Local News Archive
September-November, 2008
Police look for credit union robber (Nov 28, 2008)
Waco teen arrested in officer's assault during citation of underage drinkers at party (Nov. 19, 2008)
Waco drug raid nets $500,000 in marijuana, Hummer (Nov. 10, 2008)
Health Department treating prostitutes on the streets (Nov. 10, 2008)
Some local churches locking doors during services for safety (Nov. 8, 2008)
Waco man arrested in aggravated assault case (Nov. 8, 2008)
Man sentenced in three Waco area restaurant robberies (Nov. 7, 2008)
Man stabbed in the neck Friday night in Waco (Oct. 31, 2008)
Waco man arrested in child's sexual assault (Oct. 31, 2008)
Waco fire officials call last week's fires arson, say they have suspects (Oct. 31, 2008)
4 men rob jewelry store (Oct. 31, 2008)
Cemetery debacle at Ranger Museum site will bring about new legislation, lawmaker says (Oct. 29, 2008)
Autopsy report: Slain Waco business owner was shot twice from behind (Oct. 14, 2008)
Neighbors stunned by deadly stabbing in Waco home (Oct. 14, 2008)
Trio of felony trials set for Waco, including 2 murder cases (Oct. 13, 2008)
Two Waco convenience stores robbed this morning; clerks struck in head (Sept. 24, 2008)
Man involved in shooting incident runs onto Waco elementary playground (Sept. 4, 2008)
Waco Home Invastion (Sept. 4, 2008)
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Police look for credit union robber
By Cody Winchester, Waco Tribune-Herald, Nov 28, 2008
Waco police are looking for a man who robbed the First University Credit Union this afternoon.
The suspect entered the credit union, 605 S. Univeristy-Parks Drive, and told a teller he had a gun, Waco police spokesman Steve Anderson said. He never produced a gun, and no one was injured.
The man fled the building toward Interstate 35 with an undisclosed amount of money. Police do not yet have a detailed description of the suspect. Back to top
Waco teen arrested in officer's assault during citation of underage drinkers at party
By Van Darden, Waco Tribune-Herald, Nov 19, 2008
An area college student was arrested Sunday morning after hitting a Waco police officer in the face with his elbow, authorities say.
Ricardo Luis Riojas, 18, a Texas State Technical College student, was attending a party near the Baylor University campus when the incident occurred, Waco police spokesman Steve Anderson said.
Waco police received word of a large party with loud music and underage drinking in the 1300 block of Speight Avenue about 2:20 a.m., Anderson said.
The responding officer tried to identify four people who appeared to be younger than the legal drinking age, while many others fled on foot, Anderson said.
The officer was issuing citations for underage drinking when Riojas grabbed the teens’ identification cards and driver’s licences off the hood of the officer’s car and ran, Anderson said.
The officer chased Riojas and fired his Taser when Riojas did not stop as directed, Anderson said.
When the Taser did not strike Riojas, the officer grabbed him, Anderson said. Riojas then struck the officer’s face with his elbow, Anderson said.
Riojas was taken to the McLennan County Jail and charged with assault on a peace officer, a third-degree felony, Anderson said.
A jail spokeswoman said he was released Sunday evening on a $25,000 bond. Back to top
Waco drug raid nets $500,000 in marijuana, Hummer
By Van Darden, Waco Tribune-Herald, Nov 10, 2008
Authorities announced this afternoon officers have seized about 750 pounds of marijuana, a Hummer and other items and arrested three men at a house on Chappel Hill Road in Waco.
The seizure Friday was a coordinated effort between the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office, Waco police and local Drug Enforcement Administration agents.
In addition to the marijuana - estimated to be worth about $500,000 - authorities also seized a Hummer H2 truck, a Dodge Charger, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, two handguns, a semi-automatic assault pistol, $1,800 in cash and a small amount of cocaine, authorities said.
Steven Robertson, a supervisory special agent with the DEA, said the raid was significant and that it was “a major blow against marijuana trafficking” in the city of Waco. Back to top
Health Department Treating Prostitutes On The Streets
By Brian Collins, KXXV-TV, Nov 10, 2008
WACO- Health department officials say one of the ways they're tracking sexually transmitted diseases is by picking prostitutes up and taking them to medical clinics.
Prostitutes offer a lot of information on who might be contracting STDs along with lowing cases by giving them treatment said Bryan Martin, Disease Intervention Specialist for McLennan County.
