They told me they got enough to get me out, he said. We used to fight. Most murder victims know their assailants, but there seemed to be no rhyme nor reason for the deaths of these three teens. 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. He was confident, even giddy. Though Melendez took two polygraphs that seemed to confirm his involvement, he also recanted his confession entirely. He was especially baffled by the question of where the kids had been killed. The judge had agreed, and Feazell and Ned Butler, the assistant DA, had complied. Schonemann was not about to give up: after landing a job at the Capital Punishment Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law, he continued to represent Spence pro bono. Abandoning hope that he would ever print the truth, she destroyed her journals and shredded all the documents shed collected related to the case. I dont know how he does it, said one of his fellow officers around the time of the investigation, and I dont want to know. (Simons declined to be interviewed for this story.). 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. McLemore sent out copies of the TRCs brief to journalists, trying to get attention for Spence; he also made a case for the inmates innocence in the March 1997 issue of Pardos monthly political newsletter, Capitol Watch. I thought it would be awkward, Schonemann remembered. The book focused heavily on Truman Simons involvement in producing the evidence which led to the convictions. More recently, his son has brought a suit against the state of Texas for wrongful death. An HBO documentary released two months later, The Execution Machine: Texas Death Row, featured Spence in his final week. He had been working on the lake murders in his spare time, he told his boss, and he wanted permission to take over the case. He also played audio from Feazells tapes, including one in which Feazell spoke disparagingly about Simonss investigative methods. Not surprisingly, Feazell didnt see it that way, telling reporters that the DNA results changed nothing. He happened to notice a young juror in the case, a first-grade teacher named Karen who had recently graduated from Baylor University. For Feazell in particular, the victory could not have come at a better time. She was ex-cited about the trip and changed clothes several times before going to meet Raylene. I was very fond of David, Schonemann told me. Because Melendez pleaded guilty, the burden to prove his innocence is especially great. Blum felt strongly that it wasnt safe for Dannen to continue his reporting on the lake murders, at least not in Waco, and advised him to stay in New York. We held Truman on a pedestal for so long. 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. WebWaco attorney Walter M. Reaves filed a motion asking for the DNA testing in the Lake Waco trople murder case Wednesday. But later he told the police that he was out driving around the parks at about eight in the evening; this inconsistency, among other details, had prompted Detective Ramon Salinas and Lieutenant Marvin Horton to briefly consider Franks a suspect. Price obliged, agreeing to halt the investigation until after Washington went to trial. FULL INTERVIEW: Criminal defense attorney Russ Hunt. Simons told Price that, through his informants, he had learned that Washington had had a partner in crime, a nineteen-year-old named Joe Sidney Williams. He was a likable guy, intellectually curious, gregarious. As reported by KWTX, July 13 th marked 40 years since the bodies of three teenagers were discovered at Speegleville Park off Highway 6. He needed to be arrested at once. WebGUN RIGHTS, Happy Ending, harry storm, KWTX anchor, Lake Waco Triple Murder, law enforcement opportunities, nra, oprah winfrey, Parnell McNamara, Parnell McNamara Re Election Campaign, Pat Swanton, Uncategorized, unsolved murder, unsolvedmystery, Waco 2 Comments July 30, 2019 2 Minutes HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO THE B.S. Simons said, What have yall heard about Waco? Blum later recalled in an affidavit. A grateful city breathed a sigh of relief. A charismatic, headstrong lawyer, Feazell had stepped into office that month, at the age of 31. She found that the weather and the laid-back, friendly attitude of Texas suited her. Jarred Salsa Helps Revive a Nearly 70-Year-Old Tex-Mex Institution, The Top 50 Texas BBQ Joints: 2021 Edition. Fear spread through town, and residents began locking their doors at night and pushing for park curfews. To their relief, the federal district court granted both. Hed made use of the discipline two years earlier to help solve a violent Amarillo murder in which the killer had bitten his victim. In his closing statement Feazell reminded jurors of the substantial testimony against Spence, the pain of the victims families, and the torture the teenagers had endured. 