I've been thinking about several possibilities in this case.
In the I45 Killing Fields murders, on November 11, 1971, two 15 year old girls, Debbie Ackerman and Maria Johnson were taken from Galveston Mall, last seen getting into a White Ford van. Their bodies, hands and feet bound and shot twice were found two days later in Turner's Bayou in Texas City - that's around 10 miles North of where Galveston Mall was and close to I45 and Hwy 3. A suspect named Ed Bell confessed to this and many, many more murders of young women in a letter. He gets out of prison in 2011 and has not been charged in any of the cases he confessed to which crossed multiple jurisdictions in Texas and Louisiana. Apparently what he wrote was such that prosecutors didn't feel it strong enough to charge him - he could be yanking their chain or he might actually be the killer. The I45 case is discussed here - very interesting discussion:
http://www.topix.com/forum/houston/TE13NVCQME9TU1JUK/p8
I found a post on this page by Jane very interesting:
"We are swiftly approaching the 36th anniversary of the rape and murder of Debbie Ackerman and Maria Johnson of Galveston. These two 15-year-old girls were last seen alive talking to someone driving a white van on a street in Galveston. Their raped and bound bodies were found 3 days later in Turner’s bayou near Dickenson. They had both been shot in the head and dumped into the bayou.
Debbie’s parents both went to their graves with their souls in turmoil. They never knew what had happened to their little girl. They anguished over their loss every day of their lives since November 15, 1971.
I never met Debbie, but I was also a 15-year-old girl in 1971. I would have thought Debbie was one of the luckiest kids in the world to live in Galveston. I have since become a family-member by marriage.
I have learned that the state of Texas has in it’s custody a man who very likely murdered Debbie and Maria, and probably many more young girls. I have learned that he mailed handwritten, unsolicited confessions to officials in Harris and Galveston counties some time in the 1990s. Detective Fred Paige in Galveston has a list of over two dozen “coincidences” placing this man in close proximity to many young girls who turned up missing or dead during that time.
This man has a life. He has children and grandchildren who he has contact with. He ended all possibilities of a happy life—or any life-- for Debbie and Maria, and probably many more young girls.
Why has there not been coordination between the jurisdictions in which he committed his crimes? Why have Harris and Galveston and Liberty Counties not combined all their information about him to try to solve the many cold cases he was probably responsible for in the 70s and 80s?
Debbie’s mom died without ever knowing what happened to her daughter. I will continue to ask on her behalf: What happened to Debbie Ackerman and Maria Johnson? "
http://www.topix.com/forum/houston/TE13NVCQME9TU1JUK/p12
On the other hand...
Since we now know that Tommy got the letter out of his mailbox, it makes me wonder, why he would go to his mailbox at all in the morning if the mail was normally delivered in the afternoon. That doesn't make sense, does it? Unless, perhaps he suddenly remembered he forgot to get the mail the day before or he heard someone by the mailbox...Texas Sandman, did the houses on that street have mailboxes on their front porches or out by the curb?
