Two years after a gunman crept into a Cypress home before dawn and shot three people as they slept, then set the house on fire to cover his tracks, the case remains unsolved. Harris County Sheriff's Office deputies are marking the anniversary by doubling the reward for information to $50,000 and resharing surveillance footage they hope will finally jog someone's memory.
The killings happened on August 18, 2024, at a two-story home in the 14600 block of Plains River Drive in the Cypress Mill Park subdivision, a master-planned community in northwest Harris County, according to the Houston Chronicle. Cy-Fair Fire Department crews responded to a house fire call around 7 a.m. that morning before discovering the bodies inside, as reported by FOX 26 Houston. The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences ruled the deaths of Kelly Masciarelli, 54, her son Kolin Foster, 23, and his girlfriend Cameryn Richard, 21, as homicides, confirming all three had been shot multiple times before an accelerant was used to set the residence on fire.
In a post shared Tuesday on X, the Harris County Sheriff's Office wrote that it is still “seeking justice” for the three victims and is again asking the public to help identify the suspect or the getaway vehicle seen in surveillance video. The agency, which describes itself as the largest sheriff's office in Texas, is directing tips to the number 1-800-CALL-FBI, though it notes that line is not monitored around the clock.
A Detailed Timeline Of The Attack
Homicide Detective Wendy Posades laid out a minute-by-minute account of the crime during a January 2025 briefing. A getaway car circled the neighborhood for roughly 30 minutes starting at 5:30 a.m. before dropping off the gunman at 6:03 a.m., who then entered through an unforced rear door, according to KHOU. The gunman shot all three victims as they slept upstairs and downstairs before setting the fire at 6:11 a.m. and fleeing at 6:14 a.m., the station's report states.
Investigators have described the gunman as a tall male with a medium-to-muscular build wearing a hoodie. The getaway vehicle was identified as a dark blue or black four-door sedan with chrome rims, a chrome grille, rear bumper reflectors, and a lower rear window third brake light. Surveillance video captured the car turning off its headlights as it fled toward Highway 290, per the same account.
Investigators Focused On A Rear Fence Line, A Red Corvette
Early in the investigation, crime scene investigators concentrated on a park and fence line directly behind the Plains River Drive residence, where the killer is believed to have accessed and exited the property on foot, as noted by Click2Houston. Cypress Mill Park's community tennis courts and walking trails back directly up to the home's rear fence, giving a potential escape route away from the street.
Homicide detectives also towed a red Corvette recently purchased by Kolin Foster from the driveway in August 2024. The outlet reports investigators cleared the seller of the vehicle but believed an unauthorized person had been the last to drive it. Foster, 23, had recently completed auto mechanic school at the time of his death.
Two Agencies, Two Years, One Reward That Keeps Growing
The Harris County Sheriff's Office and the FBI Houston Field Office held a joint press conference in February 2025, six months after the killings, to release the surveillance footage publicly for the first time and offer a $25,000 reward. The Houston Chronicle notes that HCSO doubled that reward to $50,000 this month. The investigation has drawn on the Harris County Sheriff's Office Homicide Unit, the FBI, the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office and the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office, with fire officials noting that most of the two-story home sustained extensive fire damage.
The FBI's involvement began early in the case to assist with video forensic analysis at its Quantico lab, according to the Chronicle. Ed Gonzalez, sheriff of Harris County, used a January 2025 news conference to directly warn the unidentified getaway driver that they face potential capital murder charges alongside the shooter unless they come forward to cooperate as a witness. Texas law allows participants in an underlying felony resulting in death to be charged with capital murder, KHOU reported.
A Mother's Plea, Two Years Of Waiting
Cameryn Richard's mother, Tina Taylor, delivered an emotional public plea during an HCSO press conference, urging anyone with information to contact law enforcement while her daughter's killer remained at large, according to NewsRadio 740 KTRH. Richard was 21 years old and 4-foot-6 when she was killed alongside her boyfriend and his mother.
Hoodline first covered this case when the sheriff's office announced its surveillance footage release and initial reward. Two years after the fire, the questions that stalled that earlier investigation remain: how the killer got through an unforced door, who last drove Foster's Corvette, and whether the getaway driver will ever step forward. HCSOTexas is based in Houston and continues to direct anyone with information to the 1-800-CALL-FBI tip line.
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