I thought maybe [the] truck broke down or something., Carol Stites said she immediately called Fennell to let him know, and he said hed be down in just a minute., He's getting dressed, he's tucking in his shirt, Tanner said. The state argued that none of these methods establishing the time of death are totally reliable or have pinpoint accuracy, and Dr. Baden agreed. Woman found dead in roadside brush in Bastrop, 10-year-old shot during argument, Marion man arrested, Black mans decapitated remains found after he warned his mom he was targeted by truckloads of white guys, KNOE Sunday Night Forecast with Jake Lambright, KNOE Sunday Evening Forecast with Jake Lambright, KNOE Saturday Night Forecast with Jake Lambright. Bastrop County Sheriff Maurice Cook, District Attorney Bryan Goertz and other county officials looked on last week as Dr. Harrell Gill-King, director of University of North Texas Center for Human Identification, extracted bone samples from the woman's decaying skeletal remains. Mon, February 20th 2023, 10:20 AM PST. You kinda want to suspect the people nearest to her, Stacey Stites sister Crystal Dobbs said. Carol Stites, Stacey's mother, and her sisters, Debra Oliver and Crystal Dobbs. It was locked, but he noted a bag of clothing in the back of the truck and a broken piece of belt with the buckle attached, just outside of the drivers door. Or what if.. Firefighters Discover Man's Body While Battling Apartment Fire in South L.A. Police Investigate No-Hit Shooting in Long Beach, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. Bastrop County's tip line is (866) 930-TIPS. After three hours of deliberation, the jury came back with a manslaughter guilty verdict on April 27 around 8 p.m., according to the Ouachita and Morehouse Parish District Attorney Steve Tew. The woman was identified as Shalynn Jones, according to the Los Angeles . Investigators would not confirm where she was shot or what kind of gun was used or if the murder was random or that she had been targeted. We suspected foul play.. She was like the white tornado, she told 20/20. That's exactly what they called her when she was little. But you leave it to God.. If I wouldnt have known her, I wouldnt have been associated with her [and] I wouldnt be in this situation, Reed told ABC News in a 2019 jailhouse interview. Stacey Stites was just 19 when she was killed in 1996. BASTROP COUNTY, Texas The Bastrop County Sheriff's Office is investigating after a teenage woman was found shot dead on FM 1704 last month. The two had been in a relationship for several years, Hsu said. Update: Arrest made in November homicide - myarklamiss.com She was lying face down. The police have not released how the woman died or made an arrest in this case. The Travis County Sheriff's Office says the woman was discovered in the 100 block of Stony Point Drive, near the intersection of Pearce and Wolf lanes. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Right here in my backyard I mean its crazy I would have never thought about anything like this. That same morning, Carol Stites got the call that her daughter didnt make it to work. Didnt really know exactly what it was or what caused it, but it was unusual, he said. Reeds court-appointed attorney Clay-Jackson said she and her co-counsel, Calvin Garvie, only had two months to prepare for the trial. A deputy. Stacey Stites moved in with Fennell in an upstairs apartment in the same building as her mother. ELGIN, Texas The Bastrop County Sheriff's Office has charged a man with murder after an Elgin woman was found buried in a backyard earlier this month. Driver dies in Bastrop, LA collision - Bastrop, LA EzeRoad Stacey Stites was weeks away from marrying her fianc when she went missing. Her normal route to work was on Highway 21 through Bastrop.. Details surround Jane Does death are scarce. City and county officials are calling this data extremely concerning. He wasn't a child without love, we loved that baby," Carter said. I cant imagine DNA will in any way, shape or form, 40 years later, open a criminal investigation, Goertz said. This is the one who attacked me. She worked hard for that wedding dress, and we all decided that that's what she should be buried in.. 2023 FOX Television Stations, North Austin neighborhood sees relief after flooding from storms, Wife arrested after shooting husband in Buckeye while kids were home, police say, Army says helicopters crashed in mountains, fair weather, Williamson County Deputies Association raising funds to give bikes to students with perfect attendance, 2 high schoolers killed, 4 others hurt in shooting at house party in Mississippi, Texas: The Issue Is - Armed officers on Texas school campuses, Texas: The Issue Is - Rep. 