Kiersten Leigh Jeter is the surviving daughter of Debra Janelle Jeter, who attacked both her daughters on 5 June 2009 in an abandoned Texas farmhouse. Kelsey, 12, was killed. Kiersten, then 13, survived after emergency surgery at Parkland Hospital in Dallas. She is alive and living privately as of 2026, having kept almost entirely out of the public eye since the attack. The case drew national attention and remains one of the most harrowing true crime stories in Texas.
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Debra Janelle Jeter (mother); Lee Jeter (father)
On 5 June 2009, Debra Jeter picked up Kiersten and Kelsey for a court-approved custody visit. It was their first visit under a new agreement following Debra's divorce from Lee Jeter.
She drove the girls to an abandoned farmhouse on U.S. 77 in Hill County, Texas. There, she attacked both daughters with a knife.
Kelsey, 12, died from her injuries. Kiersten, 13, was found critically wounded with a stab wound to the back. Investigators noted she appeared to have tried to protect her younger sister.
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Kiersten was airlifted to Parkland Hospital in Dallas, where she underwent emergency surgery.