"They can be a real key to a big case," said Martin. "If you can find one that's going to help you find some people and be willing to name who needs to be named."
Martin says he often visits neighborhoods where prostitutes hang out. Along with taking them to the clinics he also brings them condoms, and even takes blood samples where they're at.
McLennan County Statistics show for the first time in eight years syphilis is down, while cases in HIV and many other STDs continue to rise. Back to top
Some local churches locking doors during services for safety
By Terri Jo Ryan, Waco Tribune-Herald, Nov. 9, 2008
“Knock, and the door will be opened for you.”
Luke 11:9
Citing the safety of its members, St. John United Church of Christ in Robinson announced about a month ago that it was locking its doors during its 10:45 a.m. Sunday services.
The reason for the policy is the rise in the number of violent acts committed in and around houses of worship in this country, said Virginia Wuebker, church council co-president.
Although there have been no specific violent incidents that spurred the decision, Wuebker said, “it is a reflection of the world in which we’re living today.”
Church sanctuaries used to be reliable refuges from the outside world. But in recent years, the world has intruded on that peace — often with violence.
A church shooting snagged national headlines as recently as Nov. 1, when a gunman lurking outside a northern Kentucky church killed a Cincinnati pastor and wounded another minister who were there to attend a funeral.
So churches like St. John UCC are having to come up with strategies to stay safe while still welcoming strangers.
Wuebker said St. John’s decision to bar the door comes after “several incidents of people coming in unannounced, for different reasons — not to worship.”
She acknowledged a locked sanctuary door seems to send contradictory messages to visitors.
“We are open to people who want to be a part of us,” she said. “But there are some people who do not want to be a part of us, and telling the difference is the trick.”
St. John is not alone in this dilemma.
Churches sometimes have to take “what one might consider drastic measures to prevent serious harm,” said the Rev. Joe A. Carbajal, senior pastor of Mighty Wind Worship Center of Waco.
“If the local church ever loses its ‘safe-haven’ feel,” he said, “people will not be able to worship in spirit and truth because they will always be looking over their shoulder.”
At Mighty Wind, he said, all leaders are instructed to take any action deemed necessary to prevent an escalation of harm to congregants.
“We’ve had situations in the past where we have had to, within a service, deal with homeless people, mentally unstable folks and people involved in family violence. We’ve had to talk them down, tackle them, escort them out forcefully or have our off-duty police handle these situations,” Carbajal said. “We will never allow for our members and visitors to be put in harm’s way by the actions of someone who may not be in their right mind for whatever reason.”
Wuebker concurred: “The safety of our members has to take precedence over the inconvenience of a few.”
Jerry Freedman, pastor of Bethel Methodist Church in Robinson, said he could understand St. John’s concern, as a more visible, “very prominent church” on the main thoroughfare in Robinson.
In contrast, his small church, located at 104 S. Old Robinson Road, is somewhat off the beaten path in an older section of the town that doesn’t get a lot of through traffic.
“Our only security issue really is the kids in the nursery,” he said. Bethel has video surveillance cameras set up there for the safety of the children and caregivers.
Once the service starts, only one door of the seven into the church is locked, at the back of the fellowship hall, he added. And ushers keep an eye on the parking lot for signs of trouble.
“I don’t think we’d ever get to the point where we’d lock every door during the service,” Freedman said. “In fact, we’ve gone out of our way to make sure we open (unlock) both of the double doors in the front, so people know they are welcome here.”
He added, “It is a sad testimony that due to the perceived sense of violence against churches that St. John feels it has to go to those measures. It’s a sad statement about the greater culture as well.”
The Rev. Raymond Bailey, pastor of Seventh and James Baptist Church of Waco, said his congregation posts lay people in the outer foyer for the safety of the children.
“There is no totally safe place, and I was not surprised when I learned of the first attacks in churches,” he recalled. “We cannot allow our churches generally to become armed camps.”
However, he added, the congregations must assess the risks in their location and take whatever precautions they think are necessary for the security of their worshippers.
“I continue to believe the easy access to guns increases the risk,” Bailey said. “Poor gun-control laws make guns available to emotionally disturbed persons. I am aware of only one case where a church was threatened by robbers. Most cases seem to be the outgrowth of domestic conflicts or mentally ill individuals.”
