Stites was murdered in April of 1996, and Reed was arrested a . They also questioned why his truck was returned to him within days after the murder. Fennell was given two polygraphs in the months following Stites death. At the location, officers found . Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph . Tami Amen, who was friends with Stacey Stites in high school, said Stites had a carefree personality and was always cracking jokes. lawmakers champion bills raising penalties for fentanyl dealers and accountability from online platforms, Mallard, shot in neck and cheek, gets second chance at life, Boats set sail from Balboa Pier to Ensenada for 75th annual race. In the area where the vehicle was found the mailboxes are down, a stop sign appears to have been ripped off its post and trees are damaged. Police found a broken piece of belt with the buckle attached, just outside of the drivers door. The Bastrop County Sheriff's Office said they were called to the scene of the crash around 4:10 a.m. Once there, they found 32-year-old Jessica Brown of Cedar Creek dead inside the car. Sheriff: Woman held in death of child, 6, found in a bucket By clicking Sign Up, I confirmthat I have read and agreeto the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. They say they have had plenty of leads, but no suspect has been identified, and they are considering everyone a person of interest, including members of Brown's family. [It] was tremendous, Quinncy McNeal, an attorney on Reeds team, said. The lead DNA analyst in the case said the semen found in Stites body had been deposited at the same time as her killing. They thoroughly vetted all the evidence they had, and they cleared him, Fennells lawyer Robert Phillips told 20/20.. Its sit-and-wait now. Early the next morning, a patrol officer found a red truck in Bastrop at the high school. Lawyers from the organization say they have the evidence to prove investigators arrested the wrong man all those years ago. AUSTIN, Texas . BASTROP, La. I have a son's life to save, she said. One is an insurance seller who was trying to convince Stites to purchase life insurance, to which Stites said shes too young and has no need for it, according to the sellers affidavit. Mr. Willie was convicted and executed in 1984 for the kidnap, rape, and murder of 18-year-old Faith Hathaway. Officers had been called to their home multiple times over the years in response to verbal arguments, Hsu said. He was engaged to the woman, and they had been in a romantic relationship with each other for at least three years. Raul Anthony Caballero was flown to the hospital by helic Photo of Sofia Vera. Make sure to check back for more details as the trial continues and more information becomes available. Investigators asked if he strangled Stites and if he was involved with her death, and to both he answered no.. 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. Carol Stites remembered how Fennell said goodbye to his fiance. I keep waiting for Mother Teresa to be the next witness coming in via epiphany from beyond the grave I mean, it's just nonsense.. During his time on death row, Sister Helen Prejan became his spiritual adviser, and her relationship with Mr. Willie and another death row prisoner, Elmo Patrick Sonnier, was eventually dramatized in the 1995 film . Bastrop dentist allegedly shot and killed his wife following a domestic dispute. I didn't want to get involved, she said. No arrests or injuries were reported in those previous encounters. When deputies arrived they found a female dead inside the vehicle with injuries they say aren't consistent with a traffic crash. Or what if.. But you leave it to God.. If there is no family reference sample or no DNA match, then theres not much they can do, Wescott said. Through every trial, hearing and court update, Sandra Reed is standing by her son. That is very powerful scientific evidence that again, the time of death is way before that 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. window of the prosecution's case.. It'll be there. Officials said on Tuesday he remains in the hospital under guard. Henry Hsu said Monday. This is the one who attacked me. Baden also pointed to rigor mortis, or the stiffening of the body after death, that lasts for about 12 hours before the body begins to slacken again. Now, county officials are waiting to see if the woman's genes closely resemble a sample already in the system, or a sample that may be entered into the system in the future. Tanner said Investigators could not figure out how he wouldve gotten back home after the murder. Schlueter later pointed out Rodney Reed in a photo array. Race played a big part. After 10 years of hard time in a Texas prison, hes serving Christ in the mission field of the street of Austin. Waller says he and his fiance are not taking any chances with their familys safety. In an affidavit, Fletcher recalls Fennell saying he suspects Stites is sleeping with a Black man, while cursing and using a racial slur. I knew it was a lie instantly. The indictment. Bastrop County Sheriff Maurice. Last year, Texas officials granted Reed an indefinite stay of execution to examine claims that Reed is actually innocent. Kyle woman found dead in Bastrop County; man charged with murder Officials Sunday released the name of a 28-year-old woman whose body was found near an unused railroad track in Carson. Brown said when Reed learned of Stites murder, Reed told him he was afraid because he knew he was a Black male having sex with a white girl in Bastrop, and how that could be seen as unacceptable. Staceys sister said the family and Jimmy were devastated by her death. They asked Fennell, who had arrived at the scene, to unlock the truck and point out anything unusual. I'm hurt to the core. All the latest on Orange County from Orange County. Dr. Daniel Wescott, director of Texas States Forensic Anthropology Center who is not involved in the case, said that genetic profiles of unidentified people are often entered into the FBIs Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, which includes the genetic profiles of missing persons, convicted offenders and forensic samples collected from crime scenes. It's gonna be with me forever, he told Austin news KEYE-TV. Linda Schlueter, who was also around Stites age, was attacked and had her car stolen seven months after Stites death. 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. Reed has appealed his case repeatedly from 2001 through 2015. (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. They say now, all they can do is hope police find answers soon. According to a police report, Fennell allegedly told one of his colleagues he was going to try to get intelligence from her. His DNA had been collected and stored in the system, though those charges were ultimately dropped. 