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HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The Harris County Sheriff's Office announced a breakthrough in two unrelated cold case murders Thursday morning. Abandoning hope that he would ever print the truth, she destroyed her journals and shredded all the documents shed collected related to the case. At times he talked as if he was in a trance, Dannen told me, almost like he was hypnotized.. This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. Authorities were still questioning him about Suzanne's death and Gena and Bryan's disappearances when two more bodies surfaced. Texas Lege Watch: A House Republican Fights for Chicken Freedom, Texas Monthly Recognized by ASME in the 2023 National Magazine Awards. 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. There was no hit. 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. Price continued investigating too, but she became increasingly frustrated with her partner. (Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph), The picnic tables at Barnwell Mountain Recreational Area in Gilmer are pictured March 8, 2016. A crowd of deputies from the sheriffs and constables offices stood around talking; several reporters milled about as well. Simons decided to share his findings with Wacos new district attorney, Vic Feazell. Some are in new places in their lives; others are still unable to conquer the despair that arises after such senseless acts. It was his second parole. He was a little twitchy, she told me. He likes to brag a lot, he told his lawyers, and I just thought he was just trying to brag about that because he thought it was something cool.. I was amazed, he told me. But with the primary suspect long dead, life in the small town of Hawkins has settled into a new normal, albeit different than before. ASHBROOK. I think this is the worst thing to ever happen in Hawkins, Texas. It had been created in 1930, when engineers dammed the Bosque River, and now there were six parks along its edges, with pretty white-sand beaches. She had been raped, sodomized, beaten, and suffocated. The family gathered in the living roomJills parents, her brother and sister, another aunt, Thompson, and Thompsons husband and two daughtersas Dannen laid out his case for Spences possible innocence and Harpers involvement. We were finally going to find out what happened to our kids.. During the 1980s, when Suzanne, Gena and Bryan were growing up there, many people didn't think much about leaving their front doors unlocked. Simons promptly put out feelers to his contacts on the street and got a name: Calvin Washington, a 31-year-old neer-do-well who, it turned out, had recently landed in the McLennan County jail for car theft. STEVENSON, William On May 4, 1986, 20-year-old Gena Turner, 19-year-old Bryan Boone, and 18-year-old Suzanne Harrison were on a day trip to Lake Hawkins, about 100 miles east of Dallas when a savage murderer attacked them. Though several people had seen them arrive at Koehne, and Raylenes car was found there, no one had seen them leave. (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. KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY-TYLER. And he liked to talk. I suffered. They felt safe at the lake and largely insulated from the world that lay beyond the piney curtain of trees that surrounded it. This is very important. Now none of us could honestly say we knew without a shadow of a doubt that thats how it happened. This article is the result of a full year of researchdozens of interviews were conducted with the principal and minor players, and thousands of pages of transcripts, depositions, and affidavits, from the cases six capital murder trials and one aggravated sexual abuse trial, were carefully reviewed. At the time of their disappearance and murders, it was common for young people to spend hours at Lake Hawkins, hanging out at "the point.". Daniel Vaughn is the countrys first barbecue editor, and he has eaten more barbecue than you have. Hunt even got an insurance salesman to explain that Deebs insurance policy on Kelley was the kind often used to cover employees in case of accidents. SKILLERN, Derrick J. ratio d'endettement ngatif interprtation. accessed ), memorial page for Gena Lee Turner (1 Mar 1966-4 May 1986), Find a Grave Memorial ID 6653351, citing County Line Cemetery, Yoakum . Lake Hawkins murders featured on true-crime network episode, 1 person hospitalized in Tyler after being struck by vehicle while changing flat tire, Woman charged with capital murder in Ellis County for allegedly killing 3 children, Troup police ask for publics help to identify pursuit suspect, WebXtra: Fresh 15 race kicks off in Tyler, Brigitta's Hungarian Restaurant loses half of roof, closing business temporarily. 