HOUSTON – Local 2 Investigates teamed up with investigators from across our area to spotlight some of the thousands of unsolved murders and wanted fugitives haunting families and detectives alike.
The Houston Police Department has approximately 5,500 unsolved murders dating back to the 1960s. One Lieutenant and four investigators are actively working 60 of these cases.
"We get probably three to four calls a day from people who've lost loved ones checking on the status of a case," said Lt. Richard Kleczynski of HPD's Cold Case Squad.
The Harris County Sheriff's Office has more than 600 unsolved murders dating back to 1971.
"Some are just dead-ends and other ones we try to breathe a little life back into them," said Sgt. Eric Clegg with the Sheriff's Cold Case Unit.
"It's the right thing to do," added Sergeant Dean Holtke. "The families deserve it. The victims deserve it."
There are also those victims who died without investigators ever learning their name. These individuals are buried in the Harris County cemetery with the word "unknown" chiseled on top of a small concrete block marking their grave. The Harris County Institute of Forensic Science is working to unravel these mysteries.
The Institute currently has 382 "unknown" victims. Through a federal grant the Institute is re-examining and, in some cases, exhuming these individuals to determine whether clues to their identities can be gleaned through the filter of modern science.
"When we learn the identity of a victim, we know we are delivering the worst possible news to a family," said Dr. Jennifer Love, a forensic anthropologist with the Institute. "But they can then, I believe, begin the mourning process instead of continuing to search for a loved one."
The Case Of The Kennedy Sisters
In March of 1984, Van Halen's "Jump" was burning up the charts, gas was well below $2 a gallon and the Heights was the happening place in town -- a leafy nook of Houston brimming with artists, designers and musicians. In a 400-square foot, pale blue and white house on East 12th street, sisters Yleen and Lillie Kennedy were enjoying their youth.
"It's tough enough when family members lose a loved one, you know one person, much less something like," said HPD Sergeant Paul Motard.
On March 5, 1984, both sisters were killed. The bodies were discovered by their father who stopped by to see why they missed an appointment to take him to the doctor.
"It looked like the younger one, Lillie, was shot, killed pretty fast, pretty quickly," said Motard.
However, detectives believe Yleen suffered. An autopsy report stated that Yleen was shot, stabbed, bludgeoned and raped.
"I'm almost positive robbery is the motive, I mean, they went in there looking for something," said Motard.
Yleen ran a small business selling antique clothing. Investigators said that Yleen was also known to have large amounts of custom jewelry in her house. Motard said witnesses interviewed in 1984 stated some pieces of jewelry were missing form the home.
"Just killing two people for what, several hundred dollars worth of stuff?" said Motard.
Investigators said about the time the women were murdered, a neighbor saw a man leaving their house carrying a duffle bag. Detectives said that neighbor actually confronted the man, thinking he was a burglar. However, detectives said the man with the duffle bag came up with a quick story that his wife had just kicked him out of the house. The neighbor believed the story and that mystery man walked away and disappeared.
"Obviously it was the killer. I believe it was the killer. It's just -- who is this person?" said Motard. "We don't know. He's got a black heart."
For the last 27 years, Houston police have been searching for this killer. The Kennedy sisters' names among among 5,500 unsolved murders listed in department files.
"You just hate to let something like that go. You have to, but in this case, I just don't want to," said Motard.
The Kennedy sisters are buried in a cemetery in Halletsville. The womens' father was so upset by the killings, he had the word "murdered" etched on their tombstones.
If you have any information about this case please call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
The Case Of Marion Evelyn Morgan
On a sweltering August day in 1979, Marion Evelyn Morgan was murdered in her Northwest Harris County home on Rosemary Lane in the Oakwilde neighborhood. After 32 years of searching, detectives have never identified her killer.
"When her husband came home from work, he came into the house, couldn't find her, walked out to the garage and found her lying on the ground," said Sgt. Dean Holtke with the Harris County Sheriff's Office.
Morgan was 32 years old, recently married and had a child. Investigators said Morgan was last seen alive by a neighbor around noon on Aug. 30, but she never picked up her son from school at 2:30 that afternoon. Investigators said Morgan had been stabbed and sexually assaulted.
"It's just a random person that was going through the neighborhood and just found her and just preyed on her that day," said Holtke. "You look for that connection between the offender and the victim and in this case you just don't have it."
If you have any information about this case please call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
The Case Of Jacqueline Graham
The savage nature of Jacqueline Graham's murder still haunts detectives more than two decades after she was killed.
