Burglar Pleads Guilty to Slaying 5

[Rhino]

Burglar Pleads Guilty to Slaying 5 in Texas KFC Mass Murders
Tuesday, October 30, 2007

HENDERSON, Texas — A convicted burglar pleaded guilty Monday to the deaths of five people who were abducted from a fast-food restaurant in one of Texas' most notorious and longest-unsolved mass murder cases.

Romeo Pinkerton, 49, admitted to the deaths as part of a plea bargain offered by the Texas Attorney General's Office. In exchange for the plea, Pinkerton received a life sentence for each of the five deaths.

Judge J. Clay Gossett said in a brief news release that the families of the victims approved the plea bargain.

"Romeo Pinkerton's admission of guilt ends decades of uncertainty for the families of five innocent victims," state Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a release....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,306156,00.html

[DesertFox]

Well.

[Venus de Smilo]

This sure is a poorly written article. It doesn't give the ages or names of the victims, nor does it explain how and when it came about that the crime was solved as being these two guys.

24 years these families have waited. How horrible.

[Rhino]

This sure is a poorly written article. It doesn't give the ages or names of the victims...
The victims' bodies were discovered by local police and Texas Rangers, and were identified as: David Maxwell (20), Joey Johnson (20), Monty Landers (19), Mary Tyler (37), and Opie Hughes (38).http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Fried_Chicken_murders

Details of the crime:
http://www.news-journal.com/news/content/news/stories/10172007_kfc.html

Timeline:
http://www.tylerpaper.com/section/KFCCASE03

... nor does it explain how and when it came about that the crime was solved as being these two guys.DNA testing of blood at the scene. Such testing was not available in 1983.

[Venus de Smilo]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Fried_Chicken_murders

Details of the crime:
http://www.news-journal.com/news/content/news/stories/10172007_kfc.html

Timeline:
http://www.tylerpaper.com/section/KFCCASE03

DNA testing of blood at the scene. Such testing was not available in 1983.
Wow, thanks for all those links, Rhino. I read them all.

I certainly hope the TX parole board has cleaned up its act. It is stunning to see how many times both perps were paroled after serving just a few years of twenty to fifty-year sentences. This crime was committed before those offenses, but Pinkerton was in his mid-twenties when he committed this crime (I missed the age of Hartsfeld, if it was given), so I have to wonder if he was on parole for other serious offenses when he and Hartsfeld, his cousin, murdered these people. Some criticize CA for our three strikes law, but there's a real good reason for it and this case demonstrates that well.

I wonder if these animals, both black, would have murdered these people if they hadn't all been white. Also, killing people execution-style as was done here often signifies it's not the first time the perp has killed. I wonder if there are other murders that the state of TX can nail these guys on and give them the death penalty for.