Murder and Homicide

This Week, Tarrant County Filed Murder Charges in Two Decades-Old Child Abuse Cases

Teena Mathis has always said it was an accident. She had left her 15-month-old niece, Heidi, with her children on a backyard swingset while she stepped inside to answer the phone. While she was in the house, the girl wandered behind the swing, which hit her in the head. Heidi died two days later. H ... More >>

Former Justice of the Peace Eric Williams Now Charged with Capital Murder in Kaufman County Slayings

Two days ago, few people foresaw that Kim Williams, the ailing wife of a former Kaufman County official, would be arrested and charged with capital murder. But everyone's been expecting this: law enforcement officials announced today that former Justice of the Peace Eric Williams has been charged wi ... More >>

The Wife of Eric Williams, Lead Suspect in Kaufman County Slayings, Has Been Charged with Murder [Updated]

Update, 1:05 p.m.: Authorities say Kim Williams has confessed. See update and the affidavit below. Since he was arrested over the weekend, speculation has been that former Kaufman County Justice of the Peace Eric Williams would be indicted on capital murder charges at any second in the slayings of ... More >>

Aryan Brotherhood of Texas Membership Is Climbing In North Texas, Law Enforcement Officials Say

Every law enforcement agency in North Texas has descended on Kaufman County in the past several days following the murder of District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, at their home. The couple was found by a concerned friend around 6:45 p.m. on Saturday night, according to a search war ... More >>

West of Memphis, a New Doc on an Old Case, Finally Sets Free the West Memphis Three

Kimberly McCarthy, Lancaster Woman Convicted of Murdering Neighbor For Crack Money, Set to Die Jan. 29

It was a grisly scene Lancaster police found on July 22, 1997: Dorothy Booth, a 71-year-old retired psychology professor, stabbed to death on the floor of her dining room stabbed, her left ring finger severed from her hand. The evidence quickly led police to Kimberly McCarthy, Booth's next-door nei ... More >>

Suspect Named in Slaying of Ethiopian Restaurant Owners

A capital murder warrant has been issued for Abey Bilette Girma, 37, in the killing of the owners of Desta, an Ethiopian restaurant, at around midnight on Aug. 15. Yayehyirad Lemma and Yenenesh Desta were gunned down on the front porch of their home on Marquita Street after closing the restaurant fo ... More >>

Mexico's Magical Homicides

DNA Implicates Two Different Suspects Decades After Three Strikingly Similar Murders

Michael Morton skyrocketed into national headlines last year when he was exonerated of his wife's murder after 25 years in prison. A bloody bandana found near the crime scene was a key to Morton's release when DNA testing implicated another man. The Observer included his case in a recent article abo ... More >>

Texas A&M Study Says Castle-Doctrine Laws Increase Homicides, Don't Deter Crime

In news sure to inspire furious bickering inside your television, a Texas A&M study has found that the castle doctrine -- on which Florida's controversial "Stand Your Ground" law is based --

The Killer of His Daughter's Mother: A Cunning American Boy Becomes a Mexican Cartel Soldier and East L.A. Executioner

Dallas DA, DPD Reopen 1997 Murder Case, and Discover They Convicted the Wrong Men

Dallas County District AttorneyClaude Simmons is one of two men being exonerated for a 1997 murder he did not commit.​Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins's office sends word this morning that two men convicted of murder in October 1997 -- 54-year-old Claude Alvin Simmons Jr. and 39-year- ... More >>

Craig Newmark Speaks at Victim's Memorial in Wake of Craigslist Killings

Homicide or "Honor Killing": The Debate Resumes Following FBI Posting

Still an Aryan Blood Brother

Two murders and two life sentences won't alter one convict's allegiance to the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas

A Talk on "Religion and Violence" -- Timely

Honor Among Pundits

For Love, Aryan Brotherhood Killer Confesses

The prison gang member and killer stands ready to clear his wife for his crimes

In Limbo

Plano Finishes Dead Last!!!

Feds Indict 14 Texas Syndicate Members For Murder -- and Much, Much More -- in North Texas

Caught Cold

Forget what you think you know about serial killers and what cops do to nab them

What, No Kenny Wayne Shepherd?

Going Down in Downtown

Missing Links

Is a serial killer stalking gays in the Dallas area?

Wamsley: "He Could Have Been Much More"

Wamsley: Guilty

Clueless

No one knows who murdered Brent Gutheinz. Thanks to a sloppy investigation, it's likely no one ever will.

Good Joe

Confessed serial killer Coral Eugene Watts gets charged with murder--finally

Rude Boy

The life and times of John Soldier

Evil Eyes

Coral Eugene Watts is a serial killer. He says he'll murder again. Why can't Texas stop him?

Killers Among Us

Why did three Park Cities fathers explode in murderous rage?

Case Closed

How Dallas police detective Shari Degan solved the grisly murder that rocked Dallas--in 1913

O.J. Confidential

High-profile P.I. Bill Dear believes he knows who killed Nicole Simpson. It's not who you think.

Dead Giveaway

A plea bargain closes the book on the mysterious disappearance of Madalyn Murray O'Hair

The Phantom Menace

In 1946, a serial killer haunted sleepy Texarkana, stalking his victims under the cover of night. Investigators wonder if he died decades later in a Dallas rest home--or simply disappeared.

The Angel of Juarez

Hundreds of poor Mexican girls have been abducted, raped, and murdered on the streets of Ciudad Juarez. They were forgotten and mostly ignored by authorities until Esther Chavez came along.

Killer Smile

Tommy Lynn Sells claims to have murdered dozens, and Texas Rangers fear he's telling the truth

Burden of proof

Serial killer Faryion Wardrip would have gotten away with murder if bricklayer-turned-investigator John Little hadn't stolen his coffee cup

Bad business

Death merchant Michael Lee Davis, sent once again to prison, is now worth more dead than alive

Questions of innocence

Odell Barnes is just one of many inmates with questionable convictions facing the death penalty

Presumed guilty

Odell Barnes awaits execution on March 1 -- despite new evidence that he didn't commit the crime

Squeeze play

Federal authorities indict a suspect in the O'Hair disappearance, but the atheist's body is still missing

A woman scorned

A suspect in Madalyn Murray O'Hair's disappearance is sentenced, but for which crime?

Innocence Lost

Railroaded onto death row, Kerry Max Cook endures rapes, beatings, and suicide attempts while waiting for justice

Innocence lost

Prosecutors lied and cheated to put Kerry Max Cook on death row for 16 years. He's out of prison now, but still not quite free.

Cheating death

A notorious murder-for-hire ex-con may have reached the end of his road in Dallas

Defending Darlie

Wealthy Waco businessman Brian Pardo spends his time and money helping death-row inmates he believes are innocent. His efforts on behalf of Darlie Routier have raised suspicions about her husband--and about Pardo's motives.

Dallas Confidential

The Texas Troubadour's Fatal Rendezvous and other amazing stories from the police department's cold case squad

The Chief, the Scotsman, the Swindler, and the Killer

David Pasztor unravels a tangeled tale of death and international intrigue