Woman's accused killer walks free during 7-year delay in Harris County court

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- It was Mother's Day in 2015 when the family of 23-year-old Ayesha Talat had not heard from her.

Living nearby, her father and sister, Maysha Talat, went to check on Ayesha in a northwest Harris County apartment.

Maysha, who was 17 years old at the time, found her big sister dead inside her bedroom.

"As soon as I open the bedroom door, her body, her lifeless body is blocking it. I open the door. I flip her over and realized she was lifeless. And at that moment her roommate and I called the police," Maysha said.

Ayesha was a young mother working to graduate from the Aveda School to be an esthetician.

Her sister said she was killed just a week before her graduation.

Harris County sheriff's investigators surrounded the apartment complex for two days in the 13330 block of West Road in Houston.

Investigators said Ayesha was killed with a knife.

Within a month, the Harris Co. Sheriff's Office arrested and charged a neighbor, Kyankun Ohns Nyemah, with murder.

"They lived in the same apartments, and he would always make advances towards her, and she would always shut him down, and this went on for months," Maysha said.

The grief her family felt was slightly comforted by the quick arrest, but that was more than seven years ago.

As of Monday, the suspect has still not been tried.

"It's been a really, really difficult journey as this occurred in 2015. We are now in 2022, and the trial has been reset countless amount of times," Maysha said.

The Harris County District Attorney's Office responded to her anger saying, "We share the family's frustration and their desire for justice. We look forward to presenting our evidence to a Harris County Jury. Ultimately it's the courts, not prosecutors, who set trial dates."

ABC13 contacted the 179th district court, where the case is playing out. We are waiting for a response.

To make their agony worse, during the seven-year delay, court records show the suspect has been granted bond twice, and violated bond conditions at least four times.

He is currently walking free.

"As young women, we are not safe when violent offenders are given a slap on the wrist and allowed to live their lives while my sister is six feet under," Maysha said.

Working to honor her big sister's legacy, she graduated from esthetician school two years ago.

"After I fell into a deep, dark depression once I took myself out of that, I went back to continue what she couldn't finish," she said. "I opened a business as a tribute to her."

Maysha said operating the Montrose Skin Club keeps her focused on the fight for Ayesha's justice.

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