If convicted, Henderson could receive as many as five years behind bars on each count, potentially exposing her to a lengthy federal prison sentence. Each charge also carries a possible fine of up to $250,000.
The alleged threats were directed at relatives of Austin Metcalf, the 17-year-old Texas student whose brutal stabbing death at a high school track meet became a national story.
Metcalf was killed on April 2, 2025, during a track meet in Frisco, Texas.
Karmelo Anthony was subsequently convicted of murder in June 2026 and sentenced to 35 years in prison. Anthony maintained that he acted in self-defense, but jurors ultimately found him guilty. A judge recently rejected his request for a new trial.
The case generated enormous attention online, and both families became targets of threats and harassment at different stages of the case. Authorities previously investigated swatting incidents involving the Metcalf family, while representatives for Anthony’s family also reported threats and harassment.
Federal prosecutors now allege Henderson crossed a serious line with repeated threats against Metcalf’s family in June.
According to court documents cited by FOX 4, Henderson allegedly used Facebook and telephone communications to target members of the family. Investigators reportedly connected her to the communications using social-media information and phone records.
The first alleged threat came around June 9.
Henderson is accused of sending a Facebook Messenger message threatening to kill a member of the family and place that person “in a body bag.”
The message allegedly became even more explicit.
“Now this is a threat take me to court [expletive].”
Prosecutors allege Henderson continued the following day.
On or about June 10, she allegedly called Collin County government with a message intended for the Metcalf family.
During that communication, Henderson allegedly threatened to “demolish” the family and “strangle” a family member.
But prosecutors say the threats did not end there.
Another alleged communication followed around June 11, this time containing unmistakably violent language.
“Don’t worry I’ll kill you next”
The message allegedly continued:
“I will hunt you forever until I kill you”
Henderson allegedly warned that she “will be there” and that the person she was targeting would “always have to look over your [expletive] shoulder.”
FOX 4 independently reported that federal court documents accuse Henderson of threatening the Metcalf family on at least three occasions during June.
U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs characterized the alleged communications as “violent and vulgar threats” and “threats to stalk and kill members of the Metcalf family.”
Federal authorities have made clear that intimidation and threats directed at crime victims and their relatives are being taken seriously.
The allegations are particularly disturbing given what Austin’s father, Jeff Metcalf, says his family has already endured.
Metcalf told FOX 4 that his family has received more than 100 threats since Anthony’s murder trial ended.
“There are just people out there that obviously, I don’t know, don’t have a soul, or can’t comprehend a father’s loss of a son who was murdered.”
He also described the enormous toll the ordeal has taken on his family.
“People don’t understand what my family goes through every single day,” Metcalf said.
“It does wear on you mentally, physically and spiritually, but I know that God’s got me — so, they don’t really carry a lot of weight.”
The threats did not begin with Henderson’s alleged messages.
Long before Anthony’s conviction, Frisco police confirmed that homes connected to the Metcalf family had been targeted by multiple “swatting” calls — false emergency reports designed to trigger a potentially dangerous police response.
The Anthony family was also subjected to reported threats and harassment after the stabbing, illustrating how quickly the high-profile case produced ugly conduct far beyond the courtroom.
According to FOX 4, Henderson has a previous criminal history that includes offenses involving disorderly conduct, theft, trespassing and resisting arrest.
She has not been convicted of the federal charges, and an indictment is an allegation rather than proof of guilt.
The prosecution now places another disturbing chapter of the Metcalf case before the federal courts — this time focusing not on what happened beneath a tent at a Texas track meet, but on the threatening communications that allegedly followed the murder trial.
For Austin’s family, the legal proceedings surrounding his death may have produced a conviction and a 35-year prison sentence.
But according to his father, the threats have continued long after the jury delivered its verdict.
