GUILTY TX - Five people abducted & murdered in KFC robbery, Kilgore, 1983

[PrayersForMaura]

Two men indicted in 1983 KFC murders
LAST UPDATE: 11/17/2005 3:18:01 PM



HENDERSON, Texas (AP) - Two men were indicted Thursday on capital murder charges in the 1983 murders of five people abducted from a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Kilgore.

Darnell Hartsfield, 44, and Romeo Pinkerton, 47, both of Tyler, were indicted by a Rusk County grand jury on five counts each, according to the Texas Attorney General's Office.

Hartsfield was convicted of aggravated perjury and sentenced to life in prison last month because of his criminal record, which includes aggravated robbery, a drug conviction, engaging in organized crime, burglary and reckless endangerment. He previously told a grand jury he had never been to the East Texas restaurant, but DNA evidence showed he was there the night of the murders, authorities said.

Pinkerton remains in the Smith County Jail after being arrested in Tyler in August. He was wanted on an outstanding warrant for a parole violation on an unrelated offense.

Victims David Maxwell, 20; Joey Johnson, 20; Monty Landers, 19; Mary Tyler, 37; and Opie Hughes, 38, were found in an oil field with gunshot wounds to the head in 1983.


More: http://www.woai.com/news/state/story.aspx?content_id=08DDE253-F48C-4353-9D94-06CA956089CF

 

[Marilynilpa]

Two men with long criminal histories were indicted Thursday in the killings of five Kilgore residents 22 years ago – a case that spanned two decades and devastated the East Texas town.




More: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/111805dntexkfc.6ced15cb.html

That just goes to show that we should never give up looking for justice.

 

[aussiegran]

wow this is great news for all the families :dance: Better late than never.Well done to the LE who kept trying to solve this for so long.:clap:

 

[PonderingThings]

Insightful article about the case:

http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/13521224.htm

 

[OkieGranny]

From September 2013:

http://www.cbs19.tv/story/23502962/30-years-later-kilgore-kfc-murders

A box and a napkin found behind the counter at KFC had been waiting in a lab for years until someone figured out how to see whose blood was on them. Romeo Pinkerton and Darnell Hartsfield, already in jail on unrelated charges, were identified as two of the three murderers in 2005. Ironically, they'd been among the original suspects in 1983 — even placed on a makeshift wanted for questioning poster. But they fell through the cracks.

Hartsfield was convicted in 2008... In the meantime, Pinkerton had already admitted guilt to avoid the death penalty which gave Opie Hughes' husband a reason to smile after nearly 25 years. "I got the privileged of hearing that snake say 'guilty.' And he's not said it once. He's said it five times, " says Jack Hughes.

Amazingly, his wife's rapist, the third suspect, has never been identified.

 

[Wilma_W]

Looks like they finally identified the DNA for the previously unknown "3rd suspect" in these murders:

Rusk County officials reveal 3rd suspect in Kilgore KFC murder of 5

"The lead prosecutor on the case Lisa Tanner identified the third suspect as Devan Riggs on Friday afternoon. Riggs was born in the 1950s and died in 2010 from natural causes.

“So he is no longer with us,” Tanner said in a press conference on Friday. “So we will not be having another Kentucky Fried Chicken murders trial because of that. But at least now we know.”

According to a press release, genealogy determined that the genetic material recovered from Opie Hughes’ pants came from one of the three deceased Riggs brothers: Larry, Billy and Devan.

Riggs has a lengthy criminal record, dating back to the 1970s. He has been arrested in California and Texas with charges including burglary, robbery, assault, attempted murder and battery on a person."