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I thought, How can you put someone on death row without evidence? Spence seemed more and more bewildered about what was going on in his mind. Texas law sets the bar very high for innocence claims, effectively requiring conclusive proof of innocence, said Raoul Schonemann, who is now the co-director of the Capital Punishment Clinic. Theyd seen Simons take over an investigation before. HAWKINS On a clear May 4, 1986 evening, Suzanne Harrison, 18, and her best friend, Gena Turner, 20, waved goodbye to their families, jumped in the car and headed out on an ill-fated ride around Lake Hawkins. Gena Lee Turner (1966-1986) - Find a Grave Memorial Find lakefront properties, listings, lots, land and acreage in the nearby city of Hawkins. cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. But "they just kind of lived different lives," Bluffington said. He and Reaves decided to make a case to Governor Perry for clemency. She became a cheerleader and joined several organizations, including National Honor Society and Future Teachers of America, even acquiring a job later at a local pharmacy to earn a little pocket money. But the case went nowhere. $54,900. The writ was full of typos but also cogent arguments; Deeb was granted a new trial when the court ruled that the jailhouse informants testimony that had been used against him was hearsay. One of those was Chief Larry Scott. I think this is the worst thing to ever happen in Hawkins, Texas. Police detectives said they have tied a convicted killer to the 1979 homicide of Anna Marie Hlavka in Portland through the use of forensic genealogy. Youre 14?: YouTuber Austin Jones had 40 million page views, adoring fans, and a shocking secret. Waco didnt get much credit for physical beauty, but this lake, just inside the citys western border, was a jewel, deep and blue. I acknowledge that I am not in possession of all the facts, he wrote, but I cannot fathom why, if there is new evidence that casts doubt on the states case against Mr. Spence, he should be executed without a hearing. Dannen added that he planned to look into the case for a magazine story. Hawkins police chief submits resignation, city council accepts - KLTV Even if someone elses DNA is found, the state can be expected to argue that that doesnt prove Tony is innocent, only that another person was involved in the crime. Rob Owen, now a clinical professor at Northwestern University School of Law, is also pessimistic about Melendezs chances, having worked similar innocence cases. A book comes out by a New York writer that says Tonys innocent and Texas may have executed an innocent manand Tonys going to get clemency? Im tired of lying. Hawkins is located at 3235?30?N 9512?3?W / 32.59167N 95.20083W / 32.59167; -95.20083 (32.591694, -95.200936). The lawyers pleas were ignored. Sundays found her at the First Baptist Church for worship service, alongside her academically gifted best friend, Gena, and a host of other young people. The long-haired, tattoo-covered McFadden enhanced the reputation when he broke out of the Upshur County Jail before his capital murder trial. You are nearing the transfer limit for memorials managed by Find a Grave. I was now acting as an unofficial investigator for Mr. Washington.. Hawkins: Created by David Karp. Yet by 2008, he was no closer to proving Melendezs innocence. They had the rope around my neck, ready to kill me. But he was hopeful in spite of himself. Her throat had been slashed. We cannot tell which are gun wounds and which are knives.'. Texas Executes Man Convicted In 1977 Killing - The New York Times His tenacity, in fact, was about to pay off in other ways. HERNANDEZ, Ramon Pedro The more they understood of the case, the more troubling they found it: the types of evidence used against their clientjailhouse testimony and bite markswere well-known in legal circles to be unreliable. A new lawyer, Joel Schwartz, stepped up to help. McFadden was condemned for raping and beating Ms. Harrison, a high school cheerleader, then strangling her with her own underwear. Share this memorial using social media sites or email. An attractive blonde from Detroit, the 29-year-old thought the citys name was pronounced Wacko and assumed its residents got around on horses. I wouldnt doubt that he started saying the police thought he did it, or he might have said he did it, to make himself look like a badass. So should you.. In October 1979, he was arrested for violating his parole and later sentenced to a life term, but again paroled early in 1985. Hopper, the Portland detective, and her partner traveled to Texas to take more samples from McFaddens family members. I promise you that this wont be another unsolved murder case in Waco, Texas.. But on this particular day, they left the beach towels and portable radio behind. Why should he confess? The lawyer told me, Youre going to kill your boy.), I was afraid to die, said Melendez. Investigators in Texas identified a body found on an oil field nera Calder Road in League City on Sept. 8, 1991 as Donna Prudhomme, who was believed to be about 34 years old at the time of her death. Patrol sergeant Truman Simons was driving down Franklin Avenue, in downtown Waco, when the call came over the police radio. Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. I could never have asked for the death penalty if I didnt sincerely believe they were guilty. He has already raised doubts about the DNA evidence, saying he believes the material has been tampered with. She had been a detective for only two years at that point, and they were after a vicious killer. Several persons of interests have been identified but authorities currently do not have enough to officially name anyone as a suspect, Bluffington said. Both appeared to have been shot, the male multiple times and the female once, but little else could be immediately determined. ADVERTISEMENT Beasley, 29, of Hawkins, was charged in the June 15, 1986, shooting and stabbing deaths of his father, Paul Owen Beasley Sr., 71; his mother, Ruth J. Beasley, 62; and his sister, Linda Birkinbine, 37, of Euless. The New York Times-bestselling true crime author reveals the full story of murder and deception behind the Lifetime movie Secrets of a Gold Digger Killer. McFadden was the principle suspect in all three murders, but he was only charged with Suzanne's death. Id never heard of the DA getting involved so quickly in an investigation, recalled J.R. Two weeks into a whodunit like the White case, youre just getting started. Price would continue working the case for the WPD, but she felt blindsided, as if she had done something wrong. Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. The sergeant got on his hands and knees and crawled under the branches. ANGLETON, Larry It was just what Simons had been waiting fora statement from an actual eyewitness. Im still pissed offI cant talk about the case for very long before I start to get upset, Russ Hunt, the attorney in Spences first murder trial, told me. More Crime News Man shot, killed at north Harris County apartment complex He was a little twitchy, she told me. ANDRADE, Roger The faces of Suzanne, Gena and Bryan are firmly etched in memory. Schonemann and his team appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in December 1994. This was unusual; as far as Price knew, no one outside the WPD was on the case. He wouldnt be the first inmate to falsely confess, thinking, They cant convict me, because I didnt do it. If he did say such things, he couldnt have realized the scenario that would be created by the bite marks and the company of snitches.. Each one, I was certain was going to be the suspect. (You can put away the bad guys all you want, but youve got to do it right, said a former investigator with the McLennan County DAs office years later, recalling Simonss work.) But there was just one problem McFadden didn't like following rules. Back in Waxahachie, Thompson was glad to learn of the new tests, but as a year passed, then another, and then another, she and her family began to despair. USA Trucking Companies. Simons turned on a tape recorder as Melendez recounted the events of that night. They found a co-worker who had last seen her alive that day around 5 p.m. outside her apartment. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? More important, Tony, in the expectation of getting help with parole, had agreed to give a more detailed statement and testify against Spence. Spence, unaware that he might be a suspect, offered to help the officers in their investigation. The second body was found on Feb. 2, 1986, by two juveniles who were riding bikes in the same area where Frye's body was discovered on Calder Road, Ratliff said. In 2012, Hopper took over the case and began trying to match the DNA profile with various suspects who had been identified over the years. But there was more, said Salinas. David Spences case came before the TRC that same summer. It belonged to another young woman, this one dark-haired. It was denied. 1:10. The nonprofits executive director scrambled to find a firm to represent him, but no one wanted to defend a man whod twice been convicted of butchering three teenagers. That night, the officers got a huge break when a panicked Kelley called Simons at one in the morning. Now 24, Spence had become more and more unpredictable and violent. After talking, the brothers refused to take the stand against Deeb. 399, Sec. Hawkins, TX Map & Directions - MapQuest You may not upload any more photos to this memorial, This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has 20 photos, This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded 5 photos to this memorial, This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has 30 