At First Presbyterian Church, 1100 Austin Ave., the doors are unlocked Sunday mornings. On Sunday evenings, said the Rev. Jimmie Johnson, the Franklin Avenue doors are kept open for church programming.
Johnson said that off-duty Waco police officers work the parking lots.
“We have found the officers most sensitive to helping us still be welcoming and at the same time secure,” he said.
The church “is committed to helping anchor the downtown area and doing mission in its unique context, while ensuring that our older and younger members will have complete confidence in their safety both in their coming and going,” the pastor added.
As the economy worsens and societal tensions increase, the pastors say they are concerned that things could get worse unless they take precautions.
“We must always remember that desperate people do desperate things,” Carbajal said. “It’s all about minimizing disruptions while being open to provide ministry to the hurting and tired.” Back to top
Waco man arrested in aggravated assault case
Waco Tribune-Herald, Nov. 8, 2008
A Waco man was arrested Thursday for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after police say he attacked his girlfriend with a large stick, then with a knife.
Steven Dewayne Medlock, 26, had been living with Natasha Smith in the 1200 block of Turner Street when Smith asked Medlock to move out, the arrest affidavit stated.
Last Saturday, she returned home after removing his things and found him there. She asked him to leave, at which time Medlock hit her in the stomach with a large stick, causing her to fall backward into her car, where he began to strangle her, the affidavit stated.
Smith ran into the kitchen, where Medlock attempted to assault her with a kitchen knife, but Smith’s nephew kept him away from her. Medlock then punched Smith in the face several times and fled, the affidavit stated.
Medlock was being held Friday night in the McLennan County Jail in lieu of $15,000 bond, a jail spokeswoman said. Back to top
Man sentenced in three Waco area restaurant robberies
By Tommy Witherspoon, Waco Tribune-Herald, Nov. 7, 2008
A bulletproof vest-wearing gunman who robbed three businesses this summer was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday.
Juan Felipe Arango, 25, pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated robbery and was sentenced on each charge by 54th State District Judge Matt Johnson to serve concurrent 20-year prison terms.
Arango will have to serve at least 10 years in prison before he is eligible for parole. Immigration officials also have placed a detainer on him, possibly making him a candidate for deportation after he is released from prison, officials said.
Arango pleaded guilty to robbing the Smoke Break and More at 325 LaSalle Ave., in Waco on June 8, a Subway restaurant in Robinson on June 21, and the Little Caesar’s on Interstate 35 in Bellmead on July 3.
A security camera at the Robinson Subway showed Arango brandishing a pistol and wearing an armored vest.
Authorities have said Arango’s girlfriend, Erica Lira Sanchez, drove the getaway car while he robbed the three businesses. They were arrested shortly after the Bellmead robbery.
Sanchez, 21, remained in the McLennan County Jail late Thursday, also charged with aggravated robbery. She is set to stand trial Jan. 26 in 54th State District Court in Waco. Back to top
Waco man arrested in child's sex assault
Waco Tribune-Herald, Oct 31, 2008
A Waco man was arrested Wednesday in the sexual assault of a child in June.
Kent Rafiel Outley, 29, was picked up Wednesday as part of Operation Safe Streets, the Waco police-led initiative to clear felony warrants in the Waco area. Outley is accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl June 13, said Waco police spokesman Sgt. Melvin Roseborough. Police released no further information.
Outley remained in the McLennan County Jail on Thursday night in lieu of a $50,000 bond on the sexual assault of a child charge, a jail spokeswoman said.
However, Outley also was held without bond on a probation violation charge.
As of 1 p.m. Thursday, 63 people had been arrested on 108 charges as part of Operation Safe Streets, including 49 felony arrests and 54 felony charges, Roseborough said.
The warrant roundup ends tonight. Back to top
Waco fire officials call last week's fires arson, say they have suspects
Waco Tribune-Herald, Oct 31, 2008, By Tim Woods
Waco fire investigators said Thursday that they have suspects in the arson fires that burned three vacant buildings over the weekend.
Waco Fire Marshal Jerry Hawk said the suspects do not include people who have any financial interest or other connection with the buildings.
Hawk said the fires, which burned a closed restaurant, hotel and century-old elementary school late Friday and early Saturday, were “incendiary, which means they were intentionally set.”
He added that fire investigators, including Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents, believe all three fires were set by the same person or people.
Investigators came to that conclusion because the fires were in the same part of town, within walking distance of each other, and each building was vacant with the utilities cut off, Hawk said.
