In October 1979, he was arrested for violating his parole and later sentenced to a life term, but again paroled early in 1985. Over breakfast at the downtown Hilton, he proposed that the former inmate provide a blood sample, so that his DNA could be compared against that of the semen at the crime scene. Heart pounding, Simons peered around the immediate surroundings. After his direct appeal had been denied, the former shop-keeper, who never wavered in his protestations of innocence, had resolved to free himself: sitting on the floor of his cell at the Ellis Unit, hed studied law books and typed out cases, trying to learn the rhythms of legal writing. Waco Men Were Victims of an Investigation Gone Awry ran an Associated Press headline. Hes gone, she said. SIMPSON, Doyle Edward in 2014, insisting he was painting houses in Bryan, as several alibi witnesses had told police he was. The young woman they were standing over had been brutalized in unspeakable ways in an isolated roadside park, strangled and then tossed over an embankment. There was a problem getting your location. The testimonyeveryones bite mark is different, like a fingerprintwas very convincing.. I wasnt a good guy, he told me last May, when I first visited him at the Polunsky Unit, in Livingston. Price was astounded to find that a few days before her death, White had received a letter from Spence that had been sent to him by Robert Snelson, one of the men who had testified against him; he was the informant who told jurors that Spence had confessed to biting off Jills nipple. League City Police detectives "worked diligently" since the bodies were discovered to identify Jane Doe and Janet Doe, Ratliff said. Alvin Gilbert said that he had been clueless too, throwing in details he had heard on the news. He was executed before he could ever be added to the system. This spike in executions began to attract the kind of attention for Spence that had eluded him in life. This is very important. Dannen had paid for all the DNA testing himself; by the time the results came in, hed spent close to $10,000. Those kids didnt deserve to die, June told me. Simons told him early in their relationship, a few weeks after arriving at the jail. View listing photos and property details. Suspects were grilled and released. Most journalists who came to Texas after Spence was executed werent interested in him but in finding stories about the Texas criminal justice system, remembered Schonemann. (According to Dannen, the states forensic expert in Deebs retrial told him that when he asked to test the truck, he was informed it had disappeared in Mexico. 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. Melendez was still wary of false assurances, and he was tight-lipped about what Dannen had promised. Thousands of people die in Hawkins each year, and most of these people are mentioned in local Texas obituaries. You did it, we know you did ityoure going to die for it. Lying is not going to help you. When Tony saw Simons, he was blunt. Please reset your password. HAMILTON Jr. Samuel Christopher State District Judge Richard Davis ordered the terms to be served concurrently. Time and again, she asked the state to line up the genetic markers. He had also recently undergone gall bladder surgery. Instead, they took it from a lawnmower shed where it had been stored in the heat for a decade, by a court-appointed special prosecutor, and turned it over to a private lab they are paying for.. The criminal trials for the lake murders were the most anticipated in Wacos history. new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help Clifton Murderpedia has thousands of hours of work behind it. To see all this unfolding before my eyes and know I couldnt stop it was terrible., Her ordeal over, Price began keeping tabs on the men who had been sent to death row as a result of Simonss work, Spence and Deeb. They interviewed countless suspects. "I used to be a forest ranger where the girl was found," retired lawman Roger Don Holeman said recently. Polygraphs were administered. ratio d'endettement ngatif interprtation. A native of New York and an accomplished pianist, Dannen had a small build and an intense disposition, and he was known for his ability to get interviews with tough subjects, from Los Angeles police chief Daryl Gates to New York drug kingpin Lorenzo Nichols. Unfortunately, however, the odontologists took a long time completing their assessments, and as the October 1993 deadline for the depositions approached, the TRC team realized the full odontology report was going to be late. Dannen bought a Chevy Blazer and took driving lessons, tracking down sources who had never spoken to authorities or who had documents related to the case. McFadden was eventually caught hiding at an abandoned house nearby. The judge had agreed, and Feazell and Ned Butler, the assistant DA, had complied. A grateful city breathed a sigh of relief. After three months, Dannen and Blum returned to New York. 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. We discussed bite-mark evidence and how a landmark forensics report by the National Academy of Sciences in 2009 had thoroughly discredited it (The scientific basis is insufficient to conclude that bite mark comparisons can result in a conclusive match, the report stated). "It was really sad you were really torn up about it. 