Though the experts identified several patterns that were possibly bite marks, they couldnt go much further. Some cases were the kind hed seen before, like WebLake Waco Murders By Allie Roberts On a muggy, Texas summer night in 1982, tragedy struck. From The Left. The 1982 Lake Waco Murders refers to the deaths of three teenagers (two females, one male) near Lake Waco in Waco, Texas, in July 1982. I was afraid to die, he told. Schonemann and Schwartz had no time to lose. No, Melendez said, flashing a rare smile. Both Melendez brothers had testified that they had used the vehicle to transport the teenagers bodies to Speegleville Park. But Dannen ignored his friends warnings, and in October 1998 he returned to Austin alone, taking along his computer and a digital keyboard on which to play Chopin and Gershwin. I felt at risk. His work on the White case had caused bad publicity for Simons and Feazell, and he worried about the enemies he was making with his investigation, even as he got no closer to actually solving the case. He was a likable guy, intellectually curious, gregarious. How that might happen remains to be seen. 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. ), The truck being destroyedthat was huge. Both later recanted their confessions. He could not have known that his promise, and every action he took to fulfill it, would shortly come under intense scrutinyand, in the years to come, set the course for one of the strangest, most serpentine cases of criminal justice in modern Texas history. More significant, the officers also had another suspect: Tony Melendez, Gilberts younger brother. On March 30 Dannen was busy writing in his apartment when the phone rang. The topics cover historical figures, and events which Vic has been a part of. Theyd seen Simons take over an investigation before. In her opinion, Judge Edith Jones acknowledged that the prosecution had withheld evidence but reasoned that, even if the evidence had been revealed, it would not have affected the jury. After Anthony Melendezs death in 2017, Simons said Anthony Melendez initially denied his involvement in the murders but failed polygraph tests. Standing over her, he felt overwhelmed by the evil that had befallen her. Feazell brought him to the jury room. Spence knew Melendez through his younger brother, Tony, with whom Spence had gone to school. Thompson never met Kenneth and barely knew Raylene, yet her thoughts turn to them too. But there was more, said Salinas. The 1982 Lake Waco murders continued to pique interest, as journalists and reporters expressed interest in the handling, and likely mishandling, of the case. In the end, only questions remain. He hadnt really intended to become a cop, but once on the force, he found the work to be a calling, and over his seventeen-year career hed covered every inch of Waco, leading both the narcotics and tactical squads. I just dont believe he had anything to do with the murders. Melendez has written Thompson a stack of letters, and he recently began calling her at home every week to discuss the impending DNA results. I have a witness.. [6] Spence and both Melendez brothers were, at the time, already serving prison sentences for various crimes.[7]. I promise you that this wont be another unsolved murder case in Waco, Texas.. There has never been anything said or written that has ever changed her opinion that her jury made the right decision, Deaconson said. March 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? Guys getting their faces shot off. (Simons would later disagree and say that it was Price who fingered Williams as a suspect after his arrest.) [8], In January 1985, Gilbert Melendez also pleaded guilty to the murders and agreed to testify against Deeb. He was especially struck by one detail: after Spences second trial, Dannen told them, Carlton Stowers, the author of Careless Whispers, had bought Gilberts truck and towed it to Simonss property. Did Spence do it or not, I cant tell you, she said. Dannen wasnt fully convinced of Spences innocenceas a veteran journalist, hed made a career out of being skepticalbut hed learned enough to know he had the makings of a great story. Last spring, I tracked Dannen down. [13] Brian Pardo, a wealthy Texas businessman, met Spence a few months before his execution and, on becoming convinced of his innocence, launched a campaign to delay his death sentence so that a new trial could be commenced. WebJill Montgomery, Raylene Rice and Kenneth Franks were tortured and stabbed multiple times at Speegleville Park at Lake Waco on July 13, 1982. Me and some friends of mine from Fort Worth, you know, we did that, we took care of them. When Gilbert didnt believe him, Spence described how hed picked up the teenagers at the tables. I killed them. Though he then apologized and said he was joking, Kelley felt certain he was not. The lawyers also found persuasive reasons to doubt the bite-mark evidence. The shocking crime was more confounding because it seemed so random in nature. I was brought up to do things the right way, she told me. Copyright 2022 KWTX. Fear spread through town, and residents began locking their doors at night and pushing for park curfews. Instead hed come face to face with a chubby middle-aged man who insisted he was innocent. He accepted it and said, Im going home. The brothers were set to testify against Muneer Deeb at his retrial, in December 1992 in Fort Worth, and both had been promised help with their paroles if they did. They also tried to track down all the jailhouse informants.