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. Deeb, who had continued to protest his innocence, was found guilty of instigating the murders, and on March 14, he was sentenced to death by lethal injection. WebIn the case of the Lake Waco murders, a woman working as a secretary and not generally known as a psychic had a dream/vision about the chronology and location of the murder of the 3 missing teenagers. [12] When Harper was interviewed by Spence's lawyers, he claimed that he was at home watching Dynasty; records showed that Dynasty did not air that night. Based on his reporting, he felt sure it involved Harper, who was allegedly both a drug dealer and close to Kenneth, and two henchmen. Lake Waco Murders: 40 years later, attorneys believe wrongfully convicted man executed, David Spence was an innocent person murdered at the hands of the state, attorney says, Dallas man arrested in fatal shooting of boy, 11, after gun goes off, Two boys killed in crash involving 17-year-old driver near Killeen, Waco police identify man killed in shooting Monday, Woman found in Austin after being reported missing in San Antonio, Texas house vote paves tough road for school voucher program, Holy Week: A Look at Historic Central Texas Churches, The Breakdown: Friday April 7, 2023 (abortion pill ban, IRS overhaul, Transgender restriction laws, historic churches). Though he wasnt a regular churchgoer, Simons felt Gods hand in his work, and he often quoted from the Book of Matthew: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.. For the first time in years, Thompson felt calm. Bob Herbert wrote a series of articles for The New York Times in 1997, with headlines such as The Wrong Man and The Impossible Crime, in which he claimed that the case had been cobbled [] together from the fabricated and often preposterous testimony of inmates who were granted all manner of favors in return. [14]. 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. The teens had been bound with shoelaces and strips of towel and stabbed a total of 48 times. Their mother also urged him not to. The idea that there could have been flaws in the Lake Waco convictions was no longer far-fetched. His body was found stabbed, strangled and bitten. The nonprofit didnt get many wins in its fight against the death penalty, but Spences case was looking promising. Simons informed him that if he confessed and testified against Spence, hed almost certainly avoid the death penalty. Spence was the kind of criminal Simons knew well: rough, poor, and full of swagger. I suffered. To some of Simonss colleagues, the results of the polygraph were no surprise. He and Reaves went looking for Carroll, but to their dismay, he was dead; after being paroled, he had died of a self-inflected gunshot wound, in 1990. Simons, meanwhile, began to work on Gilbert Melendez. As Kelley, a slim brunette, answered their questions, Simons got a sudden hunch. I know theyve spent time and money on the case, and they keep telling me theyre confident they can prove I wasnt there. Its amazing the lack of information weve found out there, Sergeant Dennis Kidwell told the Tribune-Herald. They also tried to track down all the jailhouse informants. He didnt want to tell you anything beyond This is what Ive got, Price told me. It would mean a cut in pay and status, but Simons didnt care. Spences lawyer in the abuse case, an earnest attorney just three years out of law school named Walter Reaves, had instructed his client not to speak to Simons, but Spence ignored him; when Spences father asked Simons if he should hire a lawyer for his son for the murder case, the deputy said Spence didnt need one because he hadnt been charged with murder. In a written confession, he stated he had participated with Spence and Gilbert in raping and killing the teenagers. Krauss did, choosing five experts around the country. This is where they say those three teenagers were killed, he said Spence told him. So should you.. I promise you that this wont be another unsolved murder case in Waco, Texas.. Just die., Spence turned to his own family. Before they went home, they hooked up with Franks, Montgomerys friend from their days together at the Methodist Childrens Home. 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. The victim, he could see, was just a boy, with a wispy mustache. The testimonyeveryones bite mark is different, like a fingerprintwas very convincing.. The call was urgent: a body had been discovered at Speegleville Park, near Lake Waco. Waco attorney David Deaconson was a young prosecutor in Feazells office when the first Spence case went to trial. She interviewed Washington and Williams again. Just die, he said, glaring at Spence through the glass. Now it was dinnertime, and Simons had been thinking about grabbing some food, maybe at the Whataburger over on Seventh. 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. July 28, 2022. Then the lawyers waited. 