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? Spence, in fact, was about to become the face of a national debate over capital punishment in Texas. He felt humiliated, remembered Salinas. Washingtons trial took place that December; he was found guilty and given life. HAWKINS, Texas (KLTV) - The Hawkins Police Department is investigating a shooting at a convenience store. The four juries in these trials concluded that Spence and the Melendez brothers were the killers, Simons wrote in his own email. Murderers Texas, USA Name Date Victims Location A Daniel Clate ACKER March 12, 2000 1 Texas, USA Beunka ADAMS September 2, 2002 1 Texas, USA John Wade ADAMS March 23, 1997 1 Texas, USA Timothy Wayne ADAMS February 20, 2002 1 Texas, USA Dwight Dwayne ADANANDUS January 28, 1988 1 Texas, USA Jesus Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. To make matters worse, seven hours after the officers finished searching Whites home, they received a call to return to the scene: the house had been broken into again. WILLIAMS, Nanon Mckewn I dont know if I want to see an innocent man get freed or if I just so deeply want to know who the guilty people are. Then, on the eve of trial, Schonemann got a surprise. The dead boy was clearly Kenneth, the men agreed, studying the photo. Sometimes they take her to the country cemetery where Jill is buried. Winona (9 miles) Big Sandy (9 miles) Owentown (14 miles) HERNANDEZ, Ramon Pedro Simons, walking among the bodies as he searched for clues, was shaken. We report on vital issues from politics to education and are the indispensable authority on the Texas scene, covering everything from music to cultural events with insightful recommendations. ", Former Wood County Sheriff's deputy and retired constable David Barber, a 38-year lawman. 'Two shotguns, a pistol and two knives were retrieved from the scene. You can always change this later in your Account settings. GARDNER. When Juhl finally did break things off, Spence went so berserk he had to be given a shot of Thorazine. (His office, outfitted with an elaborate taping system, was soon nicknamed Fort Feazell.) (Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph), Farm-to-Market 2659 in Hawkins was part of the search area during the manhunt for Jerry McFadden in Hawkins. These are serious allegations against public officials sworn to seek justice, read the response. Spence said hed have Juhl ask around on the street about the murders. HAWKINS, Texas (KLTV) -Monday, April 27, true-crime network Investigation Discovery (ID) will air the story of Hawkins serial murderer and kidnapper Jerry McFadden, dubbed the animal, on a new show called Southern Gothic. I was amazed, he told me. On that last day, Jill had stopped by to see Thompson on her way to Waco. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account. A Baptist preachers son who took to the pulpit himself on occasion, Feazell married and with a son of his ownhad promised that he would be active in the courtroom; his first trial as lead prosecutor, in fact, was to be Spences aggravated sexual abuse case. Hawkins was the kind of town where neighbors looked out for one another, and there was an innocence that people seemed to enjoy, but a lot of it was lost that one terrible summer. SKILLERN, Derrick J. On May 1 a woman who lived a few blocks from White was violently attacked in her home. "I wrote the parole board and asked them not to parole him to this area," then-sheriff Frank White said in a May 13, 1986 newspaper. Dannen found a middle-aged man still mourning his son. 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. Im not a forensic expert, but I feel the case has taken a turn, he said. On that Friday, she said, I think Ive found out what happened. Public beaches in Wood County, like this one at Lake Hawkins, are temporarily off limits. Suzanne and two former classmates from Hawkins High School vanished May 4, 1986 during a Sunday evening drive around Lake Hawkins. I dont know whats happened to you, he whispered in her ear, but I promise you one thing. McFadden never was charged with the other killings. I was afraid to die, he told Texas Monthly in 2014, insisting he was painting houses in Bryan, as several alibi witnesses had told police he was. Convinced he was on the right track, Dannen shared some of his own suspicions with Thompson. But when the book never came, Melendez sunk into bitterness and depression. Ladies and gentlemen, he announced as Simons entered, I thank God for men like Truman Simons. When Simons contacted Price, he told her that he already had a suspect. In February Spence got his new date with death: April 3, 1997. Washington, however, remained in prison, and Dannen decided to examine his case. I think its going to be an unsatisfying ending., Unsatisfying for some, perhaps. 