Heather Leavell-Keaton was born in 1988 in Kentucky, USA. From a young age, she lived with partial blindness and was classified as legally blind. Despite this, she earned a scholarship and enrolled at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, where she studied as an undergraduate.

Leavell-Keaton reportedly suffered from psychological issues since adolescence. At age 14, she was diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder. Later evaluations suggested she may have also exhibited symptoms consistent with borderline personality disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, allegedly stemming from a sexual abuse incident at age 11. However, these diagnoses were debated and not confirmed during trial testimony.

By 2009, she had entered a relationship with John Joseph DeBlase, a divorced father of two children—Natalie Alexis DeBlase and Jonathan Chase DeBlase. The couple lived together in a common-law marriage with John’s children. Heather was known to be controlling and verbally abusive. Witnesses recalled her screaming at the children in public, and forcing harsh discipline that escalated into cruelty.

Despite signs of danger, no formal child protective services intervention was triggered. By 2010, her control over the household deepened. Leavell-Keaton was not only the disciplinarian but, according to testimony, the primary aggressor in the abuse that led to the deaths of both children.

In the spring and summer of 2010, a horrifying sequence of abuse and murder unfolded. On March 4, 2010, four-year-old Natalie DeBlase died after being gagged, taped, and placed in a suitcase inside a closet. According to reports, Heather poisoned her with antifreeze. John DeBlase admitted he allowed it to happen, though he claimed Heather was the primary perpetrator.

On June 20, 2010, three-year-old Chase DeBlase was similarly restrained—his hands taped to his legs, an object strapped to his back, gagged, and forced to stand in a corner overnight. He, too, was poisoned with antifreeze. The couple slept while the boy died in the next room. His death prompted the pair to leave Alabama and relocate to Kentucky.

By December 2010, Heather was arrested after her mother overheard a suspicious conversation. She initially told police that John had killed the children and that she merely witnessed it. However, her story unraveled under scrutiny. The impounded van they drove contained children’s items and antifreeze. Later, police recovered the bodies: Natalie on December 11, 2010, near Citronelle, Alabama; and Chase two days later near Vancleave, Mississippi.

Initially charged with child abuse and corpse abuse, Heather's charges were upgraded on January 11, 2011, to capital murder. She pleaded not guilty and tried unsuccessfully to change the trial venue.

Her trial began on May 8, 2015. On May 27, the jury delivered a split verdict: guilty of capital murder for Chase’s death, and reckless manslaughter for Natalie’s. Prosecutors called this inconsistency “bizarre,” given that both children suffered similar abuse.

During sentencing, the court heard testimony from Dr. Catherine Boyer, who described Heather’s mental health struggles, including emotional instability and poor social skills. Despite her pleas for mercy and claims of religious transformation, the jury recommended the death penalty for Chase’s murder and 20 years for Natalie’s.

On August 20, 2015, Heather was officially sentenced to death by lethal injection and became the first woman ever sentenced to death in Mobile County.

In 2020, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals overturned Heather's death sentence—not due to innocence, but because she had been denied the opportunity to speak during sentencing. A re-sentencing hearing was ordered.

On January 7, 2021, retired Judge Rick Stout (who presided over the original case) reinstated the death penalty, citing the overwhelming evidence and lack of remorse. Heather's final appeals were denied by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals (2021), the Alabama Supreme Court (2022), and finally, by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 5, 2023.

As of 2025, Heather Leavell-Keaton remains on death row at Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Alabama. She is one of five women currently awaiting execution in the state.