TX - Escaped convicted murderer, stabbed guard, 12 May 22; murdered family of 5, Centerville, shot dead near SA, 2 JUNE 2022

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  • #181
Questions surround dissemination of information during Gonzalo Lopez manhunt

From the above link:
Sources told KHOU 11 News that there was DNA on a nearby house tied to the escaped convict, Gonzalo Lopez, and the break-in happened just days before the family members were killed.
Friends of the family and neighbors are wondering why that information was never shared.
Click to expand...
I am so disappointed at yet another apparent severe communication lapse by the folks who we entrust to protect us. So many missteps in the tragedies that have taken the lives of too many Texas children are difficult to come to terms with.

This also answers the question asked earlier in the thread of what evidence did they have that he was still in the area.
 
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  • #182
This tragedy was caused because of an epic failure on the part of TDCJ, from the transport to the murder of 5 people. I don’t know if it’s possible to sue TDCJ or some other division but someone needs to face consequences.
 
  • #183
INMATE, 3 GUARDS HURT IN PRISON VAN CRASH WITH SUSPECTED DRUNK DRIVER IN MONTGOMERY CO., POLICE SAY

A prison van was involved in a serious crash in Montgomery County overnight, the day after Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials suspended inmate transports.

Video from the scene showed the aftermath of the crash that happened around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday. Both the truck involved and the TDCJ van were extremely damaged.
....

The truck came to a stop in the middle of the freeway, and that's when the TDCJ van slammed into it, investigators said.

According to Conroe police, the driver of the truck is believed to be at fault and alcohol may have contributed to the crash.

Officials said there was one inmate inside the TDCJ van during the crash. The inmate was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police.


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  • #184
CocoChanel said:
Questions surround dissemination of information during Gonzalo Lopez manhunt

From the above link:

I am so disappointed at yet another apparent severe communication lapse by the folks who we entrust to protect us. So many missteps in the tragedies that have taken the lives of too many Texas children are difficult to come to terms with.

This also answers the question asked earlier in the thread of what evidence did they have that he was still in the area.
Click to expand...
Respectfully, disappointment is putting it mildly. IMHO, the behavior of the protectors (or lack of) both here and in Ulvade, is disgraceful.
 
  • #185
Has anybody reported if any of the Collins family victims were shot?

The Leon County coroner said the victims all appeared to have been stabbed and may have suffered other wounds. He said the final autopsy report could be weeks away.

I'm reading that LE had evidence that escapee GL had broken into a neighboring house prior to the victims arriving at their cabin. GL slaughtered the family of 5 (stabbing them) sometime after they arrived at the cabin, and after killing the family, he stole a pistol, AR-15, and truck from Collins ranch, and later had a shoot-out with police. We also know GL previously stabbed the prison bus driver.

I'm wondering if GL wasn't able to get to the weapons until after he murdered the victims.

How likely is it this residence had a gun safe? Given the remote location of the 2nd home where children were known to visit.

www.khou.com

Coroner says grandpa, grandsons killed in Centerville had apparently been stabbed

Glenn Collins, the brother of Mark Collins, spoke at a church service on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Leon County coroner said all 5 victims had apparently been stabbed.
www.khou.com www.khou.com
 
  • #186
  • #187
I think, all transported inmates should wear trackers on them.

Or maybe he did, but got rid of it?

It simply boggles my mind how 1 person can murder a family of 5, all by himself.
And it seems, he didn't use a gun but a knife.
 
  • #188
Dotta said:
I think, all transported inmates should wear trackers on them.

Or maybe he did, but got rid of it?

It simply boggles my mind how 1 person can murder a family of 5, all by himself.
And it seems, he didn't use a gun but a knife.
Click to expand...
What time did they arrive? 4'ish? I believe I read they were killed shortly after...maybe while unloading/unpacking they were separated and easier targets, one at a time. Or later, after they went to sleep? Seems none had time to get one of their guns to protect themselves or fight back. JMO
 
  • #189
Dotta said:
I think, all transported inmates should wear trackers on them.

Or maybe he did, but got rid of it?

It simply boggles my mind how 1 person can murder a family of 5, all by himself.
And it seems, he didn't use a gun but a knife.
Click to expand...
Yeah, how can 1 man stab 5 people? The older ones would have fought back.
 
  • #190
BeckyF said:
Yeah, how can 1 man stab 5 people? The older ones would have fought back.
Click to expand...
But then, the murderer was a cartel hitman.
Lots of experience, I guess.
 
  • #191
Whoa. He had a "homemade" KEY to his restraints that also unlocked the holding cell on the bus?

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25 News asked the state's most senior senator if the same key was used for the killer's restraints and the metal cage aboard the bus. "Same key for both I understand," Whitmire said.

Officials with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice previously said the escaped killer used a makeshift knife to both cut his way through restraints and the cage on the bus.

www.thedailybeast.com

Escaped Texas Killer Broke Out With Homemade Key: State Sen.

The other inmates on the bus transporting Gonzalo Lopez reportedly sang and jumped to cause a distraction.
www.thedailybeast.com www.thedailybeast.com

....used a homemade key to get out of a cage being used to transport him, a Texas state senator said Tuesday. Sen. John Whitmire (D) said Gonzalo Lopez, a convict linked to the Mexican mafia, had attacked an officer after his initial escape, commandeering the bus only to crash it and flee into the woods on foot, according to 25 News. Lopez, Whitmire said, told the 16 other inmates on the bus of his plan ahead of time.
 
  • #192

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Langford’s family member owns a local convenience store, and she has surveillance video of a man matching Lopez’s description.

