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Before her death, Kelly had reportedly been living with her three children at Laviolette’s home in Onalaska, approximately 85 miles northeast of Houston, Texas. The nature of the relationship between the pair has not been publicly established.
The tragic incident occurred on May 23, when authorities received a report that Kelly was experiencing a medical emergency and suffering seizures.
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Emergency responders arrived at the scene and arranged for her to be airlifted to a hospital in Conroe. However, she died the following morning.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office initially classified her death as suspicious and launched an investigation to establish what had happened.
Two months later, in July, Laviolette was arrested on charges of aggravated assault and unlawful restraint as investigators continued looking into the circumstances surrounding Kelly’s death.
As the investigation progressed, additional witnesses came forward, leading authorities to file further charges involving separate accusations and multiple victims.
The charges include continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, multiple counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and two counts of sexual assault.
Laviolette is also facing assault-related charges, unlawful restraint and one count of bestiality.
According to the sheriff’s office, forensic interviews conducted during the investigation provided further evidence after a child was identified.
On October 30, Polk County detectives presented evidence relating to Kelly’s death before a grand jury. The panel subsequently returned indictments against Laviolette for murder, a first-degree felony under Texas law, and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, a third-degree felony.
Bonds were set at $500,000 for the murder charge and $50,000 for the evidence-related charge.
With the latest indictments, Laviolette now faces 16 felony charges in total, with combined bonds amounting to $5.4 million (£4.1 million).
He remains in Polk County Jail, according to the sheriff’s office.
Kelly, who was born in Temple, Texas, leaves behind three young children, including a daughter and two sons.
Laviolette has not been convicted of any of the offences. All the criminal charges remain allegations, and he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. No plea or defence position had been publicly confirmed at the time of writing.
