Longview News-Journal, Dec. 4, 2008: HENDERSON — Tattered clothing, three hungry dogs and trash strewn across the front porch are all that remained Wednesday of a crime scene so gruesome that some Rusk County law enforcement officials are seeking psychological help.

Blaine Keith Milam and 2008 Longview High graduate Jesseca Bain Carson, both 18, remained in jail Wednesday on $2 million bond each. The couple are charged with capital murder in the Tuesday morning bludgeoning of Carson’s daughter, Amora Bain Carson.

Rusk County Pct. 5 Justice of the Peace Bob Richardson said the charge could mean life in prison or the death penalty if Milam or Carson is convicted.

Lt. Reynold Humber, chief criminal investigator with the Rusk County Sheriff’s Office, said sheriff officials received a 911 call around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday from the couple’s home in the 13000 block of CR 2125 saying that the child was not breathing. Humber said once the first deputy arrived, paramedics informed him that the child was dead and there were suspicious circumstances.

When detectives entered the residence around 11 a.m., Humber said they found the child on the floor of a bedroom with several injuries, including severe trauma that appeared to have been caused by a heavy object.

Humber said when detectives asked about Amora’s injuries, the couple gave several explanations, including that they had left the child unattended and someone broke in and bludgeoned her.

“The mother later confessed that Milam killed the child,” Humber said. “They told us the child was possessed and they were trying to rid it of demons.”

An arrest affidavit states Milam performed an exorcism and later states that after Milam attacked the child — with Carson witnessing the act — the couple drove to Henderson to pawn some items to pay for another exorcism.

“We believe they killed the child early in the morning, left to pawn their tools in Henderson, then came back and called 911,” Humber said.

Milam was convicted earlier this year of aggravated sexual assault of a child younger than 10 and has been serving a five-year probated sentence, according to Rusk County court records. The age and gender of that child was not immediately available.

Milam also has been arrested on several charges of causing disturbances and family violence and assault at the CR 2125 residence.

“He had no business being around children,” Richardson said.

Carson has no convictions or other pending criminal cases in Rusk or Gregg counties.

Humber said the couple are on suicide watch and have been separated from other inmates at the Rusk County Jail.

He said he’s still shaken up by the ordeal.

“I was unable to let it go,” he said as tears filled his eyes. “It’s the worse thing I’ve seen in my 30-plus years of law enforcement.”