers Who Drowned😡
23-year-old Laura Nicholson was charged with two counts of injury to a child
Investigators said that Nicholson was asleep when the children were found in the pool. They wrote that she said she was aware that the door latch had been… pic.twitter.com/M0bx6SFMvp— American Crime Stories (@AmericanCrime01) May 12, 2026
He said that Nicholson was fit to look after her daughters, but said that she “falls asleep a lot and this causes issues,” court documents said, per the news site.
Nicholson told investigators that she had been staying at the house for about a year. She reportedly shared that the toddlers had woken up around 7:45 a.m. on the day of the incident and that she had fed them before they began watching a film.
According to Click2 Houston, the defendant also told detectives that the latch on the back door had been broken for two days, so it would not lock. She reportedly also said that the girls had gotten out of the house and toward the pool area before. Meanwhile, last year, Child Protective Services had reportedly questioned Nicholson about separate dr*g allegations. Detectives also found out that the defendant’s mother had earlier accused her of using c*caine during an interview conducted after the toddlers’ deaths.