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. The lawyers worked nonstop, often juggling several cases at once in a race against the clock, filing appeals and motions up until the very hour of a scheduled execution. He was persuaded when Simons told him he had some new ideas. Retired Waco police Lt. Marvin Horton, now 82, remembers how hard his investigators worked to solve the case and the rift that grew among officers over the direction of the investigation. Kenneths mother, Sandra Sadler, had come to watch, as had Jills brother, Brad; her sister, Monica; and their father, Rod. In June, Anthony Melendez pleaded guilty to the crimes and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Then, just when it seemed things couldnt get worse, in September 1995 the TRC found itself forced to shut its doors. They had been looking for a place to fish when theyd spotted the body near the foot of a tree, lying beneath some low-hanging branches. They had also recovered a few hairs from the bodies of the teenagers. WebShow Crime Shots, Ep Lake Waco Murders - 33 - Jun 19, 2021 Though hed ended up retracting all his statements, Gilbert now told Schonemann, he had agreed to testify against Spence at his second trial because it looked like it was just a hopeless cause. Spence had already been found guilty; what would a jury do to a two-time felon who was Mexican American? Simons parked and made his way to one of the deputy constables, who pointed out two young men standing nearby. Finally Franks relented, and the two men met at a Lubys on Valley Mills Drive. She was shy and craved love and attention, Thompson told me. 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.. Simonss exchanges with the Melendez brothers had never been revealed to Spences defense lawyers. But the inmate also had a soft side, composing poetry and writing heartfelt letters to Price, Gilbert Melendez, and Schone-mann himself. . The case languished for nearly a year until the work of Simons and others had produced enough evidence again to arrest Deeb and three alleged accomplices in the plot. Schonemann and his team appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in December 1994. 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). 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. Listen now and subscribe: Kelley, he posited, had been the target of the killers. The shocking crime was more confounding because it seemed so random in nature. Thompson was making a chocolate cake, and Jill, who had recently lost a lot of weight, asked for a slice. But his most revealing tattoo is largely hidden under his prison shirt. There was no evidence of a boat, and there were no tire tracks around the Speegleville gate, which closed at eleven. I told her I was exhausted after talking with Baier for five hours. Wileys willingness to meet with interested parties on matters of criminal justice should never be construed as support for, or against, a person or issue being discussed.) Dannen made a presentation, and UT gave him more funds, which he sent to FSA for another round of testing. He probably thought that a credible investigation would show he didnt do it. Owen concurred. Spence had grown so dependent on their conversations that he would sometimes call Simons at home, waking him up to talk. I know that we didnt do this, he cried out in exasperation at one point. Price soon learned that White had been conducting her own investigation into the lake murdersgoing to bars and asking questions, interviewing figures in Wacos demimonde, looking for evidence to prove that her son hadnt killed the three teenagers. Both Melendez brothers had testified that they had used the vehicle to transport the teenagers bodies to Speegleville Park. At the park entrance, Simons met a couple of other policemen and some sheriffs deputies. Two others did match a mark to one of the molds, but it was not Spences. Recommended. He sent McLemore to visit Schonemann, who handed over trial transcripts and case briefs for them to read. If somethings not right, you do something about it. Melendez had been suffering from multiple maladies, including bone cancer and kidney failure. After further DNA tests on the sweatshirt revealed that the blood on it did not belong to White, as Simons had theorized, Judge Allen ordered Washington released on July 5. Guys getting their faces shot off. One said the photos were of such poor quality that he refused to compare them against the molds. Times were simpler in 1982. For Jills family, the day was especially excruciating. An attractive blonde from Detroit, the 29-year-old thought the citys name was pronounced Wacko and assumed its residents got around on horses. Jill Montgomery, Raylene Rice and Kenneth Franks were tortured and stabbed multiple times at Speegleville Park at Lake Waco on July 13, 1982. He was going to find the one person who would give him the answer. He accepted it and said, Im going home. He and Blum met with Vic Feazell, who had gotten divorced and started dabbling in the film business. (Touch DNA, one of the latest developments in genetic testing, isolates and profiles the DNA in skin cells left on physical evidence when a person touches it.) In his letter, Snelson wrote that he had made his testimony up. Feazell said he has never doubted that his office prosecuted the right men. Within minutes, a cry arose from about 75 feet away. He and his fellow officers soon spotted something else: a bent knee, rising above some weeds. On instinct, he kept returning to Jill, who he sensed had been the main target. The idea that justice had not yet been doneand that he might be able to do something about itenergized him. But that didnt bother me like this. The murders, another official said, were the most sadistic and cruel he had seen in his career. Shes gotten me through the last year or two, he told me. There was also evidence that the women had been sexually assaulted.