*HTP PAGE 05 5-3-12_Layout 1 5/2/12 12:06 PM Page 1
LIFESTYLES
May 3, 2012 (Continued from Page 4) recalled Moon, 54, who grew up in Bryan, Texas. “I followed every possible lead, no matter how small. I talked to everybody and anybody who could help me identify the person who killed this little girl. I even asked medical examiners for help. I asked them if they could tell me what other evidence I could submit to help identify the killer.” Without knowing it at the time, Moon had collected the evidence that would lead to the identification of the first and only suspect in Krystal's murder. And, thanks to help from the medical examiners, other evidence that Moon submitted would later help confirm that that no one else’s DNA was at the crime scene. But in 1996, medical examiners were unable to find any DNA evidence on the little girl’s dress or other evidence collected by Moon. Resubmitting the evidence In February 2009 Willcox decided to resubmit the evidence to the Department of Public Safety Crime lab. “You read about it all the time, how DNA evidence helps identify a killer,” Willcox explained. “I mean, it’s on TV all the time: someone is convicted because of DNA they left at the crime scene years ago. You always read in the newspapers about how advances in forensic technology helped track down a killer. We thought it couldn't hurt. And, as a mother, I thought I’d want to know who killed my child.” She picked up the box of evidence and drove it to the lab in Houston. Chambers County Sheriff Joe LaRive encouraged Willcox to “keep at it.” “You have to understand that in 1996 they didn’t have the technology to lift the DNA from the dress,” he explained at the time. “But the past decade has seen many technological advances in forensic DNA testing, and now they can lift the DNA from the dress — now we have the technology to find trace amounts of DNA that we wouldn't have been able to find in 1996.” In December 2009, nine months after she had resubmitted the dress for testing, the crime lab asked Willcox to resubmit the other evidence Moon had collected. The crime lab had discovered some DNA on the dress and wanted to see if they could find some on the other evidence collected at the crime scene.
“We’ve got a match” In April, 2010, Willcox got a call from the crime lab. The DNA found on the dress matched the DNA in the national DNA data base. It would take a month, however, to confirm the identity of the suspect. “I sat there at my desk and cried,” Willcox recalled. “Then I ran down the hall to Deputy Moon’s office and told him and cried some more.” Moon recalled Willcox’s excitement and sorrow. “I didn’t cry, but I was about to,” he admitted. “It was a very emotional moment. I had thought about this case at least once a week for the past 14 years and we were finally going to bring Krystal’s murderer to justice.” The officers were informed it would take about a month to identify the owner of the DNA. “It actually took several months,” Moon recalled. “We were sitting around on pins and needles waiting for that call to come in.” On Sept. 15, 2010. the crime lab called Willcox and told her they had identified the suspect. Kevin Edison Smith, 44, had been arrested on Jan. 14, 2010, by Livonia, La., police on a drug charge. A sample of his DNA had been taken and entered into the national DNA data base. Smith's DNA matched the DNA found on Krystal’s dress. Smith, a contract welder who worked at refineries, was working in Groves, Texas, on Sept. 22 — his birthday —when Deputy Willcox, Deputy Moon and a state trooper arrived and arrested him on a warrant charging him with Krystal’s murder 14 years ago. “It was one of the best feelings I’ve ever had, telling him he was under arrest for the murder of Krystal Jean Baker,” Deputy Moon recalled. “I can't describe how good it felt to put the handcuffs on him and tell him he was under arrest for the murder of that little girl.” Smith initially denied he had murdered the girl. “He was shocked when I showed up and told him he was under arrest for the murder,” Moon recalled. “He told me, ‘You’ve got the wrong guy.’” Smith continued to deny the allegation while he was incarcerated in the Chambers County Jail on $1 million bond. A judge allowed investigator’s to obtain a second DNA sample from Smith. He resisted and Moon was forced to hold Smith’s head while a Texas Ranger swabbed Smith’s inner cheek. That sample — saliva
— matched the DNA taken from the crime scene, Sheriff LaRive said. Confronted with the new evidence against him and facing a capital murder charge that could get him the death penalty, Smith confessed to the little girl'’s murder on Oct. 19. Chambers County District Attorney Cheryl Lieck used the confession to obtain a grand jury indictment against Smith in November 2010. Smith was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison on Thursday, April 26, mostly due to the DNA evidence collected by Moon shortly after the murder, Willcox’s determination to find the killer and Smith’s confession to authorities once confronted with the DNA evidence. Cold cases pending “There’s a misconception out there that we just forget about a case, just close unsolved cases, but we don’t,” Moon said. “We never forget, especially about a case like this.” Moon points to a pile of folders a foot and a half tall sitting on a chair in his office. “Those are all cases I’m working on at this moment,” he noted. “The ones on top are the cases I’m actively working on. The ones down at the bottom are in a pending state until something new comes in. If I get a tip or a lead or some more information on one of those cases, I may have to pull the case from the bottom of the pile, but I don’t just forget about it. I’ll work on it until its closed by arrest and conviction or proven unfounded. But we never stop working on cases.” Krystal’s mother thanked Sheriff LaRive, Sgt. Moon, and Deputy Willcox for helping to bring some closure to life. “I can’t thank them enough for what they did,” she said during a press conference shortly after Smith’s arrest in 2010. “Thank you so much for not forgetting about my daughter.” District Court Judge Carroll Wilborn II thanked all the law enforcement agencies that helped solve the 14-year-old murder. He especially thanked Moon and Willcox for not forgetting about the case. “This man is now off the street,” Wilborn said.