photos, This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded 15 photos to this memorial. HAWKINS - Glyndia Lane of Hawkins can't make broccoli, cheese and rice casserole without feeling a sharp pang of sadness. It began to dawn on both lawyers that the Spence case was going to be different from any they had handled before. A tough 28-year-old from Waco whod served time in the mid-seventies for assault with intent to murder, Melendez had been given seven years after pleading guilty in the aggravated sexual abuse case. NCAAB Lines Basketball - Everygame McFadden was still on parole when he was convicted of a 1979 aggravated sexual assault of an 18-year-old West Texas secretary in Shackelford County, records show. He could not have known that his promise, and every action he took to fulfill it, would shortly come under intense scrutinyand, in the years to come, set the course for one of the strangest, most serpentine cases of criminal justice in modern Texas history. I live with this case every day, he said. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. He also has been named a suspect in the slaying of. 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. The three young people who disappeared from Lake Hawkins and murdered weren't on the naughty list at school. Gerald Wayne It was all mind-blowing, Schonemann told me. In early January, the deputys patience paid off: an inmate named Kevin Mikel told him that Spence had bragged about killing the teenagers. January 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? The crime struck Price as unbearably sad. Schonemann was encouraged. Simons and Butler had shown him photos and given him details, he explained. Dannen had a sample of the carpet sent to the Tarrant County medical examiner; the lab, Dannen told me, was unable to exclude its gold fibers from the gold carpet fibers found on Kenneths body. Dannen also managed to locate the two men he believed were with Harper that night; they were in prison for other crimes. Please try again later. She was sure it would result in her sons exoneration. Hunt, who still believed that Spence was innocent, made copies, one of which he sent to the U.S. attorneys office. White, the investigators learned, had gotten off work the previous night at nine-thirty, after her shift at Uncle Dans Barbecue, where she bused tables and washed dishes. In February Spence got his new date with death: April 3, 1997. Portland police announced Thursday that improbably intact DNA saved from under Anna Maries fingernails had at last pinpointed her killer, a man police had never suspected: Jerry Animal McFadden, a notorious serial rapist and murderer from Texas who once inspired one of the states biggest ever manhunts. He did it! she screamed. Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you. But that didnt change the truth. The two victims were laid to rest in separate ceremonies a few days after their bodies were located. He had grown up in Rosenthal, a tiny town just south of the city, and joined the WPD in 1965, a few years after dropping out of high school. From top left, Joseph Garcia, Donald Newbury, George Rivas, Larry Harper. It was well into the next day before the battered, partially clad body of a young woman was found around noon Monday at Barnwell Mountain, a remote roadside park off State Highway 155 north of Gilmer. I just dont believe he had anything to do with the murders. Melendez has written Thompson a stack of letters, and he recently began calling her at home every week to discuss the impending DNA results. ), On November 19 a furious Feazell dragged Price and Scott before a grand jury, cross-examined the detective, and demanded that she turn over her files on the White case. I thought that actually when I started giving the statement, he said in a deposition, [Simons] would see that I didnt know what I was talking about and tell me I was full of shit and I was lying. Months before, in the spring, the DA had drawn nationwide attention when he cast doubt on the murder claims of famed serial killer Henry Lee Lucas. Bryan's brother located his truck abandoned about a half-mile from where the couple was confronted at gunpoint. Somebody went in there looking for something, she told me years later, recalling the strangeness of the case. The courts, it seemed, had agreed: in 1992, in a remarkable decision, the Tenth Court of Appeals had overturned Williamss murder conviction, ruling that testimony against him from one of the informants was inadmissible. See pricing and listing details of Hawkins real estate for sale. Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. He eventually has an affair with a woman named Ann Kurth. There, in the dirt, lay a gold bracelet. Paul Owen Beasly Jr., 27, had gone to his parents home to celebrate Father's Day, but a family argument turned bloody at about 1:30 p.m., police said. They told me they got enough to get me out, he said. Like Price, Reaves was certain that Williams and Calvin Washington had been convicted with faulty evidence. Hawkins could be described as a largely blue-collar town built on the sweat and sore muscles of the oil industry. What makes a great reporter is, you cant be happy until the story is really done. The fight for Spences life was back on. Tony Melendez, the last living Lake Waco murders defendant, died on Friday, January 13, 2017, at 57 at a prison hospice at the Michael Unit in Tennessee Colony, not far from Palestine. Would they be willing to identify the remains? Folks, he implored in the same preachers cadence hed used throughout the trial, it has been two years, and there are a lot of people who have been waiting for your decision.. Thirty years later, Suzanne's mother is uncomfortable speaking publicly about her daughter's murder, said Mrs. Lane, who spoke for the family. Before long, other inmates were also coming forward with things Spence had told them: he had been in a satanic cult; hed been paid to kill the teens but had killed the wrong ones; a foreigner named Lucky had paid him to kill the three because a girl had dishonored him. Every now and then I think I should not have gotten this personally involved, but I felt like Tony needed to have someone on his side, she told me. The couple had two children before divorcing several years later, after his repeated brushes with the law. He sent McLemore to visit Schonemann, who handed over trial transcripts and case briefs for them to read. Kelley, he posited, had been the target of the killers. Every murder involves a vast web of people, from the witnesses and the detectives who first come to the scene, to the lawyers and the juries who examine the facts, to the families of the victims, who must make sense of the aftermath. Spence said hed have Juhl ask around on the street about the murders. It's been 30 years since some of Hawkins' best and brightest young people were murdered, yet many in the community are still coming to terms with the loss. Price continued investigating too, but she became increasingly frustrated with her partner. In April 1992 the federal court denied Spences petition for habeas corpus relief. In late 1999 he felt a spark of optimism when he received a couple of visits from Fredric Dannen, who interviewed him for his book and told him about the DNA testing being done on the crime-scene evidence. (As for Frankss polygraph, without context, it is just as likely that Richard Franks statement was that he was with them in spirit.), Spences prosecutors, in fact, had long maintained that they had turned over everything to the defense that they were required to. We submitted about eight DNA profiles, Hopper told reporters. We were finally going to hear the real story, remembered Jan Thompson, Jills aunt. Customize this page. I was very fond of David, Schonemann told me. The youth and innocence of the victimsall three were high school studentsmade the crime particularly senseless. Now it was dinnertime, and Simons had been thinking about grabbing some food, maybe at the Whataburger over on Seventh. Within days, Butler got remarkable news: Campbell was certain that Spences teeth had made the marks. I think you all know whats going on, the DA told news cameras as he was taken into the federal courthouse in Austin. She had been. The lawyer, on the other hand, spent the month of March in a state of high anxiety. Using electronically enhanced autopsy photos, the odontologist testified that Spence was the only individual to a reasonable medical and dental certainty who could have bitten the women. Suzanne Harrison's grave is marked at Chilton Cemetery in Big Sandy. I didnt even notice it until he shifted in his chair and exposed something on his chest, something winding along his skin. Price was stunned that Simons had taken his investigation so far without her, but she agreed to accompany him to go speak with Jim Hale, a forensic odontologist in Dallas who was studying the Washington mold. Whoever did it wont just go to jailhe is going to pay for this. The victims brother, Craig Harrison, got as close to the window as he could to see McFadden gasp and sputter twice. Either you believe in the system or you dont, he said. Texas Executes 'Animal' for Rape-Killing of Cheerleader This spike in executions began to attract the kind of attention for Spence that had eluded him in life. Because Melendez pleaded guilty, the burden to prove his innocence is especially great. As Simons stood up, WPD detective Ramon Salinas showed him a photograph of an eighteen-year-old named Kenneth Franks, who had been reported missing earlier that day. Jan Evans didnt know anything about Waco before she moved there, in June 1981. "You're standing there, you see it, but you don't believe it," Mrs. Lane recalled recently, wiping away tears. Gilbert said that he had been clueless too, throwing in details he had heard on the news. ASHBROOK. