A 30-year-old woman, Cierra Alexis Sutton has been charged with the murder of her boyfriend, Steven Coleman.

According to the police, Sutton fatally shot her boyfriend as he slept and then dismembered him inside their home at Baytown, Texas on August 16.

Friends said Sutton confessed and told them her ten-year-old daughter was in the living room at the time, CBS reported.

Detectives revealed that Sutton and the victim had gotten into an argument the evening the incidence occurred. Later,  while the victim was sleeping, it was reported that Sutton fatally shot him in the head.

According to court papers obtained by the Houston Chronicle, she then dismembered the remains with a machete, wrapped them in sheets and duct tape, loaded them into her Jeep and disposed of them at different dumpsters.

On August 18, Alexis filed a missing person report the paper stated. She showed up at a police station and said she’d last seen Coleman two days before the killing and that he’d left home around 10:30 p.m

A neighbour who spoke with the media said, “She acted like she knew nothing about anything. She was trying to call him, hadn’t heard from him”.

Reports said Coleman’s car was still parked on the premises and family and friends told police that they had not heard from him. Another witness also said they saw him moving some pieces of furniture before his disappearance.

Police searched the couple’s apartment about a week after the disappearance and found it “mostly vacant” with blood traces scattered across the bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom.

The body is believed to have been discovered on August 22 at Baytown landfill although DNA has not positively identified the remains, the corpse that was found is said to meet the description given.

Sutton reportedly said she would talk to Baytown police about the disappearance before Hurricane Harvey struck the area, but never showed up. With the help of an anonymous tip, police tracked her to a New Orleans suburb, where she had allegedly fled with her daughter.

She was arrested there and charged with murder.

Detectives said several friends reported Sutton confessed to the crime and said she dismembered the victim’s body because he was too heavy to carry. Friends also told detectives Sutton said her 10-year-old daughter was inside the apartment at the time.