Spence raped and stabbed Jill, then Raylene, and finally he killed Kenneth. The two became fast allies. Dannen had now been in Texas for almost three years. He and Spence had been riding around in Spences car, he said, drinking and smoking, when they went to Koehne Park. Drag images here or select from your computer for Gena Lee Turner memorial. His shirt was stained with blood, his chest full of stab wounds. Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. At some point she started working for National Rent-A-Car but the dates of her employment are unknown, Ratliff said. She interviewed Washington and Williams again. ASHBROOK. When Simons took a break, Fortunewhod been present for the interrogationmentioned that he too knew Chili. This was unusual; as far as Price knew, no one outside the WPD was on the case. Low 51F. Im going to see my mom.. The contents of Whites purse were strewed across the floor, and her car was missing; the vehicle was found several hours later at an apartment complex about fifteen blocks away. Nobody who knows how this works would believe hed get pardoned on the basis of my book. Better to wait for the DNA results, he said, to prove that Melendez didnt do it and that others did. conglateur coffre carrefour Navigation. Soon after his interrogation of Deeb, hed headed over to the jail with Baier to meet the inmate. I dont have any guilt feelings about causing their deaths.. That June, Dannen tracked down Williams, who was still living in Waco. He wanted to be something more than he was, something big, she told me. Dannen himself was beginning to feel drawn into the lake murders for reasons that went beyond his book contract. Dannen would have to find evidence to support his ideas in other ways. "For five horrible days, we didn't have a clue where to look," Barber said. But the hairs did not implicate anyone in particular, and eight weeks into the case, there was simply not enough evidence to make any arrests. This browser does not support getting your location. HAWKINS, Anthony Cardell He needed to be arrested at once. Theyd seen Simons take over an investigation before. Price and Turk returned to their investigation in earnest, tracking down all the informants who had testified against Washington and Williams. It would mean a cut in pay and status, but Simons didnt care. (Video: Daron Taylor, Taylor Turner/The Washington Post). The word closure is overused, but having some answers to give them, its a good thing., #ImWithKap: How Colin Kaepernick dominated Super Bowl conversations without taking the field. Two years later, hed win a Texas Peace Officer of the Year award. As soon as hed heard about Whites death, hed called Dennis Baier, who told him that a black man had been seen exiting Whites stolen car. When the medical examiners tests did not return any DNA profiles, Dannen arranged for the evidence to be sent to Forensic Science Associates (FSA), a California lab run by Ed Blake, one of the countrys pioneering DNA scientists. Ladies and gentlemen, he announced as Simons entered, I thank God for men like Truman Simons. MARSHALL, Virgil Euristi In April 1992 the federal court denied Spences petition for habeas corpus relief. There was the gold bracelet, entered now as conclusive evidence of where the teenagers had been killed. By then Schonemann had lost his most important cohort: Owen had received a job offer in Kentucky and left the TRC. In July 1987, he was sentenced to death for the murder of 18-year-old Suzanne Harrison, 20-year-old Gena Turner and 19-year-old Bryan Boone. I told her I was exhausted after talking with Baier for five hours. Which memorial do you think is a duplicate of Gena Turner (6653351)? Now 24, Spence had become more and more unpredictable and violent. 399, Sec. We got the right people, he wrote recently in an email. I remember thinking that that was the stupidest thing I had ever heard an investigator say. (Simons later said in a deposition that [Hortons] whole affidavit was a lie.) Even Butler seemed to have sensed the unsoundness of Gilberts statements. Albert Autur TAHL. They had planned to meet up with their friend, Bryan Boone, 19, and take a small cruise around the water. Randall Wayne Some wouldnt talk, but three of them recanted their testimony, saying theyd agreed to speak on the record for food, cigarettes, and conjugal visits. I wasnt a good guy, he told me last May, when I first visited him at the Polunsky Unit, in Livingston. Suzanne Harrison's body was found near the site in 1986. Patrol sergeant Truman Simons was driving down Franklin Avenue, in downtown Waco, when the call came over the police radio. Thompson never met Kenneth and barely knew Raylene, yet her thoughts turn to them too. The victim, he could see, was just a boy, with a wispy mustache. She used to find notes and letters from Jills old friends. I was hoping their verdicts would get overturned and they would be tried again so all the details about the investigation would come out.. Authorities currently do not have any information about Prudhomme's employment, Bluffington said, adding that she was a "frequent patron" of several of the local bars in the Seabrook and Nassau Bay areas. Welcome to r/Funny, Reddit's largest humour depository. Theres not a day that goes by when I dont think about it. Salinas, one of the officers