Ashanti Allen Was Eight Months Pregnant When She Was Killed. He'd Been Released Early From Jail.

Ashanti Allen, 23, was reported missing from Houston on April 10, 2026. She was eight months pregnant with her first child - a boy her family had already named Jaxon Allen - and was experiencing a high-risk pregnancy at the time of her disappearance.

Her family knew something was wrong when a text arrived from her phone that morning, saying she was leaving and never coming back. It didn’t sound like her. Her belongings were still in the apartment. Baby items were still laid out. Her own vehicle was missing. Her mother went to the apartment and found nothing.

Six days later, on April 16, her body was found near a bayou at Chimney Rock Park in southwest Houston. Her cause of death is pending an autopsy. Her baby did not survive.

He Had Three Convictions for Assaulting Her

Hours after Allen’s body was found, Houston police charged Kevin Faux, 24, with capital murder. Investigators identified Faux as the father of her unborn child. Court records showed that Faux had a history of violence against Allen that predated her pregnancy: he had been convicted in February 2026 of assaulting her on three separate occasions in September 2025, on charges that included grabbing her by the neck, pinning her down, and slapping her. He was sentenced to 250 days, given credit for time served, and released early - weeks before Allen went missing.

Allen’s family told ABC13 they had not known about the assault convictions. “I’m going to say it all over the nation,” her father, Edward Allen, said. “If something is going on with your relationship please let your momma, your daddy, your sister, your brother know - because if we had any indication that something was going bad, we could’ve fixed it and she would still be here right now.”

The Manhunt and the Arrest

Investigators found Allen’s phone at Edgewood Park on April 15. GPS data from the phone led them to Chimney Rock Park, and surveillance video from 3:21 a.m. on April 10 reportedly showed a person matching Faux’s description at the location where her body was ultimately discovered, according to court documents cited by FOX 26.

Faux fled the state after the murder charge was filed. On April 20, the U.S. Marshals Service confirmed his arrest in the New Orleans area. He is being held in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, pending extradition to Texas. In addition to capital murder, he faces a separate charge for the death of the unborn child, according to KHOU.

Court records confirm that prosecutors filed a motion to deny bail under Texas Proposition 3, a 2025 voter-approved measure that allows for bail denial in certain violent offenses.

A Family That Will Never Be Complete

Allen’s family remembered her as introverted, deeply caring, and profoundly excited about becoming a mother. Her sister, Marche Peevy, spoke publicly about the loss. Her father said he was numb - still unable to process that both his daughter and his first grandson were gone.

“She was very caring,” her mother, Trisa Gaines Colbert, told ABC13. “She tries to see the best in everyone. And by her doing that, it cost her her life.”

Allen’s family launched a GoFundMe to cover funeral costs for both Ashanti and Jaxon. They asked those who loved her to remember what she was, not how she was taken.

A Pattern Hiding in Plain Sight

The case of Ashanti Allen is, in the most painful way, a familiar one. The prior convictions were documented. The history was on file. The early release came anyway.

Her father said what many families in similar situations have said before him: if they had known, they might have been able to intervene. That possibility lives in the space between what the courts recorded and what her family was never told. It does not offer comfort. But it offers a reason to say it out loud.

References: Houston suspect Kevin Faux arrested in Louisiana for capital murder of pregnant Ashanti Allen | Suspect wanted, charged with murder of 23-year-old woman after her body found in SW Houston