Mom convicted for her role in 4-year-old girl's rape, killing up for parole

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - “Emma doesn’t get a second chance at life. Emma doesn’t get a chance to run through the grass or sit in the blue bonnets, go to school, go to a dance," said her grandmother Laurie Thompson.

It was Lucas Coe who ended little Emma Thompson’s life at the age of four. He repeatedly beat her sexually assaulted her and infected her with herpes.

“This is one of the most egregious child abuse murders in Harris County’s history,” said crime victims advocate Andy Kahan.

It was Emma’s own mother Abigail Young who brought Coe into her young daughter’s life and even tried to cover up her lover’s unspeakable crimes.

“This is a woman who shows no regret, no remorse, and plays the victim card,” Thompson said. “She wants to be totally vindicate of this.”

Young used her knowledge as a registered nurse to protect Coe and manipulate situations when others in the medical field started asking questions about bruises on Emma.

“Trying to repair the four-inch laceration on the back of Emma’s skull by using a crazy glue type product,” said Thompson.

Coe got life in prison. Young faced that same sentence for a conviction of injury to a child by omission.

“She got 20 years. She should get down on her knees and thank the good Lord for only getting 20 years,” Kahan said.

Young is now being considered for parole. The eight years she’s served puts her close to the halfway mark. It’s at that point many convicts get to leave prison. A scary thought for many.

“Is she going to be a school nurse? Is she going to try to get a job in a hospital or a nursing home,” Thompson said. “Is she going to handle new born babies?”