Ricky James Jack was scheduled to be let out of prison Thursday after serving time on some theft charges, but there was this other matter about some DNA evidence.
Jack was charged Tuesday with capital murder in connection with the sexual assault and slaying of Ella Sterling, whose partially clothed body was found June 20, 2005, in brush behind a Fort Worth convenience store. The arrest came after cold case investigator Sarah Jane Waters identified clothing that could be screened for evidence using current forensic testing.
And that’s not the only case made recently by Waters using DNA evidence.
The second cold case is nearly 30 years old, to the day.
On March 13, 1983, popular Fort Worth pawn shop owner Melvin Lavine was shot to death during a home invasion robbery.
But now, three decades later, police have obtained an arrest warrant for a 48-year-old county jail inmate in Abilene who investigators say has been linked through DNA to the crime scene.
Benjamin W. Bewley, who is in the Taylor County Jail on charges of felony driving while intoxicated and parole violation, now faces a charge of capital murder on accusations that he fatally shot Lavine.
The break came after Waters submitted evidence from the back door of Lavine’s home. A DNA profile was developed and it pointed to Bewley.
Deanna Boyd has written about both cases. Read about Jack here, and then see the Lavine case here.
-- Bill Miller
I applaud the work described here and wonder if new technology might lead to information on the three women missing from Seminary South Shopping Center, I believe it was late '60's or early '70's.
Posted by: Jim Wade | March 08, 2013 at 11:14 AM