39.5m members in the funny community. I know he put in many hours and sleepless nights, but I also know he raised hopes for people and didnt follow through., Lawrence Wright, who hasnt talked to his friend since 2002, recalls Dannens single-mindedness. McLemore and Pardo had recently met Spence when the two were invited by a prison ministry to visit the Ellis Unit. Though Price had been the police departments investigating officer, she wasnt called as a state witness. "We want to compete the investigation," Bluffington said. I think you all know whats going on, the DA told news cameras as he was taken into the federal courthouse in Austin. To keep creating As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9). Tony said he had learned of the lake murders from other inmates, the media, and interviews with Simons; though he had insisted to his lawyers that he was innocent, hed pleaded guilty because they warned him he would get the death penalty if he went to trial. They were all good kids they were the cream of the crop.". Back at the TRC, Schonemanns peers found the Melendez recantations encouraging. It was around six-thirty on a summer evening in 1982, and the 39-year-old officer had just returned to his squad car after visiting his wife, Judy. Drag images here or select from your computer for Gena Lee Turner memorial. He was confident, even giddy. cemeteries found in Yoakum, DeWitt County, Texas, USA will be saved to your photo volunteer list. 302 days on Zillow. Their only option now was to go to the federal courts. I do know that just about every one of the witnesses who said that Calvin or Joe murdered Mrs. White would say anything to benefit themselves. (In a deposition Simons gave in 1989, he said, I only talked to Angela Miles one time, and she said that she couldnt write a statement out, and as she quoted it to me, I wrote it out. He insisted that he let her examine it. (A representative from Perrys office insists today that the meeting was solely about funding: Ms. [Simons] brought to my office no less than five separate confessions. The WPDs policy, he said, was simple: If its additional information that you are wanting to put in their confession, you put a supplement to it, you dont take a whole new confession., Horton had also been suspicious. We separately list the cases in which the person executed contracted to have the victim killed, though these cases do not fit under the class of felony murder and are not meant to imply less culpability. Jan Evans didnt know anything about Waco before she moved there, in June 1981. It was one crisis after another, Schonemann told me. Polygraphs were administered. I thought, How can you put someone on death row without evidence? Clear skies. Jr. Mauriceo Mashawn He is mostly confined to his cell; he gets two hours daily in the dayroom, where he can watch TV, and two hours outside. All he was waiting on was his final chapter: the exoneration of Tony Melendez. I can see it still today.". . (Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph). After serving seven years, Williams was released in June 1993 and eventually received $31,250 for his time behind bars. He wasnt perfect. 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. He sent gifts to Russ Hunt, including an elaborate stagecoach made out of popsicle sticks and a clock made of matchsticks. I cant say for certain he was innocent, but I know that he was wrongly executed. But there was more, said Salinas. 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. More significant, the officers also had another suspect: Tony Melendez, Gilberts younger brother. He took a female jailer hostage and for three days evaded one of the most intense manhunts in Texas history. $20,000. I did it, he said. However with the murder of police officer Aubrey Hawkins and the help of America's Most Wanted this prison escape would come to a sudden end in Colorado. A new lawyer, Joel Schwartz, stepped up to help. Simons, meanwhile, became one of the most well-respected officers in the state. David Spences hideous cruelty permeates the testimony of each man, Jones wrote. Grand juries in Wood and Upshur counties later indicted him for the robbery and Suzanne's death. To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer. Dannen and Reaves, as Williamss lawyer, arranged for all the evidence to be tested at a lab in California named Forensic Analytical, and the DNA results came back in November 2000: the semen did not belong to either Washington or Williams. In 1988, she moved to the Seabrook, Texas, area, where she lived in several apartment complexes. Afterward, the two men would sit and talkabout life, love, Godsometimes until the sun rose. (903) 769-3962 Add Website Map & Directions 8993 S Fm 14 Hawkins, TX 75765 Write a Review. On that last day, Jill had stopped by to see Thompson on her way to Waco. Simons, an observer in the courtroom, was flabbergasted. As he says of his family, "I've often felt how almost excruciatingly average we were, a chunk out of a demographic study: the house, the yard, the kid, the car. Glyndia Lane, aunt of victim Susanne Harrison, shares her story at the Hawkins Police Department Wednesday March 9, 2016. Schonemann had been visiting Gilbert and Tony periodically since 1991; though both had told him they had lied in their statements and testimony, they refused to speak on the record. But the states case was entirely circumstantial until Campbell, the bite-mark expert, took the stand. Days later, police found Boone and Turner shot to death. We have a better shot at freeing Tony now than ever before, he told me. The semen found on Whites body had never been tested for DNA, Dannen realized with excitement. Sorry! He and Owen found plenty of evidence implicating others, yet little that pointed to their own client. 