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. [The medical examiner] said that, Nobody should have relied on what I said., The examiner wrote, My estimate of time of deathwas only an estimate, and should not have been used at trial as an accurate statement of when Ms. Stites died.. On the next morning, the same family members to went to feed the animals and located an area of disturbed ground in the backyard. Eleven years after Stites murder, Texas Rangers investigated Fennell after a woman named Connie Lear accused him of raping her while he had her in custody. Staceys murder went unsolved for nearly a year. "Jimmy pointed out a piece of green colored plastic, Bastrop PD Det. Investigators determined her sex based off the morphology of the skeletons pelvis, which they said was broken at the time they found her body. Stacey Stites was weeks away from marrying her fianc when she went missing. Like I said I was trying to get logs to start a fire I pulled a log out of these bushes right here and never saw her exclaimed Waller. 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. 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. In his interview with KEYE-TV, Fennell said its hard having the finger pointed at you."It's hard when they're saying, Yeah you killed Stacey, your fiance, he said. 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Emmett Till accuser Carolyn Bryant Donham dies at age 88 : NPR 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. 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. One of Stites coworkers at H-E-B came forward in 2014, and in an affidavit she claimed Stites told her she was having an affair with Reed. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? When he was first questioned by police, he told them, I don't know a Stacey Stites. Family members say getting the phone call from police, hearing he was found dead, was like a punch in the gut. Well send you the latest headlines every morning and every weekday afternoon. Your email address will not be published. I saw that Rodney had been given an execution date. She worked hard for that wedding dress, and we all decided that that's what she should be buried in.. 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. Bastrop County law enforcement officials are relaunching an investigation into the identity of the woman, whose badly decomposed body was discovered along U.S. 290east of Elgin by law enforcement officers 40 years ago. On the day that her body was found, Sheriff Maurice Cook refused to comment on the evidence or . But Amen said Stacey Stites became less excited about her relationship with Fennell as time went on. 25-year-old woman found dead in burning brush off Spanish Town Road has been ID'd . 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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I have to accept that there was a relationship. . The man shot the woman and then took his own life, Hsu said. Officials added that the family of the female reported they were concerned because she had gone missing. Her body was found in the parking lot at 118 Stephen F. Austin Boulevard at about 2 a.m. Wednesday morning. Reeds attorney, Lydia Clay-Jackson, said he denied it all.. A woman is found dead inside of a crashed vehicle in Bastrop County but deputies say the fatal injuries were from something else. He says the way the blood settled in the front of Stites body suggests she was killed before 3 a.m. and her body laid in a different position for hours before she was found on her back. 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. DNA found on her matched that of Reed. The victim has been identified as 32-year-old Jessica Marie Jefferson Brown from Cedar Creek. 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. Fennell spoke with the media about losing his fiance. Because If Stacey was killed at midnight or earlier -- and not 3 a.m., then Reed would be excluded as the killer. They also wouldn't say if Brown slammed into the tree because she had been shot or if the crash was staged. He's had the same values I was raised with. Exiting were photographers, serologists, physical evidence collection people. I wasnt seeing racism like that.. The trial is happening in courtroom one of the Morehouse Parish Courthouse. He said he had hoped the jury would hear the evidence and see he was innocent. 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. The prosecution argued that Reed abducted Stites while she was driving her fiancs truck on her way to work, raped her, strangled her and dumped her body on the road where she was found. Stites said her daughter wanted to make more money to pay for her wedding, so she got a job at a local H-E-B grocery company. His truck was found in Bastrop and he was home in Giddings, Texas, which is some 30 miles away. Brown explained thats why, at first, he said he didnt know her. In their response to the two affidavits, the State argued neither witness is believable because they waited so long to come forward. Angela Hamby, 12, was raped in September 1989, and prosecutors said that evidence from her case also matched Reeds DNA. City and county officials are calling this data extremely concerning. We suspected foul play.. 10 Famous Louisiana Murders That Changed the State Forever There is no further timeline available. Sign up here for our free newsletters. Officials say the Travis County Medical Examiner will be doing an autopsy to determine the cause of death. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Man and woman found dead after reports of argument in Fountain Valley HARAHAN, La. I've been doing this a long time. I thank the world for the support.. Family of woman found dead in Bastrop County grave demands answers - KEYE The. Two Bastrop County families seek closure in young man's murder The suspect in the death of a young woman in Elgin is in the hospital after a police chase Wednesday. Her body was found in the parking lot at 118 Stephen F. Austin Boulevard at about 2 a.m. Wednesday morning. There was evidence of a struggle at the truck. Later the same day, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals indefinitely stayed Reed's execution. 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. All rights reserved. What makes the story even more bizarre for Waller is how the day started. 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. Davion Mar'Keith Veal, 22, who is wanted for murder in Bastrop County, was arrested Nov. 1 in Louisiana. Woman discovered dead with gunshot wound in Bastrop County Reeds court-appointed attorney Clay-Jackson said she and her co-counsel, Calvin Garvie, only had two months to prepare for the trial. They said police never searched the apartment Stites shared with Fennell. To prematurely release information for the sake of being transparent, when the information could adversely affect an investigation, is not fair to the victims family, nor to the public.
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