to first discover the teenagers bodies, still wrestles with his memories. For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab. Hed had a real crappy childhood, Driggs remembered, and probably had a lot of anger, but I never read him as a dangerous guy, unlike some others we worked with. There was no reliable forensic evidence that Spence had killed the teenagersand to all his lawyers, he had consistently maintained his innocence. On May 4, 1986, McFadden kidnapped Bryan Boone, 19, Gena Turner, 20, and Suzanne Harrison, 18, from a local lake where they had gone for a night out. Editor's Note: This is the second in a five-day series recalling paroled sex offender Jerry Walter McFadden's murderous 1986 crime spree that terrorized a region and influenced the way Texas deals with prison overcrowding. Suzanne Harrison's grave is marked at Chilton Cemetery in Big Sandy. She also lived in Nassau Bay, Texas, in 1991, Ratliff said. Year should not be greater than current year. An innocent man has been charged with this crime and is very likely going to be convicted in state court and sentenced to death, they wrote. To retrieve it, Dannen had turned to Thompson for help; as a relative of Jills, she had the authority to request that her nieces personal belongings be returned. It was a match. Frye had been reported missing on Oct. 10, 1983, when she was 25 years old. The brothers testimony differed on some detailsTony said theyd partied for two hours before the violence began and that he stabbed Jill; Gilbert said the violence began almost immediately and that Tony stabbed Raylenebut they were consistent in their portrayal of a night characterized by beer, weed, and bloodshed. The Court of Criminal Appeals and all of the federal courts, including the Fifth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court, agreed. As for the journalist who has kept the case alive all these years, Mr. Ronald Use the links under See more to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc. Simons crouched down next to her lifeless body. I thought, How can you put someone on death row without evidence? Her murder went unsolved for nearly 40 years. Hunt and Fuller pointed out that none of the hair or blood found at the crime scene tied Spence to the murders, and they insisted that Deeb had been joking about getting rid of Kelley and that Spence knew it. In 1979, she was working as a mechanic for a golf cart company in Houston, later getting a job at the Harrison Equipment Corporation, a construction equipment company, Ratliff said. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.. Clear skies. Id heard he was claiming he did it. She regularly communicated with her parents via letters and phone calls and when they hadn't heard from her in a while, they traveled to Houston to search for her, Bluffington said. The next day, at lunch with his sister, he shared Spences story. Talk about a commanding presence. Dannen felt light-headed, as if he had vertigo. The discovery of the three victims from Hawkins, about 100 miles east of Dallas, and subsequent arrest of McFadden, on parole after three rape convictions, made the former telephone cable installer one of the regions most notorious criminals. He and Owen found plenty of evidence implicating others, yet little that pointed to their own client. Though other people they spoke to said the two New Yorkers were overreacting (I kept telling Fred and Pete, Thats just how these guys talk, said Bernadette Feazell, Vics ex-wife), the exchange nevertheless made them nervous. She was active in several organizations, including band, National Honor Society and Future Teachers of America, acquiring a job later at a local pharmacy. Learn more about Brooks Lake / Brookhaven Lake. The long-haired, tattoo-covered McFadden enhanced the reputation when he broke out of the Upshur County Jail before his capital murder trial. Eight informants, two of whom had been in jail with Williams, took the stand. This, and only this, would ultimately lead to a hearing where Reaves could question the men who put Melendez and the others in prison and sent Spence to his death, making them answer for their actions a generation ago. Mrs. Lane said she realized the body was, indeed, her niece, but not the same silly teenager who pranced around in delightful anticipation of a bubbling casserole. Decades later the violence that unfolded that summer continues to defy explanation and understanding. At Reavess request, the DAs office arranged for four envelopes from Whites rape kit to be sent to the medical examiner; to Dannens horror, they were empty. Williams had blood drawn by a doctor that day, and Dannen had the sample sent to the Tarrant County medical examiner for safekeeping. More than 800 mourners gathered at Hawkins High School to say goodbye. Wed work ten hours a day, and I didnt have a car, so Id stay a week at a time. Try again later. H-E-Bs True Texas BBQ Restaurant Is Slipping. Compelled by his vow to avenge the teenagershed whispered the same promise to Raylene and Kenneth as he had to JillSimons kept tabs on investigators progress, even stopping by police headquarters after his shift to read their reports. The rest of her remains were located in a wooded area near the home, Ratliff said. We have many After serving seven years, Williams was released