"I've been dealing with death cases now for 17 to 18 years and it's the worst one I've ever seen," said Sgt. Dean Holtke with the Harris County Sheriff's Office.
Graham was 19 years old when she was murdered on April 8, 1988. Investigators know Graham went to see friends at the 6th Ave Club on Highway 6 the night before. Detectives said Graham was last seen sitting on a bridge abutment at the intersection of West Little York and Highway 6 around 2:20 that morning.
"She's seen on Highway 6 just sitting there by herself. I mean, it could have been anybody that came by and picked her up," said Holtke.
Later that day, Graham's body was found behind what used to be a sporting goods store at 13300 FM 1960. Detectives said Graham had been stabbed multiple times, sexually mutilated and shot. Graham's clothes were found in a gas station dumpster at 6100 Highway 6. More items belonging to Graham were found at another location near the intersection of Telge and West Road.
Graham was living in the Spring area at the time of her murder and was a student at Houston Community College studying interior design.
If you have any information about this case, please call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
The Case Of Antoinette Bailey
Lillian Bailey has not seen her daughter since 1999. It has been a dozen years since the mother saw the face of her oldest child. That's 4,490 days since Antoinette Bailey's family last spoke to her.
On Aug. 7, 1999, the body of the then 27-year-old woman was found on a construction site miles away from her home. To this day, the family has no idea how she got there or who killed her.
"I'll never forgive. It's not in my nature to forgive, because my memory for when she was born, and then Mother's Day, Christmas, all the holidays come around and that is when I truly miss her," said Lillian Bailey, Antoinette's mother.
For Lillian Bailey, it has been hard to grieve a daughter she had when she was barely an adult herself.
"She was the first one, we growed up together. I remember her smiling face, her nagging, her trying to be bossy and how she wants to run everybody," said Lillian.
That bossy independent spirit was snuffed out in a brutal attack 12 years ago. At the time, Antoinette lived with her sister Mitzye. Although never wanting children, the family told Local 2 she was an amazing aunt who helped raise Mitzye's children like they were her own.
Mitzye told investigators Antoinette liked hanging out with the downstairs neighbors late at night and into the early morning hours. Against the wishes of her family, Antoinette would walk alone to a nearby store to buy beer regardless of the time.
Mitzye told Local 2 on the night she went missing, Antoinette said she would not be long.
"'Oh, don't throw my dinner away. I'm going to come back and I'm going to eat it.' Those were the last words she told me, " said Mitzye Bailey, Antoinette's sister.
It wasn't just the dinner, Mitzye told investigators she knew her sister was not going far because she left her pager at the apartment.
"That was at the time when pagers were really big. I knew she hadn't planned on leaving and staying gone long. She would never have left her pager at home. Ever. That was like her life-line," said Mitzye.
It was the last time Mitzye saw her sister alive. The next afternoon, witnesses discovered Antoinette's body inside a house being built in the Stone Gate subdivision in the Barker-Cypress and 290 area.
Harris County cold case investigators told Local 2 they don't know how Antoinette ended up so far away from the Spring Branch apartment complex where the Bailey sisters lived.
"The original investigation didn't reveal any vendettas, debts, anything. It's like she truly bumped into the wrong person. When you read cases like that one, you think that woman got up and literally, you know, crossed paths with the wrong person that day and it was really the wrong place at the wrong time," said Sgt. Eric Clegg, with Harris County Sheriff's Department cold case unit.
Investigators told Local 2 that Antoinette was beaten to death. Her body showed signs of a violent struggle, with defensive wounds on her arms and hands. Investigators say the person or persons who killed Antoinette may have gotten injured. They think someone might remember seeing those injuries. The fact that Antoinette fought back doesn't surprise her family.
"She's the type of person -- she's not going to let anybody hurt her. She's going to fight to the very end. I know with every ounce of my being she fought them to the bitter end. I know this for a fact," said Lillian.
The same issue of time that works against old cases in collecting evidence years after the crime can work in the investigators' favor when it comes to witnesses. The passage of time can make it easier for people to talk about what they saw or know.
That is just what the Harris County cold case investigators hope will happen so they can get justice for not only Antoinette, but the family who still mourns the loss of the bold, outspoken Bailey.
"They killed her and they going on living their life perfectly fine -- like it ain't nothing. At least stand-up and take accountability for your actions. I'm pretty sure somebody knows something, somebody said something, so it's not like everyone is just clueless," said Mitzye.