User:EAOrmsby/sandbox

The 1982 Lake Waco Murders refers to the deaths of three teenagers (two females, one male) near Lake Waco in Waco, Texas, in July of 1982. The police investigation and criminal trials that followed the murders lasted for more than a decade and resulted in the execution of one man, David Wayne Spence, as well as life prison sentences for two other men allegedly involved in the crime, Anthony and Gilbert Melendez. A fourth suspect, Muneer Mohammad Deeb, was eventually exonerated after spending several years in prison.

Murders
On July 13, 1982, two fishermen discovered the bodies of Jill Montgomery, Raylene Rice, and Kenneth Franks in Speegleville Park, near Lake Waco. Franks' body was found propped against a tree, with sunglasses over his eyes. All three victims had been repeatedly stabbed, and both of the women's throats had been slashed. There was also evidence that the women had been sexually assaulted.

Investigation
The investigation was initially headed by Lieutenant Marvin Horton of the Waco police department, with assistance from Detective Ramon Salinas and Patrolman Mike Nicoletti. Truman Simons, who was with the Waco police department at the time and had been one of the first respondents on the scene of the crime, also assisted the investigation in an informal capacity.

Initially, the investigation revealed a number of different possible suspects, including James Russell Bishop and Terry Harper, local residents who had been tied to the area at the time of the crime. However, both men had credible alibis, and in September of that year, the investigation began to stall and was marked as “suspended.” Simons, who had taken a significant personal interest in the case, requested that he be given permission to continue investigating the case, which he was subsequently granted.

Within a few days, the first arrest in the case was made. Muneer Mohammad Deeb, the owner of a local gas station, was known to have had a contentious relationship with Kenneth Franks. The two had engaged in verbal confrontations on multiple occasions. Following the murders, he had even commented to two young women that he committed the murders. After one of the women reported this comment to the police, Deeb was quickly arrested and submitted to a polygraph test, which he passed. Subsequently, Deeb was released for lack of evidence.

The case languished for nearly a year, until the work of Simons and others had produced enough evidence to again arrest Deeb and three alleged accomplices in the plot. Deeb had had a life insurance policy for one employee at his convenience store who bore a striking resemblance to Jill Montgomery. The police hypothesized that Deeb had hired David Wayne Spence to murder her, and that Spence and two friends, Anthony and Gilbert Melendez, had seen the victims and mistaken Montgomery for the target. They speculated that the other two victims had been murdered because they were witnesses.

Trials
Deeb, Spence, and the Melendez brothers were all indicted late in 1983. District Attorney Vic Feazell, whose office had been instrumental in continuing to pursue new evidence in the case, would manage the prosecution against the accused. Spence and both Melendez brothers were, at the time, already serving prison sentences for various crimes.

The evidence against the men largely consisted of testimony provided by other inmates, who claimed that the defendants had admitted to their involvement in the killings in private discussions, as well as confessions made by Anthony and Gilbert Melendez. Also considered was the confession Deeb had made to the two young women about his involvement in the killings, as well as the life insurance policy he had taken out for his employee. Bite marks on the victims were also presented as evidence of Spence’s involvement.

The trials began in May, with testimony from dental specialists supplementing the evidence that had been provided by the prison witnesses. In June, Anthony Melendez pled guilty to the crimes and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Spence’s case was badly damaged by Melendez’ confession, which played a key role in his eventual conviction in July of 1984. Unlike Melendez, Spence was sentenced to death for his involvement in the killings.

In January of 1985, Gilbert Melendez also pled guilty to the murders, and agreed to testify against Deeb. Like his brother, he received a term of life imprisonment in exchange for this confession. Deeb, who had continued to protest his innocence, was found guilty of instigating the murders, and on March 14, he was sentenced to death by lethal injection.

Appeals
Both Spence and Deeb continued to maintain their innocence following their convictions, and both men sought appeals in their cases. In 1991, Deeb’s appeal was granted when the Court of Criminal Appeals “ruled that the testimony of a jail inmate should not have been allowed” in his initial trial. Deeb won his new trial in January of 1993, and was subsequently released from prison. Those who had been involved in the initial prosecution were stunned.

David Wayne Spence’s appeals were not successful, and in April of 1997 he was executed for his role in the killings.

Film and Literary Adaptation
In 1989, true-crime writer Carlton Stowers published his account of the murders and police investigation surrounding the Lake Waco murders, “Careless Whispers.” The book focused heavily on Truman Simons’ involvement in producing the evidence which led to the convictions.

The incident also inspired a made-for-TV adaptation, “Sworn to Vengeance,” starring Robert Conrad as a fictionalized version of Simons. The film aired on CBS in 1993.

Controversy
Following the convictions of Spence and Deeb, some began to question the substance of the evidence on which the convictions had been based and the methods through which it had been obtained. Brian Pardo, a wealthy Texas businessman, met Spence a few months prior to his execution and, on becoming convinced of his innocence, launched a campaign to delay his death sentence so that a new trial could be commenced. His efforts were unsuccessful, but they brought attention to the case following Spence’s execution.

Bob Herbert wrote a series of articles for the New York Times in 1997, with headlines such as “The Wrong Man” and “The Impossible Crime,” in which he claimed that the case had been “cobbled […] together from the fabricated and often preposterous testimony of inmates who were granted all manner of favors in return.”

Subsequent Events
As of 2012, three of the original defendants in the case had passed away. David Wayne Spence was executed in 1997. Gilbert Melendez died in prison in 1998 from AIDS-related complications. Muneer Mohammad Deeb died of stomach cancer in 1999. Anthony Melendez remains in prison for his role in the killings, though he and his attorney continue to fight to obtain new DNA evidence in the case.