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| DNA Leads to Charges in 1981 Deaths |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 04/18/2003 |
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A Texas inmate has been charged in the 1981 shooting deaths of a mother and her 5-year-old son after evidence was subjected to new DNA testing, officials said Monday. George Hicks, 52, was charged March 24 with murder in the deaths of Roxann Jeeves, 30, and her son Kristopher, authorities said. Officials believe the two were taken from the parking lot of their apartment complex and shot in a field in southeast Dallas County, where their bodies were found. DNA testing on hair and other evidence preserved in the case pointed to Hicks as the killer, said Don Peritz, a spokesman for the Dallas County Sheriff's Office. The evidence was taken from a stocking cap found in Jeeves' car, which was parked near the field where her body was found, Peritz said. Such testing did not exist in 1981, and the DNA matching tests the state began doing in 1989 would have meant destroying the evidence in order to test it, Peritz said. The case was originally handled by Larry Forsythe, now second in command at the sheriff's office. Forsythe submitted the evidence for testing within the last year, after he was told the process no longer required destroying evidence samples, Peritz said. Peritz said Forsythe 'has carried that case with him all these years.' Hicks, incarcerated since 1994, is serving an 80-year sentence for aggravated sexual assault, a Texas prison spokesman said. Concurrent with that sentence, Hicks is serving two 15-year sentences for aggravated sexual assault and robbery by threat. |
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Why was he not prosecuted seeking the death penalty? The murders were committed well after Texas reinstated the death penalty. The crimes clearly met the statutory requirements and he was neither insane nor retarded. Kidnapped a mom and child, raping her and shooting both victims. Evidence showed the child was looking at the killer when he put the gun to the child's face and pulled the trigger.