Man Who Attempted to Drown Children Facing Murder Charge

A North Carolina man accused of trying to drown his children in a pond at an apartment complex is facing a first-degree murder charge after his 3-year-old daughter died, police said Thursday.

Durham Police spokeswoman Kammie Michael said Alan Tysheen Lassiter is now charged with first-degree murder in the death of 3-year-old Calista Lassiter, who died at a hospital Wednesday.

Alan Lassiter tried to drown the girl and her sister in a pond at an

apartment complex Sunday night, police said. The child was entirely underwater when an off-duty sheriff's deputy said he pulled her from the pond.

Prior to the girl's death, the elder Lassiter was charged with three counts of attempted murder for trying to kill the three children. The 5-year-old girl who was floating in the pond crying, Bethany, has been released from the hospital, police said. Seven-year-old Alan Lassiter got away from his father and ran for help, they said.

Lassiter is jailed on $2 million bond and is awaiting a court hearing next month.

On Sunday night, Lassiter flagged down passers-by at the Audubon Lake apartments and told them he thought his son had been kidnapped and needed help finding him, apartment complex manager Sylvia Scott said Tuesday.

It wasn't until later that Lassiter told Scott and a 911 operator that he'd thrown his 3- and 5-year-old daughters in the pond, Scott said. The girls were pulled from about 5 feet of water by Durham County Sheriff's Deputy David Earp, who lives nearby.

Lassiter, 29, lived in Raleigh and apparently wound up at the apartment complex randomly, according to Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez.

Court records show Lassiter and his wife had a rocky start to their marriage six years ago.

Ashley Ivey sought a domestic violence protection order and signed a statement May 15, 2009, that said Lassiter "threatened to throw hot oil in my face and cut my hair off."

"He also threatened to take my son from me for a long time," the statement said. "All this started because I didn't want to marry him."

Ivey added that "things of this nature" had also happened previously.

Ivey voluntarily dismissed her complaint four days later. Less than two weeks after that, Ivey and Lassiter were married.