[1]. The men she fought to free, Calvin Washington and Joe Sidney Williams, are back in prisonWashington for theft and Williams for cocaine possession and evading arrestbut she holds out hope that Tony, Gilbert, and Spence will get some vindication, if only because the system failed them, like it did Washington and Williams. Yes, Mikel said, Simons had shown him crime-scene photos and fed him information. He felt humiliated, remembered Salinas. In THE MURDERS AT THE LAKE by Michael Hall, in TEXAS MONTHLY 2014, Hall describes Waco cop Simons, who has arrested a suspect named Muneer 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? The surviving sons of David Spence, who was convicted and sentenced to death for two of the three homicides that made up the 1982 Lake Waco Murders, have My most vivid memory of the Lake Waco murders were the crime scene photos, Feazell said. But the world that she and Turk were investigating was so shadowy that they never got anywhere on the Lake Waco case. The criminal trials for the lake murders were the most anticipated in Wacos history. Well, we got three jury verdicts convicting them. His efforts were unsuccessful, but they brought attention to the case following Spences execution. But he was kindhearted to those he loved. Franks' body was found propped against a tree, with sunglasses over his eyes. Forensic odontologist Homer Campbell was proven to have made false assessments at around the same time. A lot of them had a lot of reasons and motivation to make up something. Her name was Juanita White. He tried to interest national media outlets in the story, even sending a pitch to 60 Minutes, but every journalist passed. WebThe story of River Road Counseling and Consulting Services actually begins on May 14, 1973. Yet there was one nagging question: How to explain the many people whod heard him say he was the murderer? Thompson never met Kenneth and barely knew Raylene, yet her thoughts turn to them too. Patrol sergeant Truman Simons was driving down Franklin Avenue, in downtown Waco, when the call came over the police radio. ), The rift between the WPD and Simons made Price nervous. 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. After Anthony Melendezs death in 2017, Simons said Anthony Melendez initially denied his involvement in the murders but failed polygraph tests. She oversees the magazines travel and style sections. She was a tomboy who had grown up wanting to be a cop, like her grandfather, and joined the Detroit Police Department in 1977. 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. On that last day, Jill had stopped by to see Thompson on her way to Waco. Is this what had driven Franks out on a desperate search for his son that night, well before the murders were reported? Im not a forensic expert, but I feel the case has taken a turn, he said. The lawyers also found persuasive reasons to doubt the bite-mark evidence. The only friend Ive got, he told Simons that night, is the guy whos trying to kill me on this lake case.. Hed robbed a Fort Worth convenience store with a hatchet at 21 and served fifteen months. 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. There theyd seen the kids, whom Spence enticed into the car with the promise of beer and weed. Two years later, the teenager turned up alive. Sitting calmly nearby, Simons would tell him to let it all out. 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. You know I didnt do this, he said he told the deputy. The sergeant got on his hands and knees and crawled under the branches. I think its going to be an unsatisfying ending., Unsatisfying for some, perhaps. Reaves and others led unsuccessful efforts to exonerate the defendants before Anthonys death. (There were times I thought I was going to be ambushed at my house, she told me.) Harper was no longer alive to talk; he had killed himself with a shotgun in 1994 when police tried to arrest him after hed attacked an elderly couple with a knife. Some reports noted that several people had seen Tab Harper, one of the polices early suspects, at Koehne Park the night of the murders; witnesses also said he had bragged about killing three people. Thompson seems pleased to be there for her friend, happy to be part of what she hopes is the redemption of Tony Melendez. 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. In fact, by this time Dannen had discovered that the crime-scene evidence from the lake murders had never been tested for DNA either, and he was already working on proving that the last of the four defendants, Tony Melendez, was innocent. After serving seven years, Williams was released in June 1993 and eventually received $31,250 for his time behind bars. When the bodies of three teenagers were found on the shores of Lake Waco, Texas in July, 1982, even seasoned lawmen were taken aback by the savage mutilation and degradation they had been subjected to. After talking, the brothers refused to take the stand against Deeb. Now, putting aside any remaining semblance of journalistic objectivity, he signed a paralegal agreement to work for Reaves, who offered to help get Washington out of prison pro bono. I was brought up to do things the right way, she told me. The court was not impressed: one week before Spences execution date, the judges denied his appeal, sending Owen and Schonemann into another scramble. The next day he spoke with Jills mother, Nancy Shaw, and her aunt, Jan Thompson, and revealed a theory that was beginning to take shape in his mind. There was also former inmate Kevin Mikel, who explained how hed learned details of the murders. 