Dallas County Grand Jury Indicts Accused Killer Facing Death Penalty for Second Capital Murder

On Tuesday, a Dallas County grand jury indicted Reginald Kimbro, who is facing the death penalty for the April murder of a Fort Worth woman, for a separate capital murder, according to the Dallas County District Attorney's Office. Kimbro, who authorities believe raped and murdered 22-year-old Molly Matheson near the Texas Christian University campus, is also charged with killing Megan Getrum of Plano.

According to the indictment, Kimbro killed Getrum by "strangling, drowning and inflicting blunt force injuries" on her before dumping her body in Dallas' Lake Ray Hubbard on April 14 or 15. Plano police also believe Kimbro sexually assaulted Getrum. Divers recovered Getrum's body April 15, but she was not identified until her family reported her missing several days later.

Matheson was murdered April 10. On April 14, Fort Worth police interviewed Kimbro, who said he used to date Matheson and admitted being in her apartment the night she was killed. Police did not arrest Kimbro. The same day, Getrum disappeared after heading out for a hike at the Arbor Hills Nature Preserve in Plano, not far from where she lived.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, police found Kimbro's DNA on both Matheson and Getrum before he was arrested April 27. Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson did not say Tuesday whether she will seek the death penalty or life without parole when she tries Kimbro, she said she intends to find a just resolution for Mathson's and Kimbro's families.

"We continue to pray for Megan Getrum's family. We also continue to pray for the family of Molly Matheson of Fort Worth, as Reginald Kimbro is also being charged with capital murder in connection to her death. We believe that justice will be served in both of these cases," Johnson said in a statement Tuesday.

Police in Plano and South Padre Island believe Kimbro is responsible for at least two additional rapes, in 2012 and 2014. In both of those cases, the victims were choked as they were raped, as were Matheson and Getrum. According to the affidavit, Plano police did not charge Kimbro with the 2012 rape because “there came a point during the investigation in which [the victim] no longer wished to pursue the case.”

If Johnson seeks the death penalty against Kimbro, it will be only the second case in which she's chosen to do so since taking over the office after Susan Hawk's resignation in 2016. Antonio Cochrane could be sentenced to lethal injection for the 2015 murder of 18-year-old Zoe Hastings, who was kidnapped on her way to return a Redbox movie.

No Dallas County jury has sentenced a killer to death since 2014, reflecting state and nationwide trends moving against the death penalty. From 2007-13, Dallas County sent 12 people to death row, more than any other county in the state during that time.