Murdered teen's mother in custody on sexual assault charges

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Murdered teen's mother in custody on sexual assault charges

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LUBBOCK, Texas -

The mother of Holli Jeffcoat, the 18-year-old Idalou student who was found dead inside her Lubbock County home in February, has been arrested on aggravated sexual assault charges.

Debi Holland was taken into custody by sheriff's deputies Friday evening. She is booked into the Lubbock County Detention Center under a $500,000 bond with additional charges pending, according to the Lubbock Sheriff's office.  The charge stems from the continual sexual assault of her murdered daughter, Holli Jeffcoat, by her husband James Holland, having first-hand knowledge of the assault(s), and allowing them to occur.

An investigator with Lubbock Sheriff's Office reported Holli's body had a laceration across her neck and an abdominal cut that exposed her internal organs, and it appeared she'd been partially burned to destroy evidence.

The medical examiner ruled her death a homicide by sharp-force injuries.

On Jan. 29 of this year, the Department of Family and Protective Services received an intake accusing James Holland, Holli Jeffcoat's step-father, of sexually abusing the murder victim in 2015. 

According to the affidavit, the report stated Holland got her pregnant and he would pick her up from a bus stop and take her out into the country to have sex with her.

Court documents indicate Holli, a special needs student, told her mother about the sexual abuse and that Debi Holland told her daughter not to tell anymore because they 'would not have anyone to pay the bills in the home.

During an interview Feb. 3 with the Children's Advocacy Center, court records show Holli Jeffcoat made an outcry of sexual abuse that was "consistent and credible."

She reportedly named James Holland and claimed she was pregnant.  

James Holland was arrested on a charge of continual aggravated sexual assault of a child in March and remains jailed on $2 million bond.

Child Protective Services filed a parental termination suit which is still pending.

No murder charges have been filed yet.

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