Following his conviction, Stephen Clare received life terms for attacking his surviving daughter and ex-wife in a 2023 assault in Bexar County.

BEXAR COUNTY, Texas — A Texas man who admitted fatally stabbing his 11-month-old daughter and attacking his ex-wife and their other young child in 2023 was sentenced to life in prison without parole, ending a capital murder case that had been headed toward a possible death penalty trial.

Stephen Clare, 53, pleaded guilty in Bexar County’s 437th Criminal District Court to capital murder of a child under 10, attempted capital murder of a child under 10 and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Prosecutors said the plea means he will spend the rest of his life in prison and cannot appeal. The sentencing closes the criminal case against Clare, but it leaves lasting grief for the family of Willow Gardner, the baby killed in the attack, and long-term trauma for the survivors who lived through it.

The case grew out of an April 10, 2023 attack at a home near Alamo Heights in the San Antonio area. Prosecutors and local news reports said Clare went to the home of his former wife, Mariah Gardner, months after their divorce and began arguing over a gun. Investigators said home surveillance video captured part of what happened next. Gardner later said Clare chased her through the house with a firearm before shooting her. Their daughters, Rosalie and Willow, were then stabbed during the attack. Willow, who was 11 months old and close to her first birthday, died from her injuries. Rosalie, who was then 2, survived. Two older boys in the home, Gardner’s sons from a previous relationship, got out through a window and reached a neighbor’s house, according to earlier reporting. Clare was arrested the next day.

In court, the guilty plea came after Judge Joel Perez read the terms of the agreement. Local coverage of the hearing said Clare appeared in a red jail uniform, kept his head bowed and formally entered guilty pleas just after 10 a.m. Victim impact statements followed. Gardner described the attack in direct terms, telling the court that the man who had promised to protect the family shot her through the face and left her to die. She said she crawled, badly wounded, onto a sidewalk because she wanted her children to be safe. Outside court, Gardner said hearing Clare finally say he was guilty was painful after nearly three years of hearings and delays. She called the result the best outcome available, even as she said no sentence could repair the damage done to her and her children. Prosecutors did not dispute the broad outline of her account, and the plea ended the need for a trial.

The case had already drawn wide attention in San Antonio because of the ages of the children, the domestic violence allegations behind the family breakup and the state’s decision to seek the death penalty before the plea was reached. Earlier court reporting said the capital case was one of the rare Bexar County prosecutions in recent years in which death was on the table. Newsweek reported that Gardner had described a controlling and increasingly troubling relationship before the marriage ended. The former couple met in 2017, had Rosalie in 2020 and married in 2021. By Gardner’s account, the relationship later deteriorated, and the divorce became final only months before the attack. She has since spoken publicly about what she sees as gaps in protection for abuse victims in family court and custody disputes. That broader debate was not decided in Clare’s criminal case, but it remained part of the public attention surrounding it.

The legal result was sweeping and final. Clare received life without parole for Willow’s killing, plus life sentences for the attempted capital murder of Rosalie and for the aggravated assault that seriously injured Gardner. Prosecutors said the plea agreement also removed any chance of appeal, a term they highlighted after sentencing. First Assistant District Attorney Tamara Strauch said no sentence could erase the suffering caused by Willow’s death, but she said the prosecution had secured a measure of justice. Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales also praised the team that handled the case, saying Clare had been held fully accountable and could no longer threaten the community. Because Clare pleaded guilty, there was no jury verdict, no penalty phase and no further fight over whether he should face execution. The next formal milestone is administrative rather than contested: transfer into the state prison system to begin serving the sentences.

Even with the case over, the hearing made clear that the family’s recovery remains unfinished. Gardner told reporters she had waited years to hear Clare admit guilt and said the moment brought relief and pain at the same time. She said life in prison was enough for her because it ensures he will remain locked up for the rest of his life. She also returned attention to Willow, saying the family now tries to live in a way that honors the baby’s memory. The courtroom statements gave the hearing a tone that was both legal and deeply personal. There was no dispute about where the criminal case would end after the plea was entered. The harder question, left outside the court file, is how survivors continue building a life after a single burst of violence changed a family forever.

Clare has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison and Willow Gardner’s family is left to carry the next chapter without another trial date ahead.

Author note: Last updated March 26, 2026.