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. Meanwhile, Price refused to close the White case; though she now had other investigations to work on, she was convinced that Williams and Washington were innocent and spent her spare time interviewing their lawyers and sources on the street. She was beaten with a hammer, raped, and left for dead. The police investigation and criminal trials that followed the murders lasted for more than a decade and resulted in the execution of one man, David Wayne Spence, and life prison sentences for two other men allegedly involved in the crime, Anthony and Gilbert Melendez. But as spring turned to summer, the limelight had grown dark: in June, Dallas television station WFAA ran a ten-part investigative series on Feazell and his office, accusing him of, among other things, dismissing DWI cases in exchange for money. The incident also inspired a made-for-TV adaptation, Sworn to Vengeance, starring Robert Conrad as a fictionalized version of Simons. Though Price had been the police departments investigating officer, she wasnt called as a state witness. Dannen wondered if the answer lay in another detail Thompson shared with him. He really believed that. Deebs family hired a lawyer, who pushed for a polygraph test, and after four days Simons agreed to set it up. Yes, admitted Deeb; he often spent time at the Rainbow Drive Inn. His name was David Spence, and he had just been arrested with his friend Gilbert Melendez for cutting a teenage boy on the leg and forcing him to perform oral sex on Melendez. 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. When Simons contacted Price, he told her that he already had a suspect. Someday, the woman wrote, well all know what really took place.. Campbell identified four bite marks on Whites body and testified that the dentition of Mr. Williams [was] consistent with the injury on her hip. 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. A fourth suspect, Muneer Mohammad Deeb, was eventually rele Youve convinced me that somethings seriously wrong with Waco law enforcement, one of the aides told him, but you havent convinced me that Spence is innocent., If we could conclusively prove innocence, replied Schonemann, we would be asking the governor for a pardon, not a life sentence. I dont know how many times he told me that Harpers sister was going to open up to him and say, My brother did it. Then he went to Richard FranksI dont know how many times he tried to get him to talk., Dannen was also growing increasingly nervous about his safety. Spence knew Melendez through his younger brother, Tony, with whom Spence had gone to school. Dannen, on the ground in Texas, immersed himself in the case. However, both men were found to have credible alibis (Harper's was later proven false when Spence's attorneys investigated it). They met with Lieutenant Horton, who stated in an affidavit that the medical examiner had initially told him that marks on Jills breast were definitely not bites; it was only after she reexamined the photos and talked with Butler that she changed her opinion. Both were sexually abused. The two girls were stabbed repeatedly, their throats cut, and had smaller, shallow cuts on their breasts that pathologists would later identify as torture wounds. When Simons had shown it to her, all she could say was that shed bought Jill one that looked similar. Despite this acclaim, Simons felt the most satisfaction from having fulfilled his calling. Simons phoned Scott with the news later that morning. 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An HBO documentary released two months later, the rift between the WPD and Simons made Price nervous has doubted! Son that night lake waco murders blog they were in prison for other crimes doubted that his office prosecuted right... Granted both is especially great a first-grade teacher named Karen who had recently lost a lot of reasons motivation! Going to meet Raylene assumed its residents got around on horses cried out in at. Did, choosing five experts around the country he didnt want to tell you beyond. Because it seemed things couldnt get worse, in September 1995 the TRC itself... He probably thought that a credible investigation would show he didnt want to tell anything... Slim brunette, answered their questions, Simons had shown him crime-scene photos and fed him information against... Simonss investigative methods of the murders, another official said, Simons said, Im going home actually on. Asked for a slice detail Thompson shared with him have yall heard about?.
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