TX - Douglas Thomas, 67, linked by DNA to 2 rapes and murders of sex workers in TX and CA in the early 1990s

[citizen_sleuth]

DNA database links retired Waco man to murders of sex workers in Texas and California dating back 30 years - KWTX
<snipped & BBM>
Douglas Thomas, 67, was jailed this week under $2 million bond on a murder warrant from Titus County that charges him in the April 1992 death of Shenda Denise Hayes, according to a search warrant affidavit filed Wednesday by Texas Ranger Danny Briley.

The Ranger, who said in the affidavit that he investigates serial murders as part of the cold case unit, also alleged that Thomas was linked by DNA to the March 1993 murder of Sherri Herrera in Riverside County, California. Both women were described in the affidavit as “known prostitutes.”

[...]

According to the affidavit, Hayes’ body was found near a rest area along Interstate 30 near Mount Pleasant in Titus County. An investigation showed she had been strangled “with a device made of wire and cord in a manner to control the victim,” the records state. She was found partially clothed with evidence of sexual assault.

[...]

The 30-year-old Herrera’s body was found in March 1993 in a remote desert area along Interstate 10 in California. The affidavit says she was sexually assaulted and strangled with a belt. Court records identify her as a “known prostitute and drug abuser who worked the highway rest area” in Tulare County, Calif.

[...]

Thompson contacted Briley in April to tell him that based on the “family tree” he built, there were six descendants who all live in or around Waco that were in the right genetic range for comparison. Briley, at Thompson’s request, took a DNA sample from Thomas on April 26, the results of which Briley said matches that of the “suspect profile.”

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Retired Texas Man Held in Cold Case Murder of Sex Worker 30 Years Ago

A 67-year-old Texas man is being held in lieu of $2 million bail in connection with the cold case murder of a sex worker in 1992, authorities said.

centralrecorder.com

 

[JayLee#99]

If he is responsible for more murders, I hope they are able to link him to all of them. It’s never too late for the families of the victims.

 

[Jewels53]

A retired cross-country truck driver has been charged in the cold-case killing of a young mother whose body was found near an interstate in Riverside County, California, nearly 30 years ago, officials announced Friday.

The suspect, 67-year-old Douglas Thomas, is already in custody in Texas, where he was arrested in late May on suspicion of killing a woman in 1992.

Truck driver charged in 1993 killing of young mom in California — and the 1992 murder of a woman in Texas

A retired cross-country truck driver has been charged in the cold-case killing of a young mother whose body was found near an interstate in Riverside County, California, nearly 30 years ago, offici…

fox4kc.com

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Thomas is accused of killing the 30-year-old mother of four, and in addition to murder, he is charged with a "special circumstance allegation that the killing occurred during the commission of a rape," the Riverside County District Attorney's Office announced in a statement this week.

Back on March 30, 1993, Herrera’s body was found along a freeway onramp off Interstate 10 near the Desert Center area of California. She was from Tulare County, so how her body ended up alongside the desert freeway, around 350 miles away near the halfway point between Palm Springs and the Arizona state line, remains a mystery, according to PEOPLE. Herrera was last seen alive a few days before her body was

Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said the case was investigated but went cold because there were no suspects. It remained a cold case for nearly three decades.

Herrera's son Adrian, who was only six years old when his mother was killed, told ABC30, "I don't know if I really believed it, because it's like, man, this has been so long. I remember coming home from school, and my stepmom told us the news, what had happened. Me and my sister were there. Obviously, we started bawling our eyes out."

Texas Truck Driver Charged In Nearly 30-Year-Old Cold Case Murder Of California Mother

The body of Sherri Herrera, 30, was found along a California freeway onramp on March 30, 1993. Nearly 30 years later, a suspect has been charged with her murder.

www.investigationdiscovery.com

In late May, Texas Rangers arrested Douglas Thomas, DOB: 7-5-54, on suspicion of the murder of a woman found in Titus County, Texas, in April 1992. Thomas was connected by authorities to that murder by a DNA match to evidence from that crime scene. Thomas traveled extensively throughout the United States during his 40-plus years as a truck driver, according to authorities.

Thomas’s DNA was also connected to evidence gathered during the investigation into Sherri Herrera’s murder. Investigators with the Riverside County Regional Cold Case Team, which is led by the DA’s Bureau of Investigation, traveled to Texas and interviewed Thomas about Sherri Herrera’s murder.

Based on their investigation, the DA’s Office charged Thomas in case RIF2202776 with the 1993 murder of Sherri Herrera. Along with murder count, the DA’s Office also has filed a special circumstance allegation of murder during the commission of a rape.

Retired truck driver charged with cold case murder of woman found in Desert Center nearly 30 years ago

RIVERSIDE – A recently retired cross-country truck driver arrested in Texas for a 1992 murder in that state was charged today, June 10, 2022, by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office with the cold case murder of a woman whose body was found off Interstate 10 in the Desert Center area...

rivcoda.org

 

[Earth]

Truck drivers are always very tricky. Unless you knew the exact route they frequently took, it can be almost impossible to pin down which crimes they might be responsible for.

 

[dotr]

Sep 11 '24 By: Lauren Adams

Waco cold-case murder solved; Family looking for victim's child who is now in her 30's

A 30 year-old cold case has been solved, and now a Waco man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for killing a Waco woman in 1992.

www.kxxv.com

'Thomas was a truck driver in 1992 when he picked up sex worker Shenda Denise Hayes.
Thomas murdered her and dumped her body at a truck stop in I-30 in Titus County.'

"He took her from Waco — he drove her to Texarkana where he sexually assaulted her, and then after being killed — dumped her body," Thomas said.
"There were no clothes on — just a nude body and nothing but a coat hanger around her neck."
Her aunt went 30 years with no answers until she got a phone call in 2022.
DNA had linked Thomas to Hayes' murder.''