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Price was astounded to find that a few days before her death, White had received a letter from Spence that had been sent to him by Robert Snelson, one of the men who had testified against him; he was the informant who told jurors that Spence had confessed to biting off Jills nipple. Early in the investigation, the prosecutor had written a note on his stationery: G[ilbert] M[elendez] told [fellow inmate] Robert [Garcia] he did not know anything but was going to make up a story to get off of [the] sexual abuse case., Why would Gilbert confess to such a horrible crime if he didnt commit it? Now she hoped she could help free Washington and Williamsand cast some light on the DA and his investigator. I was out there, he told the deputy. Feazells findings, which showed that Lucas lied about his victims, had embarrassed the Texas Rangers, who had used Lucas statements to erroneously clear dozens of murders. 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. From the beginning, Feazell was a formidable prosecutor, calling 39 witnesses. On that Friday, she said, I think Ive found out what happened. Why is it taking so long?. Three years after her murder, Jills remains lay in an unadorned grave in a country cemetery just north of Waxahachie. 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. In April 1992 the federal court denied Spences petition for habeas corpus relief. WebWaco Murder Kari with her beloved daughters, Kensi and Grace. I believe that by confessing, I saved my life.. As Simons stood up, WPD detective Ramon Salinas showed him a photograph of an eighteen-year-old named Kenneth Franks, who had been reported missing earlier that day. For one thing, Simons wasnt filing any reports. Justice was eventually served when four men were found guilty of the crime, and two were sent to death row. 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.). The former DA remained confident of Spences guilt and felt he had nothing to hide; he was even contemplating filing a libel suit against Pardo for maligning him in Capitol Watch. WebWaco had been having a violent summer; it was July 14, and already a dozen people had been murdered in the city of 100,000. A possible answer came from Spences ex-wife, June, who, besides Schonemann, was one of the inmates most consistent visitors. He and Blum met with Vic Feazell, who had gotten divorced and started dabbling in the film business. Spence, in fact, was about to become the face of a national debate over capital punishment in Texas. So someone would keep coming back to talk to you? Yes. He told me he didnt have any idea it would get so out of hand., Though Schonemann never saw this side of Spence, some of the inmates other lawyers did. But the case went nowhere. Trapani offered Padgett and Alexander $15,0000 to murder Gail. The more traumatic the killing, the more intricate the web. Spence was executed in 1997, Melendezs brother Gilbert died in prison of complications from HIV in 1998, and Muneer Deebwho won an acquittal in a 1993 retrialdied of. He had grown up in Rosenthal, a tiny town just south of the city, and joined the WPD in 1965, a few years after dropping out of high school. Spences attorneys made a stronger case for prosecutorial misconduct than the state had made against him for murder. David was kind of a braggart, Hunt told me. 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.

For days, the departments phones rang nonstop as people called in with leads, most of which amounted to nothing: someone claimed that members of a biker gang known as the Scorpions had bragged about the killings; someone else reported having given a ride to an extremely nervous man with blood on his pants who had been walking along a nearby highway on the morning after the bodies were found; one caller reported that someone had been doing Indian rituals near the crime scene; another said that there was a devils cult operating in the area. I did it, he said. Gilbert even broke down and cried a few times. 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.

Allen never disclosed anything from the file to the defense. In early 1999 he obtained a copy of Whites autopsy report, which noted the presence of semen. Thats hard to believe, said the deputy to reporters as he walked out. Schonemann spoke with him too. WebLake Waco Triple Murders Community Send message Hi! 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. Their mother also urged him not to. Simons phoned Scott with the news later that morning. When the bodies of three teenagers were found in July 1982 near Lake Waco, chills ran through Central Texas. I am perplexed and bewildered, as Im sure a lot of people are, he told the Waxahachie Daily Light. When Melendezs mother died of cancer a couple of years ago he became even closer with Thompson. They too were missing. Her brother, Brad, who had refused her request for a ride to Waco on the day of her disappearance, was so distraught and full of rage that Simons feared hed lunge at Spence as soon as he laid eyes on him; the deputy made him promise hed behave himself. Her name was Juanita White. You all just fucked up the whole goddamn case, a disgusted Horton told Simons and Baier in front of a crowd of detectives the morning after Deeb was brought in. Skip Hollandsworth specializes in long-form narratives. According to testimony at the trial, her parents had asked the By the time he got out of prison, he had become entranced by the biker lifestyle. Melendez had been suffering from multiple maladies, including bone cancer and kidney failure.

