Staff Report
KYLE -- Dazrine Chagoya-Williams, 24, convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life without parole for the death of her infant son.
Chagoya-Williams’ trial began on April 25, 2022. She was convicted of capital murder of a child under 10 years of age after the jury’s guilty verdict Friday, May 6, 2022. Bill Henry, the 428th Judicial District Court Judge, sentenced Chagoya-Williams to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The sentence is automatic in a capital murder case as the State of Texas does not seek the death penalty, according to a Hays County news release.
According to trial evidence presented over the last two weeks, Chagoya-Williams called 911 on July 4, 2018, claiming that her 20-month-old son, Mason Williams, was discovered to not be breathing after a nap. After the Kyle Fire Department and EMS attempted to perform life-saving measures, they soon noticed bruising on the infant and other evidence that the death occurred hours earlier.
Investigators later learned that up to 12 minutes before calling 911, Chagoya-Williams and her husband, Stevie Dwayne Williams, Jr., 27, placed multiple calls to tell family members the baby was dead.
Both the medical examiner and a Dell Children’s Hospital pediatrics expert testified that the death resulted from squeezing Mason's body, depriving his brain of oxygen. The day following Mason’s death, the Williams’ 8-month-old daughter was removed from their care by Child Protective Services (CPS). Physicians at Dell Children’s Hospital discovered multiple serious injuries on the sister, similar to those Mason suffered.
CPS caseworkers also testified to observing similar injuries on Mason in 2017. Mason had been returned to Chagoya-Williams and her husband by CPS in March 2018, only after the parents completed required services.
Chagoya-Williams gave multiple statements containing numerous inconsistencies and denying knowledge of her children’s injuries. Phone extractions showed that injuries to both children occurred over the course of several months.
The Hays County Criminal District Attorney’s Office represented the Department of Family and Protective Services in a parental rights termination trial in February 2019, that concluded with a jury terminating the couple’s parental rights to their surviving child. Stevie Dwayne Williams was convicted of capital murder in October 2021 and is currently serving life without the possibility of parole.
“The fact that both his parents were complicit in ending Mason Williams’ too-short life makes this case doubly tragic," said Wes Mau, Hays County Criminal District Attorney.
