A teenage suspect has surrendered to authorities for the murder of Orangefield teacher Staci Lisenby.
12 News HD reporter Liz McKernan was at the Orange County courthouse when the suspect arrived with his attorney. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office tell Liz that the suspect is the 14-year-old son of the murdered teacher.
He is being taken to the Minnie Rogers Juvenile Justice Center in Beaumont; a hearing is scheduled for later this week.
Lisenby died in the hospital on Monday, February 21 after someone shot her in the head the previous night, while she was inside her own home. Lisenby’s 14-year-old son was the only other person at home and he was the one who notified police.
12 News HD has found that Orange County investigators searched the Orangefield home Friday looking for the .22 caliber handgun that was used to shoot the 6th grade math teacher.
Autopsy results show a single .22 caliber bullet was shot into the back of Staci Lisenby’s head, which caused her death.
Investigators learned that in the week leading up to the shooting, the 14 year-old son of Staci Lisenby told one of his friends he was “tired of how strict his parents were and that he intended on killing them both and then running away.”
In a search warrant approved last Thursday, the Orange County District Attorney’s office got the OK to comb the Lisenby residence a second time on the 2400 block of Oilla in Orangefield.
They were looking for the .22 caliber pistol that investigators say was used to kill Lisenby.
The warrant 12 News HD obtained Monday said Lisenby was found bleeding on her kitchen floor.
Her 14 year-old son told investigators the two were home alone in the living room when he heard a shot and saw a man run out the door and into the woods.
The teenager told police the suspect fled through an area soaked with water and mud, but investigators couldn’t find any evidence in that mud that would indicate an intruder had fled from the home.
One day after Lisenby died, parents of some of her son’s friends came forward with information.
The boy’s friends told investigators he had found a .22 caliber revolver in the attic that he kept hidden from his parents.
When a friend asked Lisenby’s son about a .22 caliber revolver he practiced shooting the teen said “I got rid of that pistol, it’s gone forever.”
