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He was held for questioning for two weeks. To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer. Whoever had assaulted Hlavka had never been entered into the directory. More significant, the officers also had another suspect: Tony Melendez, Gilberts younger brother. As he testified in a deposition in 1997, Im a deputy sheriff, Im not an assistant DA or a prosecutor. PEREZ. Originally from Haskell, Texas, he was allowed to move to the small community of Hawkins to live with his mother and sister. HERNANDEZ. The dead boy was clearly Kenneth, the men agreed, studying the photo. Places Near Hawkins with Similar Businesses. Back at the TRC, Schonemanns peers found the Melendez recantations encouraging. (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.) There is a problem with your email/password. You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial. "I asked them to parole him back to West Texas, where the officials there knew his habits and could better keep an eye on him.". 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? His lawyers, Russ Hunt and Hayes Fuller, were convinced their client was being railroadedin their view, Spences long-running interrogation by Simons had been unorthodox, and the jailhouse testimony against him was suspect. In a written confession, he stated he had participated with Spence and Gilbert in raping and killing the teenagers. Simons, a man of intuition, couldnt always explain his methods, but everyone knew they got results. Melendez had been suffering from multiple maladies, including bone cancer and kidney failure. According to Dannen, Reaves, and Bernadette, after a nearly three-hour meeting, Wiley appeared convinced that Melendez was possibly innocentand that Spence might have been too. Frye had been reported missing on Oct. 10, 1983, when she was 25 years old. It was left next to the brown granite headstone by a woman who had never met Jill but was drawn to visit the grave site after learning of the lake murders. But his most revealing tattoo is largely hidden under his prison shirt. The case was quickly assigned to WPD lieutenant Marvin Horton, who headed up a special investigative force of seven full-time officers. The series also includes recent interviews with some people directly affected by the murders and updates on their lives today. He felt humiliated, remembered Salinas. The victims brother, Craig Harrison, got as close to the window as he could to see McFadden gasp and sputter twice. Leon Chaney, a private investigator who knew the case, remembered, [White] called Hunt and me all the time; she was going to give us all these leads. In October 1979, he was arrested for violating his parole and later sentenced to a life term, but again paroled early in 1985. Ill testify, said Melendez. Yes, admitted Deeb; he often spent time at the Rainbow Drive Inn. Spence, of course, was not the only client Owen and Schonemann were responsible for; as they worked on his behalf, they were also managing the appeals of several other death row inmates. It belonged to a housewife from Phillipsburg, Kansas. Background details that you might want to know about Larry include: ethnicity is Caucasian, whose political affiliation is currently a registered Republican; and religious views are listed as Christian. He was known to camp not too far from the point, where rolling waves crashed against the rugged shoreline and pretty girls flirted with the guys. We held Truman on a pedestal for so long. 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. Suzanne Harrison's body was found near the site in 1986. Try again later. Not surprisingly, Feazell didnt see it that way, telling reporters that the DNA results changed nothing. Justice was eventually served when four men were found guilty of the crime, and two were sent to death row. She scared the hell out of me, said Dannen. "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. ABC News' Stacy Chen contributed to this report. HAWKINS, Texas (KLTV) - The Hawkins Police Department is investigating a shooting at a convenience store. 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. If there was the possibility of any DNA being there, why didnt they turn it over to the proper authorities who could maintain a chain of custody? he wrote in another email. Evans changed her name to Jan Price, and after several dedicated years on the force, she became a detective. At that time, prisoners were granted excessive time off their sentences for good behavior, essentially opening the spigot for releases. As Scott would later recall, Simons said he would solve the case in a week. 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. 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. Low 51F. A crowd of deputies from the sheriffs and constables offices stood around talking; several reporters milled about as well. They had found Raylene and Jill. He was especially baffled by the question of where the kids had been killed. He got tattoos: dice on his right arm, Harley wings on his left. Two years later, hed win a Texas Peace Officer of the Year award. The only adult (victim) that is still living cannot talk and is not expected to live. He was still living in San Miguel de Allende, playing chamber music and serving on a board that helps rural Mexican schoolchildren. I wish you could get the rage from your hearts and you could see the truth and get rid of the hatred., Brad was having none of it. To everyone's horror and disbelief, they never made it home at all. A couple of Bud Light cans found near Raylenes body yielded no fingerprints. His actions resulted in three convictions that should have kept him behind bars for years. 