history.). 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. I dont know who it was or the circumstances, but I never believed we got the complete picture, Goble said. Criticism intensified after then Gov. To some of Simonss colleagues, the results of the polygraph were no surprise. You did it, we know you did ityoure going to die for it. Well, we got three jury verdicts convicting them. While investigating the White case, Dannen had learned that the evidence from Speegleville Park had ended up in the possession of David Chapman, the special prosecutor in Deebs retrial. I heard Truman Simons say to Gilbert Melendez, Gilbert, were going to turn the recorder off now and get our story straight, and then well turn the recorder back on, he said in an affidavit. Things were about to get crazy, he said, and Melendez might want to consider talking. The original case seemed to be unraveling before the lawyers eyes. Spence was executed in 1997, Melendezs brother Gilbert died in prison of complications from HIV in 1998, and Muneer Deebwho won an acquittal in a 1993 retrialdied of liver cancer in 1999. That night, the officers got a huge break when a panicked Kelley called Simons at one in the morning. Id heard he was claiming he did it. Then there was the report detailing a bizarre polygraph test taken by Kenneths father, Richard Franks.

She uses a cane to walk, and because of failing eyesight, she cant drive. I know hes no angel, but as far as what hes there for, thats not what I call justice. Simons informed him that if he confessed and testified against Spence, hed almost certainly avoid the death penalty. And I know that you know it too, Vic! As before, the jury found him guilty. It was denied. A grateful city breathed a sigh of relief. Spence, who had two new attorneysWalter Reaves, whod represented him on the aggravated sexual abuse case, and Bill Vancegrew increasingly agitated, eventually trying to fire his lawyers. Pardo hired a blood-spatter expert, who concluded from crime-scene photos that the teenagers could not have been transported from one park to another; the blood, which had flowed from each body in predictable lines and had not smeared or intermingled, seemed to indicate that they had died where they were found, in Speegleville. Deeb wasnt from here, he recalled. Spence insisted he couldnt remember murdering anyone, but he began to wonder if it was possible that he had really done it. He had one last gesture to make. He was held for questioning for two weeks. He liked reading about everything and loved talking about religion. Other TRC lawyers who helped Owen and Schonemann with the case, such as Ken Driggs, agreedSpence may have been a criminal, but he didnt seem like a killer. Could the bracelet be Jills? Afterward, Deeb had confessed. 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 Simons investigation included numerous promises to jailhouse inmates and the outright fabrication of evidence against the unlucky suspects, she alleged. Simons, meanwhile, became one of the most well-respected officers in the state. The two friends quickly got to work, furiously reading through thousands of pages of transcripts from Spences two trials and numerous files from the McLennan County DAs office. He said one of them had some big tits, Gilbert told his lawyers. Also considered was the confession Deeb had made to the two young women about his involvement in the killings and the life insurance policy he had taken out for his employee. The state was on track to see the highest annual number of executions in its history: while only a total of three people had been given a lethal injection in 1996, as of April 1997 Spence was already the fourth inmate to have received one that year, and by July the state had dispatched 24 men (the total for the year would be 37). But sometimes you get hold of a case, and sometimes the case gets hold of you.. McLemore also became uneasy. There was no time to lose, and the group feverishly got to work. Heart pounding, Simons peered around the immediate surroundings. After her familys long heartache, Thompson felt, Dannen was finally going to bring her niece true justice. Simons told the chief that Kelley had also said that Deeb was about to flee the state because the bank was foreclosing on his store. It was a match. Washingtons trial took place that December; he was found guilty and given life. It was April 1983; in a few months, the local media would mark the one-year anniversary of the murders, and yet the investigation was still floundering. He felt humiliated, remembered Salinas. His tenacity, in fact, was about to pay off in other ways. 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. We feel the angels have been with us, a fragile-looking Nancy told news reporters at the close of the trial. He didnt know a lot about the death penalty, yet when he read the writ, the inmates conviction didnt make sense. Patrol sergeant Truman Simons was driving down Franklin Avenue, in downtown Waco, when the call came over the police radio.

After three hours of testing, the operator delivered his opinion: no deception. Spence found himself with no lawyers. Dannen had paid for all the DNA testing himself; by the time the results came in, hed spent close to $10,000.

Spence was found guilty after both trials and sentenced to death each time. He also built friendships with more people around Waco, sometimes crashing on their couches when his reporting kept him late. 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. 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. To see all this unfolding before my eyes and know I couldnt stop it was terrible., Her ordeal over, Price began keeping tabs on the men who had been sent to death row as a result of Simonss work, Spence and Deeb. She was shy and craved love and attention, Thompson told me. But Melendez later recanted, saying he had only confessed because hed been threatened with the death penalty. They had also recovered a few hairs from the bodies of the teenagers. 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. 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. 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 also sought out Spences former attorney Walter Reaves, who was now representing another death row inmate with innocence claimsCameron Todd Willinghamand Raoul Schonemann, who was still doing work for the Capital Punishment Clinic in Austin and representing death row inmates. She talked to inmates, some of whom claimed that Simons sources were liars. For Simons, this was a promising start, and later that afternoon he and Baier sat down to interview Kelley, who had also been a friend of Jills. But that didnt change the truth.

