HOUSTON – Thirty years of police work went into a judge calling the name of Edmond Beauregard Degan, 57, in a downtown Houston courtroom. Degan is charged with the capital murder of Yleen Kennedy.
Lillie died from a gunshot, but police said Yleen was bludgeoned, stabbed, shot and raped. At the time of their deaths the only lead police had was a neighbor who saw a man leaving the home with a duffel bag.
On Thursday, prosecutors told a judge during a probable cause hearing that last year a man came forward and told police he saw Degan shortly after those murders.
"This client told investigators that this defendant returned home with a bundle, asking for a hammer. He then began to beat a revolver into pieces and throw it in a ditch behind a house," a Harris County prosecutor told the judge. "He then lit a fire and burned numerous items in a fire pit, including ladies' wallets and small papers."
The prosecutor also told the judge police obtained the DNA profile of an unknown man in 2009 after testing samples from Yleen Kennedy's sexual-assault examination.
"A swab was taken from this defendant and compared to that unknown male from the sexual-assault kit. A high probability match was reported," the prosecutor said.
Court records show Degan has a lengthy criminal past. The year after the sisters' murders, he was convicted of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, followed by charges of assaulting a family member, terroristic threat and drug possession.
At this point Degan is only charged with Yleen's murder. He was denied bond and is due back in court Friday.
In November of 2011, Local 2 Investigates profiled these murders as one of Houston's longest running unsolved crimes.
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 31 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.