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Police found a broken piece of belt with the buckle attached, just outside of the drivers door. Well send you the latest headlines every morning and every weekday afternoon. Hawaii Island police launched a second-degree murder investigation in Puna on Friday. Officers said they responded to a call shortly after 2:30 p.m. in Orchidland. Family of woman found dead in Texas remembers her as suspect is in She says he drove her home, handed her a business card, and told her they would do it again the next day. BASTROP, La. Investigators said they saw similarities between Schlueters assault and Stites murder, which led them to see if Reeds DNA was on file. There are outliers and I also understand that. Phillips, told ABC News that Authorities apparently thought so little of these extraneous offenses, that none of them were ever prosecuted, nor did these women ever testify in court., Phillips says Fennell found the Lord in prison. Officers had been called to their home multiple times over the years in response to verbal arguments, Hsu said. The sample was taken to UNTs federally-funded DNA lab, where Gill-King and the Forensic Anthropology Unit will build a genetic profile of the woman and enter it into a federal DNA database in hopes that it might match the genetic profile of a family member already in the system. Bunnak Landon, 43, of Harahan, was booked Wednesday on charges of first-degree murder . (KNOE) - UPDATE: The trial of Dr. Tod Lawhon, a Bastrop dentist who shot and killed his wife in 2020, has come to a close. He slammed me up against the back of his patrol car, on the side of it, she said. Lake sturgeon can grow to lengths of 8 feet and weigh up to 300 pounds. At the location, officers found . Cook said the revived investigation was recently instigated by a request from an outside agency, which officials have declined to identify. We're getting married, that was just about them, Carol Stites said. (AP) A Louisiana woman accused of killing her boyfriend's 6-year-old daughter and leaving the child's body in a bucket outside the home where the girl's mother lives has been jailed without bond in a New Orleans suburb, authorities said. Goertz said that the outside agency is speculating that Jane Does death may be linked to the notorious serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, who confessed to hundreds of killings in the 1980s and died from natural causes in 2001 while on death row. Investigators said she had been raped and strangled, then left on the side of the road. The trial is happening in courtroom one of the Morehouse Parish Courthouse. We dont even know that a homicide or a crime occurred. The lead DNA analyst in the case said the semen found in Stites body had been deposited at the same time as her killing. According to a police report, Fennell allegedly told one of his colleagues he was going to try to get intelligence from her. An autopsy on the body was performed by the Travis County Medical Examiners office at the time, but there was no finding on the cause of death nor on her identity. Bastrop Police Chief Allen Campbell says they're not confirming Lee was the one found dead until autopsy results come back, but in the meantime, they're leaving no stone unturned. 1) Robert Lee Willie. ( KTVE/KARD) According to Morehouse Parish Chief Deputy James Mardis, three teenagers are dead after an early morning shooting on Bentley Street in Bastrop, La. I didn't want to get involved, she said. Louisiana woman arrested after child found dead in bucket When we take this to the actual medical examiner who testified, he gives us a sworn statement, said Bryce Benjet, senior attorney at the Innocence Project, who is representing Reed. Anyone with information on the death was asked to call the Sheriffs Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500. Rodney Reed, the man whose DNA matched that found in Stites body, was convicted of her murder and has sat on death row for 22 years. Raymerio Lee, known as "Red" by family and friends, has been missing since Monday. So little is known after Yuridia Espinoza's body was found in a grave on March 27 near Elgin. The Innocence Project, a non-profit legal organization that works to free wrongly convicted people, picked up Reeds case in 2012. Carol Stites remembered how Fennell said goodbye to his fiance. Its the first step of a process, Goertz said. Stacey would pick him up at various locations, one being the H-E-B [grocery store] parking lot, Reeds former attorney Jimmie Brown said. Last year, Texas officials granted Reed an indefinite stay of execution to examine claims that Reed is actually innocent. Family members say the body is that of 15 year old Raymerio Lee. Prosecutors responded that the truck had been fully gone over and processed for evidence. Investigation and conviction in 1996 murder raises questions Raul Anthony Caballero was flown to the hospital by helic Photo of Sofia Vera. She's buried with that wedding ring, and she's buried in her wedding dress. He found support with local politicians and activists around the country, most famously including Kim Kardashian West. It's a concoction of creative, brilliant lawyers trying to save a condemned man -- who is worthily condemned, I might add., Prosecutor Lisa Tanner agreed that Reed, not Fennell, is guilty, saying that she is still sure the right man has been convicted beyond a reasonable doubt of Stacey Stites murder.. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window). The original version is as follows:The Bastrop Police Department is investigating the death of a woman. I'm not gonna lie to you and tell you that, oh, it was okay. That defendant divulged details of the bodys condition and location to sufficiently convince law enforcement at the time that he was the party responsible for the death, the district attorney offices motion for inquest read. There was an impressive response to the scene, according to local independent investigator David Fisher. It was really sad, said Michael Waller. The Bastrop County Sheriff's Office says it got a call just after . Ed Salmela wrote in a police report. Ive stayed out here by this fire and watched just to make sure what if someone came back. Deputy Bryan Reyes says the door to the vehicle was ajar and she was lying on the ground next to the car. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies responded around 12:50 p.m. to the . Dr. Michael Baden, a physician and board-certified forensic pathologist known for investigating the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the Jeffrey Epstein and George Floyd autopsies, testified there are two reasons he believes Stites was likely killed earlier. Police arrested her boyfriend for public intoxication, put him in a patrol car and took him to the police station. The Bastrop County Sheriff's Office released the following statement: "There have been a few Facebook posts criticizing the Sheriffs Office for not posting details of a recent Murder investigation. Prosecutors presented the case of Vivian Harbottle Chapman, who was 39 at the time and was raped six months prior to Stites death in October 1995. It cries for justice, and we achieved it.. A Bastrop County murder suspect who told sheriff's investigators he beat the victim. *Watch the full story on "20/20" TONIGHT at 9 p.m. Woman discovered dead with gunshot wound in Bastrop County A resident called 911 early Sunday and summoned officers to a residence on 17000 block of Santa Suzanne Street, Fountain Valley police wrote in a news release. It's gonna be with me forever, he told Austin news KEYE-TV. The woman has not been identified and the cause of death has not been determined. And her voice will be heard, Oliver said. The search is on for answers, and whoever is responsible, for killing a young man from Bastrop. Sofia Vera, 19, was found lying in the roadway on . MyNewsLA.com wont sell your information and you can unsubscribe at any time. The Bastrop County Sheriffs Office and the District Attorneys Office have declined to reveal details of the case as well as the identity of the man who claims he killed the unidentified woman. HARAHAN, La. There's no 10-year sentence that frees me of the things that [Fennell] did to me.. She was looking for what everybody does, young love, Amen said. In March 1997, investigators matched Reeds DNA to DNA recovered from Stites body. . A host of celebrities and politicians have rallied behind Reed as well, pushing for him to be removed from death row and be granted a new trial, and bringing national attention to the case. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Coroner Identifies Woman Found Dead Near Railroad Track in Carson [It] was tremendous, Quinncy McNeal, an attorney on Reeds team, said. The family of a woman missing from Kyle since last month says she was found dead. A resident called 911 early Sunday and summoned officers to a residence on 17000 block of Santa Suzanne Street . ". He is facing up to 40 years in prison. In the early morning hours of Sunday, Feb. 19, the Travis County Sheriff's Office's (TCSO) Criminal Investigations Division was sent to assist the Bastrop County Sheriff's Office regarding a. Mr. Willie was convicted and executed in 1984 for the kidnap, rape, and murder of 18-year-old Faith Hathaway. I described the man The police automatically knew who he was, Schlueter told 20/20. They presented [pictures of] six Africans Americans on a piece of paper. Shea Maloney, who hosts a podcast that covered the case, said Carol Stites saw her daughter and Fennell embrace outside her window, then saw them laughing and joking together as they made their way upstairs. The prosecutor of the case is Assistant District Attorney Mike Fontenot. Breaking news for Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties. Brown explained thats why, at first, he said he didnt know her. Saturday, June 13, 2020, on Spanish Town Road near N. 10th Street in Baton Rouge, La. Ive kept my gun on me at all times, I didnt even let my daughters stay the night here last night. Stacey was always on time, she said. Please reload the page and try again. She was 20 miles from her Cedar Creek home in the early hours of July 9 when she crashed into a tree. It hit a little close to home for me. And never once have I ever had a case where I didn't at some point say, gosh, I wish law enforcement would have done whatever it is, X.. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? Woman found dead in Bastrop Co. was shot while riding in truck on Hwy Sheriff Capers said Saturday evening authorities widened the search to as far as 20 miles from the scene. Police: Large, bloody sword found alongside man suspected in gruesome Family of woman found dead in Bastrop County grave demands answers - KEYE It was awful, Oliver said. Fast forward to 2014, and I'm at work and I jump on Facebook. Reeds attorney, Lydia Clay-Jackson, said he denied it all.. If anyone has. If there is no overriding reason, such as public safety concerns, announcement of an investigation is often delayed for various reasons. His truck was found in Bastrop and he was home in Giddings, Texas, which is some 30 miles away. Linda Schlueter, who was also around Stites age, was attacked and had her car stolen seven months after Stites death. BASTROP, La. Woman found dead in Bastrop car not killed by crash - YouTube They said police never searched the apartment Stites