Accused killer of Houston family: "I'm only human"

HOUSTON -- The Houston man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend, her husband and her six children said "I'm only human" in a jailhouse interview with CBS affiliate KHOU.

David Conley, who has a violent criminal history, allegedly held the family captive Saturday before killing them. His ex-girlfriend Valerie Jackson sent a text to her mother saying she was being threatened with a gun and pleaded for help. When police responded, they say Conley fired on them, but gave himself up hours later - allowing deputies to enter the home and make the gruesome discovery of the eight bodies.

When asked by a KHOU reporter if he killed the family - including his own son - he reportedly quoted scripture from the Bible, saying, "Thou shall honor your mother and father or your days are short."

Conley told the station that his son, Nathaniel, 13, had become a problem child, describing him as disrespectful. He said Jackson, Nathaniel's mother, wouldn't allow him to discipline the boy. He said he was at a breaking point, and told the station he was in the home the night of the murders, reports the station.

He repeatedly said "I'm only human" in the interview with the KHOU reporter.

In another interview with KPRC, he said the children were "growing up to be monsters."

"I love Nate," he told KPRC of his son. "I love Nate to death."

Conley told KHOU he had been living with his ex-girlfriend Valerie Jackson in Houston for some time, and that her husband was out of the picture. Then, he said, the two started having problems, so he moved out.

When her husband reportedly moved back in, Conley said he was in shock.

He told KPRC that Jackson's husband, Dwayne Jackson, was "harassing" him.

"He tried to pimp out over me and take everything, rule over my house. How would you feel?," Conley said to KPRC. "Dwayne was a monster and Valerie, she was no Good Samaritan either, they did evil things all the time."

Conley broke down crying at the end of the interview with KHOU, saying he prays constantly and is sad so many people died.

Neighbors on Monday said they were aware of the family's troubled history of domestic violence, with prior police visits and contact with Child Protective Services.

Along with Valerie Jackson, 40, and her husband Dwayne Jackson, 50; those killed were identified as their children Dwayne, 10; Honesty, 11; Caleb, 9; Trinity, 7; and Jonah, 6, along with 13-year-old Nathaniel, who was believed to be Conley's son from his relationship with Valerie Jackson.

"Anytime you hear about something that's this heinous, anytime you hear about the death of this many children in a single event, it is hard. It's hard," said Alycia Harvey, the lead prosecutor in the case.

Authorities and neighbors said Valerie Jackson and Conley had recently ended their relationship and that she had reunited with Dwayne Jackson Sr. last month. Conley was charged with assault after allegedly pushing Valerie Jackson's head against their home's refrigerator. In 2013, Conley was charged with aggravated assault for threatening Jackson with a knife. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine months in the county jail.

The children were placed in foster care in September 2013 when the agency filed a lawsuit to remove them from the home. They were returned about a month later after the suit was dismissed by a judge, Patrick Crimmins, a spokesman for Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which includes CPS, said Tuesday.

Conley is due back in court Sept. 15.