Officials believe Yancey Daniels, 30, was shot in the torso at about 12:30 a.m., half an hour before his pregnant girlfriend, Leiah Jackson, 27, was attacked and stabbed 22 times with a butcher’s knife at her Missouri City home.

More than nine hours later a woman spotted Daniels’ body while leaving an apartment on the 6300 block of West Airport Boulevard at 9:55 a.m, according to the Houston Police Department.

He had suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was lying on the sidewalk, underneath a bush, police said.

Jackson, an elementary school nurse's aide, was attacked around 1 a.m. at her Missouri City fourplex in the 3300 block of Palm Desert Lane, family members said.

She was stabbed more than 20 times with a butcher's knife. Her unborn boy due to be born in a few weeks was also killed.

“Houston police are holding our person of interest,“ said Capt. John Bailey of the Missouri City Police Department.

Bailey said he could not disclose the man's name because he has not been arrested in the case. The also would not say why police consider the man a “person of interest“ or if the man knew Jackson or Daniels.

However, he acknowledged that the woman knew her attacker.

The investigation into both incidents is ongoing. Anyone with any information is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

Jackson's cousin was stunned at the woman's death.

“For a young lady, a pregnant young lady, to be killed like this is tough,“ said her cousin Tommy Jackson. “This is so tough. She was happy-go-lucky.“

After being brutally attacked, Jackson walked out of her garage, along the driveway and to the front door of the nearby unit where her mother lives, leaving pools of blood along the way, relatives said.

She banged on the front door; her mother initially thought something was wrong with the baby — until she saw the stab wounds, Tommy Jackson said.

Leiah Jackson then told her mother that the attacker was a relative of the unborn boy's father, family members said. Police would not comment on the suspect's identity.

Jackson was airlifted to a hospital, where she and the unborn baby died, Missouri City police Sgt. Brandon Harris said.

Tommy Jackson said Sunday evening that Leiah Jackon's family members had not heard from the unborn child's father and had not met his relatives.

The pregnant woman, whom relatives described as a giving person, was working toward a master's degree in counseling.

Longtime friend Jonathan Wykoff recalled Jackson as a young woman with a good heart who happened also to be beautiful.

“She was like a beacon of light,“ he said. “She was like a sister to me. She had been talking about her baby showers and everything. This was unnecessary. I'm still in shock.“

Peter Ntege, who worked with Jackson at Jones Elementary in Fort Bend ISD, said she was happy and eager to become a mother.

“She was a fantastic person, always happy and always had a smile on her face,“ he said. “She was super excited about the baby.“

paige.hewitt@chron.com

sarah.raslan@chron.com