He had recently received a letter from Dannen saying that a breakthrough with the DNA testing was imminent. Simons, a man of intuition, couldnt always explain his methods, but everyone knew they got results. I dont trust Reaves or Dannen, he told me. When Campbell reported his results, his conclusion was different from Halesit was Williams, he said, not Washington, who had bitten White.

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. Simons arrested Deeb initially because he learned that Deeb was going to return to Jordan. The [murders] made me very angry, Ivy wrote in an affidavit, so hed talked about them with other inmates. . It was either plead guilty and stay alive or go to trial and get a death sentence. The incident also inspired a made-for-TV adaptation, Sworn to Vengeance, starring Robert Conrad as a fictionalized version of Simons. Within days, Butler got remarkable news: Campbell was certain that Spences teeth had made the marks. Discussing the case had become so painful that she and Thompson quit talking about it. In return Melendez got two life sentences. [4] Deeb had had a life insurance policy for one employee at his convenience store who bore a striking resemblance to Jill Montgomery. If the new DNA evidence is favorable, Melendez could file a habeas writ and allege that hes factually innocent or that his plea was unsound. Many of the wounds were shallow, suggesting they had been tortured. In July 2002 Dannen was drawn into Feazells libel suit against Pardo, which the former DA had filed in 1998. Still, the defense attorneys made a miscalculation in their overall strategy. Though theres a chance were never going to know for sure who killed those kids., Jill would be 49 today, and Thompson thinks of her often. He took it to the girls mother and aunt, who both said she had owned a bracelet like it. Simons, who died in November at the age of 78, also locked his sights on Jordanian national Muneer Deeb, who owned a convenience store across the street from the Methodist Childrens Home. He wasnt perfect. Before long, other inmates were also coming forward with things Spence had told them: he had been in a satanic cult; hed been paid to kill the teens but had killed the wrong ones; a foreigner named Lucky had paid him to kill the three because a girl had dishonored him. I was absolutely crushed, he told me. 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). February 12, 2019 Lanie. Feazell had called the charges a smear campaign brought on by the big boys in Austin because of the Lucas case; now the convictions in the Lake Waco murders offered irrefutable proof of his commitment to the law. Price and Turk returned to their investigation in earnest, tracking down all the informants who had testified against Washington and Williams. per adult. Yet there was one nagging question: How to explain the many people whod heard him say he was the murderer? The large, elegant slab of Dakota Mahogany granite was decorated by Jills mother with the girls photo, a poem, and the inscription Forever Seventeen. Not only had Simons kept his promise to avenge Jill, he had also made sure she would never be forgotten. Most of them ended up recanting later.. Bite marks on the victims were also presented as evidence of Spences involvement. Even if someone elses DNA is found, the state can be expected to argue that that doesnt prove Tony is innocent, only that another person was involved in the crime. Rob Owen, now a clinical professor at Northwestern University School of Law, is also pessimistic about Melendezs chances, having worked similar innocence cases. There is far too much doubt to carry out an execution. 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. 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. It was such a relief, she told me, to know there was somebody who understood how I felt.. One important question remained: Whose semen was it? Dubbed the 'Lake Waco murders', three teenagers were found dead with numerous stab wounds, slashed throats, and evidence of sexual assault. WebLake Waco Murders By Allie Roberts On a muggy, Texas summer night in 1982, tragedy struck. WebIn 1982, three teenagers were murdered at Lake Waco. The results, as they came in, proved astonishing. This whole experience changed my life, radicalized me, he said.

Like his brother, he received a term of life imprisonment in exchange for this confession. Reaves, who successfully overturned the convictions of Calvin Washington and Joe Sidney Williams in the murder of Spences mother Juanita White, in Waco, said he also believes the Lake Waco defendants didnt do it. Simons spent long hours visiting Spence in jail, cultivating a relationship with him in an effort to coax a confession that never came. After all this time, I still think about it.. He asked an investigator with the DAs office to accompany him, and the two men wandered through Koehne Park. The next day, Simons pulled all the police reports that had been filed in the case and, with the help of Baierwhom Scott assigned to assist Simonsbegan looking for any leads that hadnt been exhausted. Yet during his interrogation, Simons made another breakthrough.

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