LAKEWAY, Texas (KXAN) - A woman wanted on a house burglary charge is accused of brandishing a gun in an effort to kill a Lakeway family's 5-year-old child, police said.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit released Thursday, Beth Ann Straley, 46, broke into a home Jan. 27 on Varco Drive in Lakeway . She had a .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol, the affidavit said. The document said she entered the house "with the intent of committing capital murder."
Straley demanded to see the homeowner, who was the mother of the boy she planned to kill, authorities said.
The babysitter, a 37-year-old woman, was able to wrest the gun away, according to the affidavit. Straley fled to another Lakeway home where she told the occupants she had planned to kill the boy because she thought he was the "antichrist," authorities said.
She also said she wanted to kill the boy's parents.
Men break in and tie up couple
Neighbors in the gated community were stunned to hear the suspect was also a neighbor.
"If she would have come to the door, we would have opened it and let her in and it wouldn't have been a big deal because she's kind of spearheaded some of our alert systems for the neighborhood," said Keri Mueller.
Several neighbors said Straley lived in the community and was involved in neighborhood activities.
"We had talked on the phone a couple of times to organize stuff for the neighborhood so I knew who she was- she certainly didn't threaten me- I wouldn't have thought her to be a threatening person," said Mina Ehrie.
Straley was not arrested as of Thursday, but the warrant sets bail at $500,000. Court records show she was evaluated by a mental health deputy on the day of the incident.