The fires were concentrated in a five-block area that included the defunct Vittles restaurant at 23rd Street and Waco Drive, the abandoned Townhouse Hotel at 17th Street and Washington Avenue and the 104-year-old Sanger Avenue Elementary School, between 17th and 18th streets on Sanger Avenue.
The first was set about 9:30 p.m. Friday and the last about 4:40 a.m. Saturday, officials said.
Hawk said Sanger Avenue Elementary School was the most extensively damaged, although he did not have a dollar estimate of the damage caused by the fires.
Hawk said he has spoken to the owners of all three buildings, which he said is a routine part of any arson investigation.
Though city building inspectors have deemed the school structurally unsound, Hawk said Waco attorney John McNamara, head of the Sanger School Foundation, has hired someone to survey the building to see if it can be rehabilitated. Hawk said he will not immediately order the school to be torn down.
Waco city officials said earlier this week that they soon could decide whether to demolish the most damaged buildings if Hawk declared the properties structurally unsound and recommended emergency demolition by the city.
Though fire investigators were unable to enter the school for inspection because the building could crumble at a moment’s notice, Hawk said aerial photos and smoke patterns outside the building helped determine that the fire was intentionally set.
School’s loss painful
School alumni have been stopping by the tall red brick structure since the fire, some to pay their respects to the beloved building.
“I cried when I heard about the fire,” said Diane Lynch Herrington, an Austin resident who attended the school from 1959 to 1965. “Every time I come to Waco, I come by here. I just love this school.”
Hawk, too, said, “The one that really hurts is the elementary school because it has not only monetary value but also historical value.”
Investigating the Townhouse Hotel fire was complicated because of asbestos in the building, Hawk said. Investigators had to wear special hazardous material suits because of the asbestos and were forced to enter the building through the second story, due to structural issues.
The hotel has been tagged as unsafe since the mid-1990s and has been a magnet for vagrants and drug users, officials have said.
Banson Fan bought the structure in 2005 and announced plans to renovate it for a hotel, but he missed several city deadlines to secure and clean it up. The city this year got a court order to get Fan to tear the building down, but he claimed he was broke and could not afford the $100,000 cost of demolition and asbestos abatement. Since July 21, Fan has incurred civil penalties of $1,000 a day for failing to demolish the building.
City Attorney Leah Hayes said if Fan doesn’t pay that penalty, the city would seek to have the amount attached to the property as a lien. That would be in addition to any liens for the demolition work itself.
Calls to McNamara and Fan’s attorney, Fred Brown, were not returned Thursday.
Hawk asked anybody who may have helpful information to contact investigators. He said the arsonist may even have been at or near the scenes when firefighters battled the blazes.
“It’s not unusual for an arsonist to return to the scene of the incident and watch what’s going on,” Hawk said. Back to top
Man stabbed in the neck Friday night in Waco
Waco Tribune-Herald, Oct. 31, 2008
A man was stabbed in the neck Friday night outside of a Waco business, according to Waco police.
Police say that around 9:40 p.m., four or five men were standing outside the Krispy Chicken, 601 S. 11th Street, when two of them got into an argument. One stabbed the other in the neck and then fled around the north side of the building, where witnesses lost track of him, Sgt. Gary Harrison said.
The victim ran across the street to a convenience store, where he collapsed onto the pavement. He was conscious but bleeding badly, Harrison said, and was transported to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center. Back to top
4 men rob jewelry store
Waco Tribune-Herald, Oct. 31, 2008
By Cody Winchester
Waco police were looking Thursday night for the men who robbed a jewelry store at knifepoint earlier in the day.
Police say four men brandishing knives stole jewelry from a vendor in the 25th Street Bazaar, 1217 N. 25th St., just before noon.
One of the men was wearing a green shirt and dark shorts, Waco police spokesman Sgt. Melvin Roseborough said. Back to top
Cemetery 'debacle' at Ranger Museum site will bring about new
legislation, lawmaker says
By J.B. Smith, Waco Tribune-Herald, Oct. 29, 2008
AUSTIN - The disturbance of graves at the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and
Museum grounds in Waco will result in an omnibus grave protection bill
in the coming state legislative session, the head of a House committee
said after a five-hour meeting on the matter Tuesday.
A special subcommittee of the House Committee on Parks, Recreation and
Tourism heard a long debate on the city of Waco's handling of the museum
expansion, which resulted in the relocation of more than 190 unmarked
graves.
