Mother charged in son's murder; husband, also charged in crime, declines comment

Stepfather arrested in March for killing of Felix Nieves

NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas – A second arrest made in the Easter morning murder of Felix Nieves, 17. This time, his mother is behind bars and charged with murder. In March, the boy's stepfather was arrested for allegedly shooting and killing him.

Easter morning, police found Nieves shot dead at the top of the stairs in his family's New Braunfels home. Police said there was a family disturbance between Felix, his mother Jennifer Coryell, and his stepdad George Coryell. During interviews, Jennifer told police her husband George shot her son during an argument.

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The arrest affidavit shows Jennifer originally told police Felix got upset with her for waking him up for church. She claimed Felix attacked her with a bat and taser. She said that's when her husband George shot and killed him. 

Click here to read the entire affidavit. WARNING: Some may find the content and language offensive.

"We did make an arrest the day of the incident, of his stepfather George Coryell but the investigation was ongoing at that point and we continued to look at evidence," said New Braunfels Police Department spokesperson David Ferguson.

That evidence includes the bat, which police now say was tampered with, plus interviews with Jennifer Coryell's two young children. The kids were there when their brother was shot. Police said those interviews conflict with what Jennifer originally told police.

The affidavit shows the children saying: "Jennifer Coryell woke up that morning yelling profanity at them," and that "their brother came downstairs to protect them." They said "Felix did not hit Jennifer with the bat," and Jennifer, "told Felix she was going to get her Taser and she was going to tase him and the children." 

One child also told police, "He heard Jennifer tell George to 'shoot him!'"

The children both said, "The cause of the disturbance was all their mother’s fault and she was the devil of the house."

Police also spoke to Felix's close friends who said Felix had confided in them that he continually gets into fights with Jennifer due to the fact she is always intoxicated. One friend stated Felix showed him a text message on his cellular phone where George was threatening to kill him. 

"Eventually we came to the determination along with the Guadalupe District Attorney's Office, that a second arrest was necessary," Ferguson said. 

After the Easter shooting Jennifer Coryell moved to a house on Mission Drive, where New Braunfels Police arrested her around 1:20 p.m. Friday.

A KSAT crew spoke with a man Friday outside the Coryell home who identified himself as Jennifer's husband. Guadalupe County judicial records show George Coryell did bond out soon after he was arrested in March. 

He did not want to talk on camera. 

The news of yet another arrest is shocking to the community. 

"This is not something that happens very frequently in New Braunfels. Homicide is maybe one or two a year, maybe. Some years none at all," Ferguson said.

Jennifer Coryell was booked into the Comal County Jail Friday, charged with first-degree felony murder. Her bond has been set at $250,000.


About the Author:

Courtney Friedman anchors KSAT’s weekend evening shows and reports during the week. Her ongoing Loving in Fear series confronts Bexar County’s domestic violence epidemic. She joined KSAT in 2014 and is proud to call the SA and South Texas community home. She came to San Antonio from KYTX CBS 19 in Tyler, where she also anchored & reported.