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. According to TDCJ records, McFadden was executed for the abduction, rape, and murder of 18-year-old Suzanne Denise Harrison. It was his second parole. He had a mold taken of Spences teeth, then personally delivered it and the photos to Homer Campbell, a forensic odontologist in Albuquerque who had helped solve the Amarillo case. For Simons, this was a promising start, and later that afternoon he and Baier sat down to interview Kelley, who had also been a friend of Jills. When Williams was nevertheless found guilty and given a life sentence, Price was so peeved that she stepped up her informal investigation. The long-haired, tattoo-covered McFadden enhanced the reputation when he broke out of the Upshur County Jail before his capital murder trial. And, crucially, they kept and carefully stored forensic evidence from the scene. After the DNA comparisons were conducted from family members, positive matches were made, Ratliff said. An HBO documentary released two months later, The Execution Machine: Texas Death Row, featured Spence in his final week. "It seems like yesterday and always will. The results sent Simons into despair. If they execute me on April 3, he told the camera, it will be a cold-blooded, calculated murder. Dateline would eventually follow with an hour-long show, in January 1998, that questioned Spences guilt. She's a former police reporter who also wrote a book about the KFC murder. Soon after his interrogation of Deeb, hed headed over to the jail with Baier to meet the inmate. PEREZ, Robert Anthony Martinez Instead she, along with three other WPD cops, testified for the defense to say how untrustworthy the informants were. And he didnt eat just anything. She made calls and introduced him to sources who might not otherwise have talked, such as a woman who claimed she had seen Harpers van next to the Pinto that night. His shift, from three p.m. to one a.m., didnt allow the couple to see much of each other, so hed stop by her office when he could, then head back out on patrol. There theyd seen the kids, whom Spence enticed into the car with the promise of beer and weed. We were pulling out all the stops, Schonemann explained to me. Michael Anthony Simons investigation included numerous promises to jailhouse inmates and the outright fabrication of evidence against the unlucky suspects, she alleged. Waco didnt get much credit for physical beauty, but this lake, just inside the citys western border, was a jewel, deep and blue. She scared the hell out of me, said Dannen. At Williamss trial, she had testified that she saw Williams and Washington in a club parking lot, sitting near Whites car. On May 4, 1986, McFadden kidnapped teenagers Brian Boone, Gena Turner and Suzanne Harrison from Lake Hawkins. (Years later, Feazell would tell the Waco Tribune-Herald that the accusation that he had not disclosed exculpatory evidence was a total lie.), But Owen and Schonemann had bought themselves two more months, so they went out on the road again. When investigators spoke to him, he told them he "kind of thought his mom just moved on.". The idea that justice had not yet been doneand that he might be able to do something about itenergized him. Im not sure hes innocent, and Im not sure hes a good guy. It wasnt right., But does that mean Spence was innocent? Harrison was found dead the next morning, sexually assaulted and strangled with her own underwear. The officer was none other than Jan Price. They matched exactly, Campbell told a reporter. SPENCE, Exzavier Lamont Barber assisted in the search area after the victims were reported missing. No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments. Photo by Ben. You are nearing the transfer limit for memorials managed by Find a Grave. ANDRADE, Roger Spence insisted he couldnt remember murdering anyone, but he began to wonder if it was possible that he had really done it. The teens had been bound with shoelaces and strips of towel and stabbed a total of 48 times. The slayings followed a family quarrel in the Beasley home in Hawkins during a gathering to celebrate Fathers Day and Matthew Birkinbines second birthday. His actions resulted in three convictions that should have kept him behind bars for years. Simons hurried over. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6653351/gena-lee-turner. ), In November Chief Scott decided to make Prices investigation official. Getting Tony out will be the other greatest thing., Was Dannen about to solve the 32-year-old mystery? When Simons had shown it to her, all she could say was that shed bought Jill one that looked similar. But Simons knew he was on the right track, and he was going to see it through, skeptics be damned. Her throat had been slashed. Had she lived, Suzanne would be 48, her friends slightly older, possibly with families of their own. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. Waco had been having a violent summer; it was July 14, and already a dozen people had been murdered in the city of 100,000. He was living an unsettled life, moving from an Austin apartment to a friends guest room in Salado to a girlfriends house in Waco. However, though he couldnt say Spence was the biter, he also couldnt exclude him. Phoenix Suns -4 Chicago Bulls +4 1 -110. During the 1980s, when Suzanne, Gena and Bryan were growing up there, many people didn't think much about leaving their front doors unlocked. Both appeared to have been shot, the male multiple times and the female once, but little else could be immediately determined. In June 1991 she got her wish with Deeb, when the Court of Criminal Appeals overturned his murder conviction. Fred would call now and then and say, Im almost ready, remembered Thompson. Speegleville was the largest, a pleasant, wooded wilderness that made for good camping, hiking, and fishing. He pointed to the informant testimony and said there was pretty solid evidence that Williams had left a bite mark on Whites body. Things were about to get crazy, he said, and Melendez might want to consider talking. 