The city is working with the state to build a Texas Ranger Company F
headquarters behind the museum, in a park known as Fort Fisher. In
building utility lines to the annex, the city has discovered that the
area is full of graves from the old First Street Cemetery, which was
supposed to have been cleared before the museum's construction in 1968.
The subcommittee heard from critics of the city's decisions in 1968 and
during the current project. It also heard a detailed defense from city
of Waco officials.
State Rep. Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville, head of the Parks, Recreation
and Tourism Committee, said the testimony was strong and informative on
both sides.
"There's a lot of conflicting points of view," he said. "Waco's
presentation seemed very credible, but then the other side jumps up and
also makes a very compelling case."
He said the point of the hearing wasn't to pass judgment on Waco but to
learn how the current law on cemeteries might be strengthened.
"I think we're going to have an omnibus bill in this next session to
keep things like this from happening in the future," he said. "If this
Waco debacle hadn't happened, we wouldn't be doing this."
Officials from the Texas Historical Commission, Texas Funeral Service
and the Texas Attorney General's Office testified that current laws
regarding cemetery protection and relocation are unclear and
conflicting.
There are no clear rules about how and in what cases graves may be
moved, said Texas Historical Commission executive director Larry Oaks.
The Texas Antiquities Code doesn't even specifically address cemeteries,
officials said.
That made it difficult for the commission to guide the city of Waco's
handling of bodies at Fort Fisher, Oaks said.
"We're not apologists for what the city of Waco has done," he said. "But
the state laws are so poorly written that when we were asked, 'Under
what authority are you asking us to stop this work?' we had to rely on a
liberal interpretation of the law. We're on shaky ground because (the
rules) are so inartfully written or don't exist at all."
The head of the subcommittee, Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, asked heads
of the funeral and historical commissions to draft proposals that could
be used in legislation in the session that begins in January.
The subcommittee heard an explanation of the First Street Cemetery
fiasco from Waco City Attorney Leah Hayes and counsel Rick Bostwick.
They said the city acted in good faith by hiring a firm to survey the
foundation site before the new Ranger building was constructed. They
said they proceeded with the project on the advice of American
Archaeology Group. That firm and the city now are suing each other over
the matter.
The attorneys made a case that present-day city officials had every
reason to believe that the graves were removed as required under a court
order in 1968.
John Griggs, an archaeologist who worked with American Archaeology
Group, testified against the city of Waco, flanked by Waco dentist and
amateur historian Brad Willis and former city parks employee Melvin
Dotson.
They presented evidence that the city in 1968 moved only headstones, not
bodies. For example, a Tribune-Herald account several months before the
court order described the city's ongoing efforts to relocate gravestones
only.
Griggs said the city is breaking the law by building in a cemetery, and
he mocked statements by the city attorney claiming that it's not a
cemetery because the court de-dedicated it in 1968.
After some back-and-forth about whether the unmarked graves constitute a
cemetery, the subcommittee invited Assistant Attorney General Joe Thrash
to address that question.
Thrash said the cemetery is in "legal limbo" because the de-dedication
was based on a faulty assumption that the graves had been cleared and
thus could be considered void for that reason.
"I don't see a distinction between a cemetery and a dedicated cemetery,"
he added.
City officials said they are taking steps to relocate utilities to areas
where few or no additional bodies will have to be exhumed.
Other commitments the city offered were as follows:
* The city will create a memorial park for the undeveloped remainder of
the Fort Fisher site, rededicating it for the deceased there.
* The exhumed graves will be identified as much as possible and
reinterred in Rosemound Cemetery.
* The museum will not expand further into the First Street Cemetery
area. That will require redesigning the $1 million Knox Hall renovation.
* The city admits that it unintentionally violated the terms of a 1960s
federal recreation grant that developed Fort Fisher Park by "converting"
the land for a different use. The city will purchase a 50-acre tract at
the Mammoth Site to offset the loss of parkland.
The National Park Service has ruled that the city's conversion was
unintentional and will not be punished. Back to top
Autopsy report: Slain Waco business owner was shot twice from behind
Oct. 14, 2008
By Tommy Witherspoon
Waco Tribune-Herald
Preliminary autopsy results on former champion stock-car racer and longtime Waco business owner Joe McMullan Sturdivant Jr. indicate he was shot twice from behind.