in June 1993 and eventually received $31,250 for his time behind bars. The results, as they came in, proved astonishing. The girls father, Rod Montgomery, owned a granite company and cut tombstones, but he had been so devastated by her death he had found it impossible to put up a marker. Yet some things just didnt add up, such as the prosecutions mistaken-identity theory; for one thing, Jill had large breasts, while Gayle Kelley was flat-chested, a discrepancy that Thompson felt sure a man like Spence would have noticed. After Jills parents divorced, when she was in middle school, the girl spent a lot of time at her aunts house. "We want to compete the investigation," Bluffington said. Allen never disclosed anything from the file to the defense. It was good." Though he had money from his book advance and a few movie options on his magazine stories, paying for the DNA tests had exhausted his savings. He was a man who liked to work alone, following his gut instincts; hed worked the streets long enough now to have seen many of his hunches proved right. No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments. Blum was there to help with research but also I think to act as a bodyguard., The two began to make daily trips to Waco, Blum at the wheel of the rental car because Dannen hated to drive. As the community paused to remember the girl with the dazzling smile, the search for the missing continued. If you come across them, do not attempt to apprehend them yourself. Franks had originally told a newspaper reporter that when his son didnt return home, he became anxious that Kenneth might be in trouble and went out looking for him at four-thirty in the morning. Dannen soon found what seemed to be confirmation of this during a visit with Thompson. Cold Cases, Missing and Unsolved Crimes. The run-up to Spences trial was particularly contentious. Their primary person of interest was the jailed McFadden, already under scrutiny for the unrelated robbery attempt the same evening the friends disappeared. The two had been sitting on a picnic table at Koehne Park, Gilbert said, when Spence brought up the crime. GREAT NEWS! Furthermore, although forensic odontology was admissible in court, there was no established science behind it, and allowing Campbells testimony would be a travesty of justice, argued the lawyers. They knew they had to attack the jailhouse testimony; if Robert Snelson had lied, they figured, other inmates probably had too. On November 17 they spoke with Otis Douglas, an informant who had testified against Williams. After all this time, I still think about it.. The other avenue for Melendez would be executive clemency, which also depends on DNA findings. About 25 yards from the spot where Tony had said Jill was murdered, Simons was suddenly overcome by a strong feeling. For Fred, Texas was as exotic as a foreign country, remembered Lawrence Wright, a staff writer for the New Yorker (and a former TexasMonthly staffer), who hosted Dannen and Blum in his home, in Austin. He was continually unnerved by Feazell, who seemed to enjoy provoking him: during jury selection, for example, as Spences lawyers questioned potential jurors, the DA passed him taunting notes (Youre drowning and your lifeguards dont swim! read one). . 181 votes, 25 comments. Afterward, Deeb had confessed. In early 1999 he obtained a copy of Whites autopsy report, which noted the presence of semen. "She was very excited. The family was impressedand heartened when Dannen told them he planned to publish his findings in his book, which would be out in about a year. Right before the trial, Simons had written out a statement for her to sign; in it he offered various incriminating facts she knew nothing about. It was surprising when we got the initial results, Moore told reporters on Thursday. Lakehouse.com has 4 lake homes for sale on Brooks Lake / Brookhaven Lake. From day one, they told me Id receive the death sentence if I went to trial. Dannen was something of a curiosity in Wacoa stubborn, garrulous reporter with a New York accent knocking on doors, asking questions about a fifteen-year-old murder case, typing answers feverishly on his laptopbut he had a knack for getting people to open up. "When I sit here in retrospect, it doesn't seem like much time has passed at all. new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help He was known to camp not too far from the point, where rolling waves crashed against the rugged shoreline and pretty girls flirted with the guys. That October, a second trial for Spencethis time for Kenneths murderwas just as straightforward. But that didnt change the truth. Search above to list available cemeteries. It was grueling, often heartbreaking work, and it tended to attract young, idealistic lawyers, like two attorneys in their late twenties named Rob Owen and Raoul Schonemann. I killed them. Though he then apologized and said he was joking, Kelley felt certain he was not. Upon learning of the teenager's death, Suzanne's mother's anguished cries seemed to echo through the town. HERNANDEZ. But my two children suffered too. A middle school dropout with a fondness for beer, marijuana, and amphetamines, he had married at 16, become a father of two by 18, and divorced at 20. Prudhomme "just kind of fell out of contact with her family," Bluffington said. Chad Beasley, 9, the son of another relative, was treated for a broken leg and released. I know hes no angel, but as far as what hes there for, thats not what I call justice. Thompson was making a chocolate cake, and Jill, who had recently lost a lot of weight, asked for a slice. She wondered about Tony; if he was indeed innocent, surely Dannens discoveries could help exonerate him somehow. 