HOUSTON — A 41-year-old Houston man agreed to three 60-year prison sentences for a triple murder in 2017.
On Thursday, nearly seven years after the killings, Jeffrey Duane Noble pleaded guilty to killing John Sciandra, 67, Sciandra's 22-year-old daughter Jessica Sciandra and her boyfriend, 21-year-old Jordan Collier.
The shooting happened on Dec. 8, 2017, but the story begins before that.
In August 2017, Hurricane Harvey hit the Houston area, including the Sciandra family home. The house they were living at near the Addicks Reservoir was severely flooded and the family was dealing with restoration efforts -- drywall and carpet had been removed from the house.
According to the Harris County District Attorney's Office, Noble knew the Sciandras socially and had been to their house several times.
The day before the murders was Noble's 35th birthday and he made plans to go out with a roommate who lived at the Sciandra's house along with another friend. The celebration ended early when Noble, who is schizophrenic, started talking about hearing voices.
The following day, Noble went to the house and showed the roommate a .50-caliber assault rifle that he had hidden under his coat.
He fired one shot through the wall that hit Collier in the head, killing him.
Noble told the roommate to get out of the house and she ran to a neighbor's home to call police. That's when she heard gunfire erupt.
Noble had shot and killed John and Jessica Sciandra.
"He had a plan. He entered that home with a .50-caliber assault rifle and massacred one after another after another and then tried to escape any accountability by fleeing," Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Marshall said. "There are mental health issues in this case, but that doesn’t give someone a pass to brutally murder three people."
By the time law enforcement officials got to the scene, Noble was gone.
Days later, Noble was arrested at a Dallas-area gas station. A customer called the cops after seeing Noble smoking methamphetamine. Noble gave the police a fake name but his fingerprints showed that he was wanted in Harris County.
"Three families are suffering unthinkable heartbreak because of the actions of one man with a gun who made the decision that he wanted to start shooting," Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said. "Prosecutors with our Homicide Division made sure that he was held accountable for his actions, and hopefully he will spend the rest of his life in prison."
Noble's guilty plea ultimately was in exchange for his sentence of 60 years in each murder case. He was facing life in prison without parole if he had been convicted of capital murder.
After the plea, five people connected to the victims gave victim impact statements. One of them said John Sciandra told them he didn't trust Noble.
Noble can't appeal the three murder convictions or the sentences, which will run concurrently.