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. June asked him to spend ten minutes alone with each of them. The interview went smoothly, so the two were surprised when, as they got up to leave, the conversation took a turn. based on information from your browser. The girls cashed it at a supermarket and drove to Kenneths house. If this was true, then the confessions of the Melendez brothers were decidedly false. You never get over it, you just learn to live with it. But the world that she and Turk were investigating was so shadowy that they never got anywhere on the Lake Waco case. For Feazell in particular, the victory could not have come at a better time. (Raylenes family chose not to attend the trial, and later they refused to comment on the case.) In return Melendez got two life sentences. She found that the weather and the laid-back, friendly attitude of Texas suited her. They were all good kids they were the cream of the crop.". Pardo set up a war room at his corporate headquarters and hired additional investigators. By the time he got out of prison, he had become entranced by the biker lifestyle. In August 1986, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the escape. Simons hurried over. He recounts his random selection of victims and his traveling companions, his friend and friend's sister. Finally, on Labor Day, with 45 days until his execution, Owen and Schonemann were assigned the case. The sergeant got on his hands and knees and crawled under the branches. At some point she started working for National Rent-A-Car but the dates of her employment are unknown, Ratliff said. White had another son, Steve Spence, who told officers that she had begun to receive threats; she also thought her phone was tapped. 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. Afterward, Deeb had confessed. His older brother, 16-year-old Daniel Hawkins, was killed in the Sunday night crash on Temescal . There had been no suppression of exculpatory evidence, the brief stated, and the police reports would not have made a difference in Spences verdicts. Mr. Hawkins had also been sentenced to death for the abduction, rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl, Rhonda Keys of Amarillo, in 1976. Cargo Hauled by Larry Pack. ROSS. Dannen, on the ground in Texas, immersed himself in the case. This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. The criminal trials for the lake murders were the most anticipated in Wacos history. His hair is cut close to the scalp, and his close-set eyes are dark with worry. "No one really knew where to look," Barber said. County Line Cemetery. Low 51F. A week later, Simons felt like taking another look around the lake. Each man was charged with three counts of capital murder, and each would stand first for the killing of Jill Montgomery. Hawkins: Created by David Karp. 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. 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. Yet by 2008, he was no closer to proving Melendezs innocence. Though the experts identified several patterns that were possibly bite marks, they couldnt go much further. Schonemann had never felt so low. Reaves had agreed to represent Melendez pro bono too. Melendez gave it some thought. Feazell brought him to the jury room. Try again later. I suffered. I believe in our system. He had recently received a letter from Dannen saying that a breakthrough with the DNA testing was imminent. As in Whites case, the assailant had kicked in the door; he had also stolen her purse. The murders of the women, named Jane Doe and Janet Doe, were part of a larger murder mystery known locally as the "The Calder Road Murders" or "The Killing Fields," involving four women in total, according to authorities. Median home price: $434,475, lot price: $0. He began working on a proposal for a book about the lake murders, and in September 1998 he sold the book to Simon & Schuster. Baier and Salinas decided theyd focus on the rest of the city and leave the jailhouse world to theirold colleague. But that didnt change the truth. Editor's Note: This is the second in a five-day series recalling paroled sex offender Jerry , Editor's Note: This is the third in a five-day series recalling paroled sex offender Jerry W, Editor's Note: This is the fourth in a five-day series recalling paroled sex offender Jerry , Editor's Note: This is the last of a five-day series recalling paroled sex offender Jerry Wa. Feazells antagonism, the open hostility between the DAs office and the WPD, and the seedy informant underworld shed spent months in had begun to make her feel paranoid. He was persuaded when Simons told him he had some new ideas. Three days later, Spence was given the death penalty. By the time she was a senior, her path in life was paved with optimism and opportunity. 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. The results sent Simons into despair. Informants they interviewed offered myriad allegations about Feazell and Simons, and the two cops found themselves having to consider the sources. 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. Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. Then, six days before Spences trial, they were dealt an even bigger blow: in an unexpected about-face, Tony pleaded guilty in exchange for a life sentence. Youre confusing courage with wisdom). He stopped Kelley mid-sentence. Melendez had always denied any involvement in the lake murders, but now Simons, encouraged by the headway hed made with Spence, began to press the inmate. With each passing hour, hope for the safe return of the duo began to fade. McFadden, before his escape, was being held in jail on charges he raped and murdered Suzanne Harrison, 18, of nearby Hawkins, Texas, in May. 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. Sometimes they take her to the country cemetery where Jill is buried. He was living an unsettled life, moving from an Austin apartment to a friends guest room in Salado to a girlfriends house in Waco. We were finally going to hear the real story, remembered Jan Thompson, Jills aunt. 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. Feazell didnt have to rely as heavily on the murder-for-hire theory; thanks to Simons, he had new ammunition. Theyd killed Kenneth and Raylene to prevent them from talking. I replied, Whats there to know, Truman? Mr. Simons said, People get killed here real easy. Then, leaning in for emphasis, he added, Even cops. Blum and Dannen were taken aback by what they understood to be a threat. So they filed all the other documents they had collectedincluding fifteen witness depositionsand when Krauss sent the final results of the study three months later, they filed those too. Her husband died in 2005, and her daughters often stop by to visit the retirement village where she lives, in Waxahachie. The parolee agreed initially to follow the rules, which amounted to the obvious: get a job, save money, report in, attend counseling and stay out of trouble. He was like a death-camp survivor.. But with the primary suspect long dead, life in the small town of Hawkins has settled into a new normal, albeit different than before. Today in Music History for March 4: In 1678, composer Antonio Vivaldi was born. 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. She served the seventy-year-old widow his nightly cocktailalong Within days, Butler got remarkable news: Campbell was certain that Spences teeth had made the marks.