39.5m members in the funny community. A few hours later, family members of Suzanne, Gena and Bryan started worrying after the trio failed to show up after their ride around the lake. Relatives of the victims, including Kenneths and Jills parents, and friends whod driven in from Waxahachie sat together with members of the DAs office. Jill knew Kenneth from the Methodist Home, in Waco, a boarding school for troubled and academically challenged kids; the two had lived there for a while and dated each other but were now just friends. Resend Activation Email, Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox, If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map. Jills mother, Nancy, who was scheduled to be a witness, had forced herself to study the crime-scene photos as a way of bracing herself for the gruesome details shed hear in testimony. It never goes away.. After the trial, Feazell went on the offensive against Price, announcing that he was considering launching a probe for witness tampering, retaliation, and subornation of perjury by her and the WPD. Low 51F. In June two cops had been shot in a gun battle downtown. There was never any link to him coming up here. The Waco Police Department offered her a position, and when she arrived, she was pleasantly surprised to find that the city had cars and paved roads. White had struggled with her attackerher nose was broken, her ear torn, her body battered. Spence wasnt so lucky. But he was hopeful in spite of himself. Many times Simons fed me specific pieces of factual information about the crime, he said in his affidavit, and then later asked me to relate the information back to him for one of my statements. Simons showed him crime-scene photos and had been the one who told him about the bra tied around Raylenes ankle. I didnt even notice it until he shifted in his chair and exposed something on his chest, something winding along his skin. Now none of us could honestly say we knew without a shadow of a doubt that thats how it happened. It was a Sunday, and she had been working with one of her horses, but she was the on-call detective that week. Meanwhile in Utah, 35-year-old Joseph Mitchell Parsons was scheduled to be executed at 12:01 a.m. Friday for fatally stabbing a man. I know theyve spent time and money on the case, and they keep telling me theyre confident they can prove I wasnt there. She and her girlfriend had broken up at the time of her disappearance, Bluffington said. Simons, he claimed, got him food and visits with his girlfriend in the DAs office and said he would help him get parole. It began to dawn on both lawyers that the Spence case was going to be different from any they had handled before. He had never been to Texas before, and he hired Peter Blum, a retired police detective and friend whom hed met while reporting on Chinese gangs, to go with him. Harrison was one of three victims kidnaped and murdered by Jerry McFadden in 1986. The fight for Spences life was back on. Spence had, however, been informed that he was a suspect by then. Feazells findings, which showed that Lucas lied about his victims, had embarrassed the Texas Rangers, who had used Lucas statements to erroneously clear dozens of murders. When Simons then learned that, two weeks before the murders, Deeb had taken out an accident insurance policy on Kelley that paid $20,000 in the event of her deathand listed himself as Kelleys common-law husbandhe felt his instincts confirmed. White was poor and had had a hard life; shed been married four times and had lived long enough to see her son vilified as a monster, only to die like this. February 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? But Melendez later recanted, saying he had only confessed because hed been threatened with the death penalty. (Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph), The picnic tables at Barnwell Mountain Recreational Area in Gilmer are pictured March 8, 2016. A Town in Terror Part II: Hawkins mourns three young victims, as law enforcement searches for their killer, By JACQUE HILBURN-SIMMONS, jasimmons@tylerpaper.com, A Town In Terror: How Jerry McFadden's 1986 crime spree stole the lives of Hawkins' best, brightest, Police say executed East Texas killer Jerry "the Animal" McFadden killed Oregon woman, A Town in Terror Part III: Accused murderer Jerry McFadden takes hostage, escapes jail and sparks Texas-sized manhunt, A Town In Terror Part IV: A look into the legal challenges that freed serial rapist Jerry McFadden to commit murder, A Town in Terror Part V: Former hostage shares story of new life, healing power of giving back, A Town in Terror: Reporter recalls covering one of the most tragic, terrifying stories of his career, Chapel Hill High School hosts Donuts with Dad, Smith County moving tax foreclosure auctions online, East Texas tree business shifts focus from removal to revival, With 'Dilbert' discontinued, we want to hear from you.