shared with Fennell. None of them look like me, Reed told ABC News. Jane Doe's DNA running through national databases In the affidavit, the seller said that Fennell then said, If you ever cheat on me, I will kill you and no one will ever know about it.". Lawhon is currently booked in the Bastrop jail, and his bond has been revoked. The suspect in the death of a young woman in Elgin is in the hospital after a police chase Wednesday. Officials Sunday released the name of a 28-year-old woman whose body was found near an unused railroad track in Carson. Reeds legal team has also raised questions about the original investigation. She really loved Jimmy.. He was engaged to the woman, and they had been in a romantic relationship with each other for at least three years. The Morehouse Parish Sheriffs Office said Lawhon called them to report he had shot his wife. Race played a big part. No arrests or injuries were reported in those previous encounters. Relatives of a female who lived at the residence with the suspect found him injured in the driveway. They found Stacey on the side of a road in a bunch of wildflowers, Carol Stites remembered. Your email address will not be published. Read below for previous information. "Jimmy pointed out a piece of green colored plastic, Bastrop PD Det. Anthony Bernard Fender, 31, of Tustin, was arrested Monday after a grand jury indictment alleged he sold fentanyl powder that led to the death of a 40-year-old man, officials said. Family of woman found dead in Texas remembers her as suspect is in custody They haven't made any funeral arrangements just yet. After 10 years of hard time in a Texas prison, hes serving Christ in the mission field of the street of Austin. But the State of Texas and Stites family believe Reed is the man who murdered her and hes exactly where he belongs. The woman was identified as Shalynn Jones, according to the Los Angeles County coroners office. Experts for the defense also claim the time of Stites death was hours earlier than the 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. window the prosecution argued at Reeds original trial. A hearing for the defense to present new evidence, including questions about Stites time of death, has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Whoops! Kyle woman found dead in Bastrop County; man charged with murder Bastrop dentist allegedly shot and killed his wife following a domestic dispute. The. All the bridal stuff was still sitting on my dining room table, she said. Officials said on Tuesday he remains in the hospital under guard. In their response to the two affidavits, the State argued neither witness is believable because they waited so long to come forward. I wish [law enforcement] would have searched the apartment, Tanner told Roberts. In the sentencing hearing, Reeds defense team says prosecutors presented a series of unadjudicated allegations against Reed. They asked Fennell, who had arrived at the scene, to unlock the truck and point out anything unusual. Michael Woodroof, a spokesman for the county coroners office. Tanner said there are exceptions., There are no absolutes in science, I completely agree with that, she said. Who was the suspected gunman in the Uvalde school shooting? When Fennell identified the belt found outside the truck as his fiances, he broke down, the report said. But, this is the situation that was handed to me so I have [to] accept that I did know her. Raymerio Lee, known as "Red" by family and friends, has been missing since Monday. He has long maintained his innocence and claims that he and Stites had a secret, consensual relationship. The cops showed up, one being Jimmy Fennell Jr., and pretty much separated us apart so that they could figure out what was going on, Lear told 20/20 about the incident. Deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department responded around 12:50 p.m. Friday to the 20800 block of South Santa Fe Avenue, near the San Diego (405) Freeway, regarding a person down. The jury took less than a day to come back with a decision in the Stites case, sentencing Reed to death for her murder. They moved in together and they said, We're engaged. "My babies, my kids, my grandkids, they're my heart. Carol Stites remembered the family had just held a bridal shower only days before. Sign up here for our free newsletters. She earned an extra 50 cents an hour to work in the produce department, but had to get to work very early in the morning. They also questioned why his truck was returned to him within days after the murder. Her family says they still don't know the cause of her death nor have they received her remains yet. With just weeks to go before his scheduled execution, Reed garnered attention from the national media, including Dr. Phil, Oprah and The New York Times. By clicking Sign Up, I confirmthat I have read and agreeto the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. I didn't realize until then that what she told me had so much of an implication in the case.. Oliver and her mother say they had no doubts that Reed is responsible for Stites murder. Missing Kyle woman found dead in Bastrop Co. grave, suspect - WOAI Carol Stites hopes the world remembers her daughter was human and all she wanted to do is get married and have a baby, she said. But Amen said Stacey Stites became less excited about her relationship with Fennell as time went on.