A woman who was found incompetent to stand trial in the death of her child nearly a decade ago has been on the run for the past 18 months, officials say.
Valeria Maxon is a former Mansfield resident who in 2006 killed her 1-year-old son. According to NBCDFW archives, she believed that her child was the Antichrist who would be tortured before causing the Apocalypse.
Her husband, Michael Maxon, was sentenced to prison and later put on probation for abandoning his son with her, even though he was told not to do so because of her mental state.
Valeria Maxon spent years in state hospitals, but a little more than a year after being declared "not manifestly dangerous" in court paperwork, she disappeared from an outpatient facility in Fort Worth.
Nearly a year-and-a-half later, there's a renewed effort to help track her down.
The names and faces that make up Tarrant County's Most Wanted list are wanted for assault, burglary and capital murder.
That's the listing under Maxon's name, even though she was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 2008. She's wanted for leaving the court-ordered facility and not being seen since then.
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"A big case," said Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson. "A particularly sad case when you look at the details of it, it was very tragic."
Michael Maxon is believed to be the first person in the state to be convicted for the actions of their mentally ill spouse. He was convicted in 2010.
According to court documents, Valeria Maxon spent time at North Texas State Hospital-Vernon in December 2008 and Kerrville State Hospital, which is a non-secure facility. In September 2013, she was ordered to be placed under the care of Tarrant County MHMR and stay at a halfway house in south Fort Worth.
In July 2014 she was placed under the care of a different halfway house a few blocks away. But at some point she left the home and never came back. A warrant was issued in late October 2014 for her arrest.
Sheriff Anderson said investigators looked for her then after the warrant was issued, but the case has gone cold since. He said given her mental health history she may not be as easy to track as someone who uses credit cards and cell phones. The idea behind placing her on the Most Wanted list is to generate some new leads and information, he said.
"That's the reason we do it," Anderson said. "We look at cases that are stalled kind of to the point where we really need some jump start on it. This is certainly one of those cases."
The Most Wanted list is put together by Crime Stoppers, as well as the sheriff's office and Fort Worth Police.
In the case of Maxon, the sheriff hopes they can get her off the streets and into the care she needs.
"Someone that is that acutely mentally ill could cause some more issues," he said.