The man is seen making a purchase there in the early afternoon last Thursday, which would have been shortly after the Collins family were killed.

Langford said the man in the video left in a white pickup truck exactly matching the one which police say Lopez stole from the Collins ranch property.

“There’s footage of him there at the counter, interacting with one of the girls that work for [my family member]," Langford said.
 
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  • #193
WingsOverTX said:
Whoa. He had a "homemade" KEY to his restraints that also unlocked the holding cell on the bus?

Redirect Notice

www.google.com

25 News asked the state's most senior senator if the same key was used for the killer's restraints and the metal cage aboard the bus. "Same key for both I understand," Whitmire said.

Officials with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice previously said the escaped killer used a makeshift knife to both cut his way through restraints and the cage on the bus.

www.thedailybeast.com

Escaped Texas Killer Broke Out With Homemade Key: State Sen.

The other inmates on the bus transporting Gonzalo Lopez reportedly sang and jumped to cause a distraction.
www.thedailybeast.com www.thedailybeast.com

....used a homemade key to get out of a cage being used to transport him, a Texas state senator said Tuesday. Sen. John Whitmire (D) said Gonzalo Lopez, a convict linked to the Mexican mafia, had attacked an officer after his initial escape, commandeering the bus only to crash it and flee into the woods on foot, according to 25 News. Lopez, Whitmire said, told the 16 other inmates on the bus of his plan ahead of time.
Click to expand...
So this killer had tools and weapons on his person and apparently wasn't frisked before boarding the bus, or so it seems. And he made his plans known to the other prisoners who helped create a disturbance to distract the guards.

And then he was somehow able to subdue and kill five beautiful family members with just a knife or knives.

I understand that even a violent career cartel killer has a right to medical care under our Constitution, but IMO doctors should be brought to the prison to provide medical care in some specially designated area. And the prisoner should be in a hospital gown and nothing else, and thoroughly frisked so these tragedies can possibly be avoided.

I don't know the logistics nor the expense but IMO the logistics and expense of transport is not worth it. Especially when a family is obliterated by a cunning and vicious career murderer.

Moo
 
  • #194
WingsOverTX said:
Whoa. He had a "homemade" KEY to his restraints that also unlocked the holding cell on the bus?

Redirect Notice

www.google.com

25 News asked the state's most senior senator if the same key was used for the killer's restraints and the metal cage aboard the bus. "Same key for both I understand," Whitmire said.

Officials with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice previously said the escaped killer used a makeshift knife to both cut his way through restraints and the cage on the bus.

www.thedailybeast.com

Escaped Texas Killer Broke Out With Homemade Key: State Sen.

The other inmates on the bus transporting Gonzalo Lopez reportedly sang and jumped to cause a distraction.
www.thedailybeast.com www.thedailybeast.com

....used a homemade key to get out of a cage being used to transport him, a Texas state senator said Tuesday. Sen. John Whitmire (D) said Gonzalo Lopez, a convict linked to the Mexican mafia, had attacked an officer after his initial escape, commandeering the bus only to crash it and flee into the woods on foot, according to 25 News. Lopez, Whitmire said, told the 16 other inmates on the bus of his plan ahead of time.
Click to expand...
The news that the other prisoners knew about the planned escape ahead of time, and created a diversion to distract the 2 guards, is very upsetting. This should be addressed with severe consequences since they contributed to the escape that eventually caused 5 innocent lives to be lost.

There is also this:
The key has not yet been found, either having been squirreled away by another inmate or “lost in the shuffle,” Whitmire said.
Click to expand...
ALL of the prisoners on that transport need to be……I don’t know what…..but one of them may have the “homemade key” that was an integral part of this horror, and it could be used to cause another horror someday. And I would guess it isn’t the only “homemade key” In circulation. We have been living under a false sense of security, and recent horrific events in TX have made it clear we are ALL at great risk. At least CoVid kept us at home and safer. Kidding….but not really. This is all just so awful, it has me reeling.
 
  • #195
The other inmates "singing and jumping" were not exactly so ill as to be taken to hospital it seems.

If I watched a movie with such a plot, I would just roll my eyes.

Life is sometimes stranger than fiction.
 
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  • #196
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  • #197
  • #198
To me; the more explanations we get, the more this smells of big money to
higher levels than the two guards. And a massive cover up of it going off the rails.
A homemade "key", that fits handcuffs, leg shackles, and the cage door?
A homemade "shiv"; yes to stab. But has hacksaw teeth to cut thru steel mesh?
And he had this concealed during pretrip search?

I will have to see an actual demonstration on video of a man in that cage:
With the the manual cutting tool of his choice; cut the opening of the cage,
crawl forward and then cut the partition mesh, then crawl thru to the driver
compartment. Must be timed and with audible audio.
This would give lie to the explanation of two guards being unaware until too late.
 
  • #199
OldAce said:
To me; the more explanations we get, the more this smells of big money to
higher levels than the two guards. And a massive cover up of it going off the rails.
A homemade "key", that fits handcuffs, leg shackles, and the cage door?
A homemade "shiv"; yes to stab. But has hacksaw teeth to cut thru steel mesh?
And he had this concealed during pretrip search?

I will have to see an actual demonstration on video of a man in that cage:
With the the manual cutting tool of his choice; cut the opening of the cage,
crawl forward and then cut the partition mesh, then crawl thru to the driver
compartment. Must be timed and with audible audio.
This would give lie to the explanation of two guards being unaware until too late.
Click to expand...
But if it is true, how come he didn't secure help while on the run?
 
  • #200
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