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option. You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below. One important question remained: Whose semen was it? He is mostly confined to his cell; he gets two hours daily in the dayroom, where he can watch TV, and two hours outside. It was a match. I love yall and I miss yall. Melendez has various jailhouse tattoos: a cross on his left hand, a lowrider and a jalapeo on his right. Jr. Robert Leslie Thompson vowed to help Dannen, doing what she could to open doors for him in Waco and Waxahachie as he tried to reconstruct what had happened on July 13, 1982. Mainly because of the number of them, Scott stated in his own deposition. We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged. He and Melendez drove the bodies to Speegleville and dumped them there. On September 9, Simons walked by Salinass desk and saw the case file lying out. Schonemann also cant escape the past. In July 2001, after Washingtons release, Thompson told Dannen she couldnt keep her doubts quiet anymoreshe had to tell the rest of her family, and she needed his help. But when the book never came, Melendez sunk into bitterness and depression. He began working on a proposal for a book about the lake murders, and in September 1998 he sold the book to Simon & Schuster. PDF She Wanted It All A True Story Of Sex Murder And A [PDF] Ill testify, said Melendez. We had everything but the picket fence. Phoenix Suns -4 Chicago Bulls +4 1 -110. Kenneth had last been seen with two girls from Waxahachie, a blond seventeen-year-old named Raylene Rice and a brunette seventeen-year-old named Jill Montgomery. Baled in a Bale by Mike Cox Though most of the ginning is done by brainless machinery, the industry's human element has developed a colorful folklore with a range of subsets. That same month, after succumbing to complications from HIV, Gilbert Melendez died in prison, a development that only fueled Dannens determination. She knew of the deputys reputation for relying on informants and had heard negative things about him from her fellow officers; as she would later say in a deposition, people arrested by the WPD were getting right back out of jail because they were supplying information to Simons. (Simons has always denied that he made deals with suspects, saying he didnt have the power. 302 days on Zillow. Kader had mentioned a rough biker character known as Chilihis real name was David, she thoughtwho hung around the convenience store. After all this time, I still think about it.. Baier didnt see the resemblance, but Simons mentally filed the detail. When Simons contacted Price, he told her that he already had a suspect. On May 4, 1986, McFadden kidnapped teenagers Brian Boone, Gena Turner and Suzanne Harrison from Lake Hawkins. On the stand, Tony told basically the same story as Gilbert, saying that he and his brother and Spence had killed the teenagers at Koehne and then loaded the bodies into Gilberts truck. Melendez had been suffering from multiple maladies, including bone cancer and kidney failure. He wore a pair of half-tinted aviator glasses, which were slightly cocked on his face. Hawkins' murder sparked emotionally charged marches through the neighborhood, led by the Rev. Year should not be greater than current year. Dannen is full of crap, Simons told the Tribune-Herald in 2011. Carl Lee Dannen wondered if the answer lay in another detail Thompson shared with him. Then there was the report detailing a bizarre polygraph test taken by Kenneths father, Richard Franks. Please enter your email and password to sign in. All his time went to investigating the case, circling back to his sources over and over again in the hopes of uncovering new information. 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. 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. He was so obsessivehe would never be satisfied until he had proved the case, nailed the story. PEREZ. After her familys long heartache, Thompson felt, Dannen was finally going to bring her niece true justice. There were many reasons for this: Texass law-and-order tradition, its system of electing tough-on-crime judges, its practice of appointing low-paid, inexperienced defense lawyers. So why wasnt McFaddens DNA included in the federal CODIS database? Investigators in Texas have identified the remains of two women in a decades-long cold case by using genetic genealogy . As she would later testify, she had checked with the courthouse records and found out that many of the jailhouse informants were getting their cases dismissed by the DAs office. "It seems like yesterday and always will. FOUST, John Steven One testified that he heard Spence say hed bitten off one of Jills nipples; another stated that Spence told him that when he saw the teenagers, hed said, Theres the motherfucker that beat that Iranian on a drug deal.