The 68-year-old Robinson resident was found Wednesday night by his wife at his home at 3108 S. State Highway 77 with gunshot wounds.
According to a report from the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office, where the body was sent for the autopsy, Sturdivant suffered one gunshot wound to the head and another to the back.
One was an “intermediate-range entry gunshot wound” to the back, which exited through the neck. From the other shot, a large-caliber projectile was recovered, the autopsy report states.
The investigation continues into the shooting, although a Robinson Police Department spokesman said no one was available to comment on the case Monday because of the Columbus Day holiday.
Sturdivant’s business, Sturdivant Auto Transmissions, in Waco, has been open since 1968. Back to top
Neighbors stunned by deadly stabbing in Waco home
October 14, 2008
By Regina Dennis
Waco Tribune-Herald
Residents in a North Waco neighborhood reacted in shock to the knife attack that killed one of their neighbors and badly injured another early Monday.
Jeremy Lee Lowrey, 24, of Hill County, was arrested and charged with capital murder in the stabbing death of Rebecca Leonard, 52, the mother of his ex-girlfriend. Lowrey also was charged with attempted capital murder in the stabbing of Jerry Patterson, Leonard’s 67-year-old boyfriend, after breaking into the home where the couple lived and his ex-girlfriend was staying.
“It’s absolutely shocking because nothing like that ever happens over here,” said Antoinette Pantalion, who lives on the opposite side of the street from the home where the incident occurred.
Police say Lowrey broke into the residence at 3900 Watt Ave. just before 4 a.m. Monday. Yolanda Leonard, 34, Lowrey’s ex-girlfriend, told police she awoke to find him standing in her bedroom, said Waco police spokesman Steve Anderson. She began screaming, and her mother Rebecca Leonard, came into the room.
Lowrey turned toward Rebecca Leonard and began stabbing her, Anderson said. Patterson heard the commotion and came into the room, and also was stabbed. Lowrey fled on foot but was detained by police at 42nd Street and Waco Drive.
Rebecca Leonard died from her injuries at the scene despite efforts by officers and her daughter to revive her, Anderson said. Patterson was taken to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center for surgery. His condition was unknown Monday evening.
Another neighbor, who declined to be identified because of privacy concerns, said Patterson knocked on his door frantically Monday morning asking to use the phone to call police, bleeding from his wounds.
“He was messed up pretty bad,” the neighbor said. “It’s a scary thing, to have that happen.”
Pantalion, who has three children, said she was awakened around 4:30 a.m. by the commotion in the streets and saw police cars with lights flashing outside.
“At first I thought that maybe something had happened with my next-door neighbors,” she said. “But then I noticed the police had a guy in handcuffs across the street by (Leonard’s) yard.”
Both neighbors said Leonard and Patterson kept mostly to themselves. Pantalion said Patterson would often work on old cars in the front yard, and that the home had frequent visitors for barbecues and gatherings.
Anderson said police did not know how long Lowrey and Yolanda Leonard had dated or how recently the couple had broken up. He did not know if the two had been in contact recently.
“Obviously, this was not a random act of violence,” Anderson said. “He went to this home for very specific reasons, to harm this family. This is being looked at as a crime of passion.”
Anderson said the last known address for Lowrey was in Itasca, but it was not clear where he was staying at the time of the attack. A spokeswoman from the Hill County Sheriff’s office said Lowrey did not have any previous arrests.
Neighbors said despite the tragedy, their outlook on the safety of the neighborhood has not changed.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with the neighborhood,” Pantalion said. “It’s just about people being careful who they choose to be associated with.” Back to top
Trio of felony trials set for Waco, including 2 murder cases
Oct. 13, 2008
By Tommy Witherspoon
Waco Tribune-Herald
McLennan County courthouse personnel will be unusually busy this week with two murder trials and an aggravated robbery trial set to begin.
It is not that unusual for two felony criminal trials to be going on at the same time. But it is rare, indeed, for three state district courtrooms to be busy with felony trials.
In Judge Matt Jonhson’s 54th State District Court, jury selection is set to begin this morning in the capital murder trial of Robert Allen Byrd, whom authorities have identified as a member of the Aryan Circle, a violent white supremacist gang that operates in and out of the Texas prison system.
Prosecutors Crawford Long and Melanie Walker are not seeking the death penalty in the case, meaning if Byrd is convicted of capital murder, he will be sentenced to an automatic life sentence with no possibility of parole.
