The girls were found in a pool in February and their mother was arrested in May.
KATY, Texas — Toxicology findings showing cocaine in the blood of two young sisters became a key part of the criminal case against their mother after the girls died following a backyard pool incident.
Laura Nicholson, 23, is charged with two counts of injury to a child in the deaths of Kelsey Kite, 2, and Kinsley Kite, 3. The sisters were found unresponsive in a swimming pool at their Katy-area home Feb. 11, then later became the subjects of forensic testing that investigators say changed the direction of the case.
The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences reported in late April that both children had cocaine and benzoylecgonine in their blood. Benzoylecgonine is a cocaine metabolite that can show the body processed the drug. Court records said the girls’ deaths were caused by drowning and acute cocaine toxicity. Investigators also cited a medical examiner who said drowning can be difficult to see on an autopsy and is often determined by the facts and circumstances around the death. The same court records said lack of adequate supervision and unsafe pool access could have contributed to the deaths.
The medical findings gave investigators two related questions. One was how the children reached the backyard pool. The other was how two toddlers came to have cocaine in their systems before they died. Probable cause affidavits allege Nicholson provided cocaine to the children. Authorities have not released a full public explanation of the alleged exposure, and the record available in early reports did not detail whether investigators believe the girls ingested cocaine directly, came into contact with it inside the home or were exposed another way.
The physical scene described in court records was a home in the 21000 block of Creek Edge Court, where the children lived with Nicholson and their grandparents. On the morning of Feb. 11, the grandmother left the house around 9:30 a.m. to run errands. She told investigators Nicholson was asleep on the couch and the girls were playing in the living room. The grandfather said he had returned from work around 8:30 a.m., played with the girls while they ate, then went to bed around 9:30 a.m. The grandmother returned shortly after 11 a.m. and saw the back door partly open.
The grandmother found both girls in the pool and began screaming. Nicholson later told investigators she woke when her mother was “screaming and hollering.” The grandmother and grandfather pulled the children out, with neighbors helping as 911 calls were placed. The sheriff’s office said a LifeFlight helicopter was requested, and the girls were transported for emergency care. Both were later pronounced dead at a hospital. Investigators have said the amount of time the sisters spent in the pool remains unknown.
Several statements in the records suggest investigators were weighing what adults in the home knew before the deaths. Nicholson told authorities the latch on the back door had been broken for two days. She also said her children were “always” getting out and running to the pool. Her father told investigators he believed Nicholson could care for the children, but he also said she “falls asleep a lot and this causes issues.” Her mother accused Nicholson of using cocaine in an interview with Texas Child Protective Services after the girls died, according to court records.
The children’s access to the pool formed one strand of the case. The drug findings formed another. A pathologist cited in the affidavits said any amount of cocaine can cause bodily injury in a child and increase the risk of death by raising heart rate, raising blood pressure and restricting arteries. The affidavits do not say that the toxicology results alone explain every part of the deaths. Instead, investigators paired those findings with the drowning scene, the broken latch, the adults’ statements and Nicholson’s reported history with CPS questions about drug allegations.
Sheriff Ed Gonzalez announced the charges on May 11, three days after Nicholson was charged. He said homicide detectives had investigated the reported drowning and determined both children had cocaine in their systems at the time of death. “We are deeply saddened by the tragic deaths of two young toddlers, sisters, in our community,” Gonzalez said. The statement marked a shift from the first public reports in February, when authorities described the case as a potential drowning and said the circumstances were still unknown.
Nicholson was arrested in Florida, not Harris County. Gonzalez said the sheriff’s Violent Criminals Apprehension Team worked with the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force to take her into custody, and she was booked into the Lee County Jail. Other reports placed the arrest near Fort Myers. The Florida arrest means the Harris County prosecution must proceed through custody transfer steps before Nicholson appears in Texas on the two counts. A defense attorney for Nicholson was not listed in early public reports, and no plea had been reported.
The deaths had been publicly identified days after the incident, when officials named the girls as Kelsey and Kinsley Kite. At that point, the sheriff’s office said preliminary information suggested the children may have slipped outside through a patio door while their mother and grandfather slept and their grandmother was at the grocery store. Major Ben Katrib of the sheriff’s office called the deaths “a very sad, unfortunate circumstance” during an early briefing. The later toxicology reports added the cocaine evidence that led to a broader criminal inquiry.
What remains unknown is central to the case. Investigators have not publicly said where cocaine was found, whether any was recovered from the home or whether another adult had access to the children before they died. They have not released a minute-by-minute account of how the girls moved from the living room to the pool. They have not publicly explained how the children allegedly received the drug. Those unanswered points are likely to be tested through court filings, witness statements, forensic reports and any grand jury review.
The prosecution also must show how the facts fit the charged offense. Injury to a child can involve an act or an omission, and the affidavits describe both alleged drug exposure and alleged failures around supervision and pool access. The state’s case, as described so far, appears to depend on tying Nicholson to the cocaine in the children’s systems and to the risk created by a broken latch and unsupervised access to the pool. The defense, once identified, may challenge the evidence, the timeline or the alleged link between Nicholson and the toxicology results.
As of June 4, Nicholson remained charged in the deaths of her daughters, with the case awaiting its next court step after her Florida arrest. The forensic findings are expected to remain central as prosecutors move the Harris County case forward.
Author note: Last updated June 4, 2026.