THE HOMETOWN PRESS - PAGE 5
A most unusual ball game Tom Grieve is a commentator for the television broadcasts of Texas Ranger baseball games. He used to play for the Rangers in the outfield, later went to work for the team, first in group ticket sales, then as a scout and eventually became general manager of the Rangers, a position he held for ten years. His professional baseball career started with the Washington Senators, the team that became the Texas Rangers. “Tommy Vandergriff had a lot to do with the team coming to Texas,” says Tom. “He was the mayor of Arlington and for a long time he was trying to get a big league team to come here. He went to Washington to try to get the Senators, a team that was not drawing many fans. He lobbied owners who would have to vote on the move. At the meeting where Mayor Vandergriff presented his case, Bowie Kuhn was the commissioner of baseball and didn’t want the team to move to Texas. He said he would try everything in his power to stop it. There was actually a letter from President Richard Nixon sent to the owners before the vote urging them not to approve the sale, saying it would be a terrible thing for the national pastime. And in spite of all that, the owners voted in favor of Mayor Vandergriff’s proposal and the team moved to Arlington in 1972.” Tom says he and the other players were not anxious to leave Washington and were apprehen-
Tumbleweeds By Tumbleweed Smith
sive about coming to Texas. But the people welcomed the team with open arms and players started moving to the metroplex. He says the new stadium is one of the most beautiful in all of baseball, but some fans still miss the old one. Tom started dreaming of playing baseball when he was very young and says he has been able to fulfill most of the dreams he had when he was a little boy. The most unusual game he was in occurred in Cleveland during a ten-cent beer night. Tumbleweed Smith’s column in The Hometown Press is presented by
MARKET BASKET “There were ten or fifteen thousand people at the game, which was a huge crowd there. They came not especially to see the Indians, but to drink beer. By the second or third inning they were feeling the beer that they were
drinking. All sorts of things happened during the game. A father and son came on the field and mooned people behind home plate, then ran and jumped over the center field fence. A huge lady came on the field and tried to kiss the umpire and they couldn’t get her off. People just ran onto the field for the heck of it. Then a fan came on the field and surprised Jeff Burroughs who was playing right field by taking off his hat. Jeff turned around and punched the guy. Then all the players came on the field and fans started coming out of the stands. After about 30 minutes they had to forfeit the game. We were ahead five to two and won the forfeit. You know, twenty-five players on the field and four or five thousand people on the field, but fortunately they were happy and they weren’t mad or trying to hurt anybody, but players looked at each other and decided we better sneak off the field because the euphoria could change and become dangerous. So we left the field.”
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Letters to the Editor Dear Community, Please accept our sincere apologies. It was never our intention to create such an awkward and uncomfortable situation. In the Gulf CoastYouth Basketball league we take pride in ensuring positive experiences for everyone. Unfortunately, we did not meet your — or our own — expectations. As a testament to our strive for pefection we have taken steps to ensure that this will never happen again. We deeply value your relationships with GCYB and are committed to providing you with the best level of basketball training simply because our community deserves the best. Sincerely, Gulf Coast Youth Basketball League Dear Editor, Bending the law seems to be a pattern with a select few of Chambers County law officials. Is a theft a theft? Is a murder a murder? Prostitute a prostitute? Or a drug dealer a drug dealer? Normally so, but not in this case. In early February, I was in a local establishment where items were stolen from me. Afer filing a report and an officer viewing video tape of the individual taking the items, the task at hand was to now identify the person. Two months later, and cost to myself to replace the items, I saw the person once again in a public establishment. An officer was called to the scene. After questioning the person, witness and victim, the person admitted to taking the items not belonging to her. The officer went to the person’s residence
to retrieve the stolen items. Assuring the victim and witnesses the procedure of obtaining a (arrest) warrant would follow, the waiting game once again began. After waiting two weeks of not hearing anything from the department and making numerous phone calls requesting an update on the case with no response, I received a call from an official informing me that the county attorney would not be following through with charges for theft. According to the officer that made the report, the items were taken “accidentally.” Now I ask the public: why, after two months passed had the culprit not returned the items to the establishment if in fact they were taken “accidentally” and why were the items altered by the culprit so as possibly to make them fit? Why did it require the victim to “accidentally” run into the culprit once again, to maker her realize she had “accidentally” taken something not belonging to her? The culprit also operates a vehicle without a valid driver’s license, nor any legal iden-
tifying documentation. Yes, you guessed it. The officer at the scene wsa aware she had driven to the establishment yet warned her to call someone to return the vehicle to her residence. the officer followed to retrieve the items from her residence. For two months after taking the items the culprit did nothing to rectify it and had ample opportunity to do so. If the victim had not seen her again in the establishment, she would still have them in her possession. Basically, according to some Chambers Countyofficials, this person is above the law in several ways: she can steal; it’s okay. She can operate a vehicle without a valid license and gain, it’s okay. I suppose she “accidentally” forgot she had no license to drive to the establishment that day, like many other days. Come on law enforcement! It requires a little of your time and effort and lots of paperwork but it’s you job to prosecute people that break the law. Debbie Garner Hamshire
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