Byrd, 34, from Keene in Johnson County, is charged in the kidnapping and slaying of Dana Leigh Taylor, 39, of Kemp, who also was affiliated with the Aryan Circle, officials have said.
Two women who were searching for wild onions in April 2006 found Taylor’s badly decomposed body in a heavily wooded area off Old Dallas Highway between Elm Mott and Ross. She had been stabbed.
Byrd was sentenced to 99 years in prison earlier this year after a Hood County jury convicted him of murder in the death of a North Texas man. His Waco attorney, Russ Hunt Sr., said they are looking forward to the trial because “he has been locked up a long time.”
Also starting today, Judge Jim Meyer of Waco’s 170th State District Court will be hearing the murder case against 38-year-old Eric Williams, charged in the April 2007 death of his former girlfriend, Erica Rivera.
Rivera, whose body was found in a shallow grave in eastern McLennan County, was last seen leaving the Falcon Club, 211 S. Loop Drive, with Williams, authorities have said.
On May 3, 2007, Williams asked a friend to help pull his car out of mud on private property off Elm Lake Road near Hallsburg. The friend, who knew Williams’ family had once owned the property, grew suspicious when he heard of Rivera’s disappearance and found her body during a search of the property.
Williams is a three-time convicted felon who is indicted as a habitual criminal. If convicted of murder, he faces a minimum of 25 years and up to life in prison.
Judge Ralph Strother of Waco’s 19th State District Court is set to begin jury selection Tuesday morning in the aggravated robbery trial of Terrell Rene Henry.
Henry, 37, is charged with robbing the Skinny’s convenience store at 1225 Speight Ave. with a large butcher knife in October 2007. Back to top
Two Waco convenience stores robbed this morning; clerks struck in head
By Jeff Osborne, Waco Tribune-Herald, September 24, 2008
From Waco Police spokesman Steve Anderson:
Two Waco convenience stores were robbed early this morning, and the store clerk was attacked in both instances.
About at 1:35 a.m., two men wearing all black clothing entered the Skinny’s located at 3225 Hillcrest Drive. One of the suspects struck the clerk in the head with a pistol and demanded the store’s money. Suspect left with an undisclosed amount of cash.
About 2:15 a.m., it is believed the same two suspects entered the Skinny’s located at 6800 Sanger Avenue, and again one of the suspects struck the clerk in the head with a pistol and demanded the stores money.
In both cases the suspects were last seen leaving the store on foot and no vehicle was seen. Back to top
Man involved in shooting incident runs onto Waco elementary playground
By Regina Dennis, Waco Tribune-Herald, Sept. 4, 2008, 02:07 PM
Two men have been detained by Waco Police following a shooting near West Avenue Elementary Thursday morning in which one of the men ran onto the school campus.
Police spokesman Steve Anderson said officers heard gunshots fired near a residence at 16th Street and West Avenue around 11:30 a.m., just one block away from the elementary school.
The school’s principal was notified of the disturbance and placed the school under an immediate lockdown.
Dale Caffey, Waco Indpendent School District spokesman, said one of the individuals involved with the shooting tried to enter the front door of the building as the lockdown was being initiated. He then ran toward the back of the school and managed to enter the playground area where four classes of students were in the process of re-entering the school.
Caffey said teachers were able to corral the students inside the building and lock the man outside. There was blood on the man’s T-shirt, but it was not known whether or not he had been shot.
Anderson said the man was detained by police shortly afterward in an alley behind the school.
Around the same time, another man had driven to Providence Health Center to be treated for a gunshot wound. Police determined that he had been involved in the shooting and detained him, Anderson said. Names of the two men have not yet been released by police. It is not known yet what charges may be filed against the two men.
Caffey said West Avenue Elementary was under lockdown from 11:30 a.m. to about 1 p.m. A few parents came to check on their children, and at least two parents picked their children up from the school early, he said. Back to top
Waco Home Invasion
KCENTV.com, Updated: Sep 4, 2008 7:35am
Police say a Waco man was shot in the neck early Thursday morning after several masked men broke into his home. It happened around 2:30am on the 2700 block of Windsor Avenue. Investigators say it looks like the group of three to four men were trying to rob the home. Witnesses say after shots were fired the men escaped in a white car. Officers say those suspects are still on the loose and should be considered armed and dangerous. Back to top