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 1986, Michael Morton was a supermarket manager in Texas and a husband and father. The task force now gathered momentum as investigators found witnesses who told of suspicious things Spence had said the previous summer: that he thought he had killed somebody, for example, and that he had raped two girls at the lake. But sometimes you get hold of a case, and sometimes the case gets hold of you.. I dont know why I started writing, Thompson told me, but I felt it was the thing to do. Getting Calvin out was the greatest thing Ive ever done. Hawkins' death was the third killing of a black male by white mobs in New York City during the 1980s; the other two victims were Willie Turks, who was killed on June 22, 1982, in Brooklyn, and Michael Griffith, who was killed in Queens on December 20, 1986. So why wasnt McFaddens DNA included in the federal CODIS database? A word about the reporting. But that didnt change the truth. The run-up to Spences trial was particularly contentious. In early March Feazell announced that he was creating a task force to take a new look at the Lake Waco murders. When the officers got to Dallas, he informed them that Washingtons mold matched the wounds on Whites body. A couple of Bud Light cans found near Raylenes body yielded no fingerprints. He eventually hammered out a 114-page writ of habeas corpus, a last appeal available to death row inmates in which evidence can be introduced to allege that their trial was unfair. In fact, it was standard practice for judges to set death dates before inmates had even filed these appeals. Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s). At that time, we'd never had anything like that happen here. Which memorial do you think is a duplicate of Gena Turner (6653351)? Low 51F. Then there was the report detailing a bizarre polygraph test taken by Kenneths father, Richard Franks. Simons had searched Washingtons sisters apartment, where he had been arrested, and found a sweatshirt that appeared to have blood on it, as well as some tennis shoes whose treads Simons thought might match the footprint on Whites door. Despite the fact that U.S. courts had been admitting forensic odontology since 1954, it was a highly contested practice, with no proven record or methodology to show that a persons teeth left a unique impression or could be matched to a mark on the skin. But his most revealing tattoo is largely hidden under his prison shirt. He signed the paperwork for disposition of his personal property and recited the 23rd Psalm, saying it gave him peace. (Simons has always denied giving inmates conjugal visits. If the DNA test excludes Tony, Spence, and Gilbert, said Reaves, and it includes somebody else who was originally considered a suspect, that would be enough for an actual innocence writ or a clemency petition to the governoror both., But even those results wouldnt necessarily mean a get-out-of-jail-free card. Soon after his interrogation of Deeb, hed headed over to the jail with Baier to meet the inmate. Harrison was strangled to death, Turner and Boone were found days later in Upshur County shot to death. the Murderpedia project stay alive. The community will always have a void.". I wasnt a good guy, he told me last May, when I first visited him at the Polunsky Unit, in Livingston. (a) A person commits criminal homicide if he intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or with criminal negligence causes the death of an individual. Yet by 2008, he was no closer to proving Melendezs innocence. MADDEN, Gerald Edward Suzanne and two former classmates from Hawkins High School vanished May 4, 1986 during a Sunday evening drive around Lake Hawkins. A dragnet involved some 1,200 officers before McFadden was caught. Simonss exchanges with the Melendez brothers had never been revealed to Spences defense lawyers. I promise you that this wont be another unsolved murder case in Waco, Texas.. All his time went to investigating the case, circling back to his sources over and over again in the hopes of uncovering new information. Thirty years later, Suzanne's mother is uncomfortable speaking publicly about her daughter's murder, said Mrs. Lane, who spoke for the family. Why should he confess? The lawyer told me, Youre going to kill your boy.), I was afraid to die, said Melendez. Whoever had assaulted Hlavka had never been entered into the directory. The families (of the victims) were hysterical.". On the morning of April 3, Spence met with his loved ones, including June, one of his sons, and his brother. Deeb wasnt from here, he recalled. 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. Even Jills brother, Brad, who had been so vocal in his hatred for Spence, was stirred. Simons and Scott often had disagreements; in truth, the two men didnt much care for each other, and the cop had already told the chief he was considering leaving the force at the end of the year. 