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. But his most revealing tattoo is largely hidden under his prison shirt. 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. They knew they had to attack the jailhouse testimony; if Robert Snelson had lied, they figured, other inmates probably had too. CARRERA, Daniel Lee Thirty years after 18-year-old Suzanne Harrison's death, when Mrs. Lane reaches for the potholders to extract the bubbling dish from the oven, she remembers the teenager's gleeful anticipation: the dancing eyes and smacking lips. plans and enthusiasm And theres not a shred of doubt in my mind that Anthony Melendez is innocent. Their primary person of interest was the jailed McFadden, already under scrutiny for the unrelated robbery attempt the same evening the friends disappeared. "She was that kind of person she's with her Father, the one she designed her life after.". She asked Dannen to make a presentation, and she set up a meeting at Nancys house. There was also former inmate Kevin Mikel, who explained how hed learned details of the murders. I kept shaking my head, he told me. Im going to see my mom.. In 1991, though, when one of the convicts got a new trial and was then found not guilty, some people wondered, Were these four actually the killers? Then the two set out to attack what they saw as the most powerful element of the states case: the accomplice testimony of the Melendez brothers. To his surprise, Spence was so friendly that they fell into easy conversation; Simons even told him he was quitting the force. That didnt happen. "You never get over it, you just learn to live with it. You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial. Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried. Dannen, who had read every file in the Lake Waco case, remembered the affidavit Price had given Schonemann in 1991, in which she identified a suspect named Benny Carroll. Mikel gave Simons some corroborating details, such as how Kenneth had been bound with shoelaces and Raylene had had a bra tied around her leg; he also reported that Spence had suggested that Gilbert MelendezSpences co-perpetrator in the abuse casehad been involved. 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. Later that day, when Simons returned to see him, he had something to say. But then in July 1986, as he awaited trial, McFadden knocked out a sheriffs deputy and kidnapped a woman who worked as a dispatcher and jailer. Police investigators announced the identification of two women whose bodies were found decades ago in League City, Texas, in a press conference on April 15, 2019. He liked reading about everything and loved talking about religion. Other TRC lawyers who helped Owen and Schonemann with the case, such as Ken Driggs, agreedSpence may have been a criminal, but he didnt seem like a killer. Judy Whitley, a 17-year-old sophomore at Clifton High School, was found raped and murdered in June 1985. The second body was unable to be identified, so the medical examiner named the remains Jane Doe, Ratliff said. (Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph), Former Wood County Sheriff's Deputy and retired constable David Barber recalls kids knowledge of Jerry McFadden. HAWKINS, Anthony Cardell 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. Reporters wanted a cut-and-dried case, he remembered. Somebody went in there looking for something, she told me years later, recalling the strangeness of the case. The series also includes recent interviews with some people directly affected by the murders and updates on their lives today. Timothy Wayne Dannen hoped the reporter would call before the execution took place to say a court had stayed it, but she didnt contact him until his watch read almost eight. Larry Pack (Texas. Simons knew Deeb: he was a 23-year-old Jordanian immigrant who ran the Rainbow Drive Inn, a convenience store across the street from the home. After having their motions repeatedly denied by Judge Allen, Hunt and Fuller sent a 33-page letter to the FBI and the U.S. attorneys office asking for help. Hawkins is a city in Wood County, Texas, United States. I cant say for certain he was innocent, but I know that he was wrongly executed. After all this time, I still think about it.. The beautiful Gena, voted Miss Hawkins High School, was academically gifted and valedictorian of the 1984 graduating class. 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. "You cry. To uncover any facts that might help save their clientsthat prosecutors had concealed evidence, for example, or that an inmate had suffered an abusive childhood or was mentally disabledthe attorneys had to reinvestigate every case, searching through files and trial transcripts, visiting with inmates, and traveling far and wide to find old and new witnesses. ESCAMILLA, Aaron Christopher May he rest in eternal peace. Simons and Butler had shown him photos and given him details, he explained. GUTIERREZ, Jessie You cry all night long. He also was charged with cutting the throat of his nephew, Matthew Birkinbine of Euless, and clubbing another nephew, Chad Beasley, 9, of Arlington, with a shotgun before throwing him out a second-floor window. He still thought hed be exonerated.. But that didnt change the truth. Yes, admitted Deeb; he often spent time at the Rainbow Drive Inn. Their journey was not so much about tanning, but about meeting up with a friend, Bryan Boone, 19, and taking a slow cruise around the water's edge.