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. HAMILTON Jr. Samuel Christopher "For five horrible days, we didn't have a clue where to look," Barber said. I argued with his lawyer, she told me. Avon We list below the cases that we are aware of in which the defendant was found guilty of felony murder. Simons turned on a tape recorder as Melendez recounted the events of that night. Her name was Juanita White. That's the way it was, you just kind of bounced from house to house.". He had also recently undergone gall bladder surgery. Theyd killed Kenneth and Raylene to prevent them from talking. She was shy and craved love and attention, Thompson told me. It would mean a cut in pay and status, but Simons didnt care. Within minutes, a cry arose from about 75 feet away. I live with this case every day, he said. Simonss plan had been forming ever since hed first learned about Spence. Try again. 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. 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.. 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. He had also recently undergone gall bladder surgery. I never did like it there, I don't know what it is it's just a mountain.". But McFadden's parole to East Texas was granted anyway, in spite of White's objections. February 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? 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. As the mild-mannered Schonemann knew, Spence had a rough historyhis ex-girlfriend Christine Juhl had told the police that he beat her, and testimony at the close of his first trial had included allegations of violent rape. At some point she started working for National Rent-A-Car but the dates of her employment are unknown, Ratliff said. Id knock the shit out of him, and hed say, You done? He never bullied me or bit me. Suzanne, remembered for her infectious grin, was a graduating senior and cheerleader. The remains were sent to Dallas for autopsy and positive identification, but everyone instinctively knew it was Gena and Bryan. Simons was sure the DA would be interested in his jailhouse findings, but when he approached one of Feazells assistants, he was told that, as hearsay, the inmate testimony was probably inadmissible in court. PRIBLE Randall Wayne He got tattoos: dice on his right arm, Harley wings on his left. Exxon was once a major employer in the area, and the Hawkins school district enjoyed the benefits of being its neighbor. Kenneth told his father that they were going to Koehne Park, which was directly across the lake from Speegleville Park. hawkins texas murders 1986. This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates. Her body was facing downward off the mountain, fists clutching a wad of thorny vines and several articles of clothing lying nearby. Larry Pack; Company Overview. Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. 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. Jos R. Ralat is Texas Monthlys taco editor, writing about tacos and Mexican food. He was sentenced to concurrent stays in the Texas Department of Corrections, but was paroled in 1978 after serving only a few years. The purpose of one of Prudhomme's moves was to escape an abusive relationship and she arranged for her two sons live with their grandparents, Bluffington said. In July 2002 Dannen was drawn into Feazells libel suit against Pardo, which the former DA had filed in 1998. Schonemann found himself without a job. In the spring of 1997 Fredric Dannen had just returned to New York City after a month of reporting in Hong Kong for a magazine article on organized crime. Evidence will show, he declared, that David Wayne Spence . Upon learning of the teenager's death, Suzanne's mother's anguished cries seemed to echo through the town. Their opinions were in the minority. Claim this Business Hours Do you know the hours for this business? When Melendezs mother died of cancer a couple of years ago he became even closer with Thompson. The two asked for a stay of execution. SOUTHERN CHARM REAL ESTATE. She was last seen in July 1991. Now, at police headquarters, Simons grilled Deeb about his acquaintances. 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. 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. June 16, 1986 Gunshot spree at Father's Day family gathering; son charged HAWKINS, Texas -- A Father's Day gathering in a small east Texas town turned into a blood bath Sunday as a son. 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. He gave Simons a cryptic message: soon, Butler said, hed be able to tell the deputy whether his theory that Spence had killed the teenagers was correct. Former classmate James Graham still has his class yearbooks from his days at Hawkins High School, but rarely looks at them. You are nearing the transfer limit for memorials managed by Find a Grave. Yusuf Hawkins with his mother Diane Hawkins. or don't show this againI am good at figuring things out. That same month, after succumbing to complications from HIV, Gilbert Melendez died in prison, a development that only fueled Dannens determination. Once the family trees were completed, authorities were able to locate the son and sister of Janet Doe and coordinate DNA collections for family members of Jane Doe that were out of state. The evidence is telling us things it never could tell before because the technology wasnt there, he said. Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters. Its hard to think of another crime that has provoked so many long-lingering questions and involved so many people, all of whom have a stake in the DNA tests and many of whom remain haunted by events from three decades ago. Just ten weeks earlier, a father of five had been beaten to death by a stranger in his front yard because he wouldnt light the guys marijuana cigarette. 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. Baier and Salinas decided theyd focus on the rest of the city and leave the jailhouse world to theirold colleague. Kader had mentioned a rough biker character known as Chilihis real name was David, she thoughtwho hung around the convenience store. It was only in December 2012 that theyd finally reclaimed the material; now it was at Arkansas Genomics, a lab in Little Rock that does touch DNA testing. He filed petitions with the U.S. Supreme Court, a motion to reconsider with the CCA, and a petition for clemency from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governor George W. Bush. Afterward, when the crowds and cameras had dispersed, the jurors asked to meet Simons, about whom they had heard so much. The trial began on June 18, 1984. The other avenue for Melendez would be executive clemency, which also depends on DNA findings. Talk about a commanding presence. You did it, we know you did ityoure going to die for it. Though she didnt take part in the investigation, she followed it avidly, and she was relieved when David Spence, Muneer Deeb, and Gilbert and Tony Melendez were finally put away. The DAs office was exultant. Simons and Butler had shown him photos and given him details, he explained. Dateline originally aired an . When youre working under an execution date, every minute not spent on the case feels wasted. He filed motions for stays of execution and successor habeas writs with the Texas courts. According to Price, she tried to share this development with Simons, but the deputy was too busy gathering information on Williams, who was arrested the following month for burglary. This account has been disabled. On May 4, 1986, McFadden kidnapped Bryan Boone, 19, Gena. (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. Hed robbed a Fort Worth convenience store with a hatchet at 21 and served fifteen months. (Spence was found guilty in late March and given ninety years; he was allowed to remain at the jail because he was helping with Simonss investigation.) A connection between all four murders has not been determined yet, other than the location of where their remains were found, said League City Police Lt. Michael Bluffington. Dannen then arranged for a series of DNA tests, beginning with one of the beer cans. They had come to distrust the sergeant for his tendency to build cases on his own; in a vocation that valued teamwork, being a loner didnt win him any friends. If this was true, then the confessions of the Melendez brothers were decidedly false. One thing Dannen was particularly struck by in the writ was the blood-spatter report. Six or seven full-time lawyers handled five to ten appeals at any given time, for convicts who had sometimes just weeks, or days, to live. The more people Price talked to, the more she doubted the case against Washington and Williamsand wondered about the case against Spence, Deeb, and the Melendez brothers in the lake murders. She also fell in love with a fellow officer, J.R. Price, whom she married; the two bought some land out in the country and acquired a few horses. Thompson never met Kenneth and barely knew Raylene, yet her thoughts turn to them too. Failed to remove flower. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. Waco didnt get much credit for physical beauty, but this lake, just inside the citys western border, was a jewel, deep and blue. Judy Whitley, a 17-year-old sophomore at Clifton High School, was found raped and murdered in June 1985. HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) _ A man who nicknamed himself ``Animal was executed by injection Thursday for the rape-slaying of an 18-year-old high school cheerleader, one of three people killed during a daylong murder spree in 1986. Did you say it to be a big man? He said yes. He always told me hed be dead before the truth came out, remembered June. Spence had grown so dependent on their conversations that he would sometimes call Simons at home, waking him up to talk. He spoke as if he were getting ready for battle. Today in Music History for March 4: In 1678, composer Antonio Vivaldi was born. He had recently received a letter from Dannen saying that a breakthrough with the DNA testing was imminent. He received another 15-year prison sentence, but walked out again on parole on July 17, 1985, after telling authorities he would follow the terms of his release. William Porter, 51, has been charged with the 1986 murder of . A week later, Simons felt like taking another look around the lake. Found more than one record for entered Email, You need to confirm this account before you can sign in. This story examines the case through the viewpoint of five people: a patrol sergeant who investigated the crime; a police detective who became skeptical of the investigation; an appellate lawyer who tried to stop the execution; a journalist whose reporting has raised new doubts about the case; and a convict who pleaded guilty but now vehemently proclaims his innocence.