Upcoming trial could provide answers in KFC slayings case

LONGVIEW — Answers could be found in the coming weeks in a Bowie County courtroom to what has been described as one of the area's most notorious mysteries.

Starting this week, attorneys will search for jurors from among 350 Bowie County residents who have been summoned for the capital murder trial of Romeo Pinkerton, who is accused of killing five people who were taken from a Kilgore restaurant almost 24 years ago.

On Sept. 23, 1983, Mary Tyler, 37; Opie Ann Hughes, 39; Joey Johnson, 20; David Maxwell, 20; and Monte Landers, 19; were kidnapped from the Kilgore Kentucky Fried Chicken during a robbery. The restaurant was about to close for the night. Their bodies were found the next day on a rural oil lease in Rusk County. Eleven shots from two guns killed the victims, according to autopsy reports and previously published information about a ballistics report. The register was missing $2,000.

In November 2005, a Rusk County grand jury returned five counts of capital murder each against Pinkerton, 49, who is also known as Ronnie Pinkerton, and his cousin, Darnell Hartsfield, 46. Both men are from Tyler. The two men were arraigned in December 2005, and a 2007 trial date was set for Pinkerton in May 2006.

Rusk County District Judge J. Clay Gossett cited the age of the case, the number of potential witnesses and the amount of documents involved for the length of time before the trial's start. Hartsfield's trial date has not been set.

Gossett granted the prosecution's change of venue request for Pinkerton's trial in July 2006, moving the trial from Henderson to New Boston. Prosecutors argued the trial is possibly "the most notorious crime in Northeast Texas, if not Texas as a whole," and that "a fair and impartial trial cannot safely and speedily be had in Rusk County," according to court records.

On Monday morning, Gossett will hear reasons why prospective jurors should be exempted from serving on the jury, such as being a full-time student, a convicted felon or mentally- or physically-incapacitated.

Gossett has issued summonses to 350 prospective jurors in Bowie County. Thad Davidson, a Tyler-based defense attorney who has worked capital murder cases, said he would have wanted a larger juror pool of around 600 people if he were working the case.

"Given the notoriety of this case, I'd say 350 is on the small side," Davidson said.

At least three jurors have already been excused, including one woman with family members involved in a different capital murder trial, according to court records. The prospective jurors will fill out questionnaires and be introduced to the case Wednesday, and individual questioning will begin the following week. Gossett said juror selection could take as long as four to six weeks.

The trial itself will begin shortly after jury selection ends, Gossett said. The prosecution has presented the defense with a DVD containing about 30,000 pages of documents and 126 compact discs containing "non-documentary material," according to court records. The prosecution has also listed 128 potential witnesses for the trial. Gossett said the trial could last as long as a month.

The Texas Attorney General's office will prosecute the case with the assistance of Rusk County District Attorney Micheal Jimerson.

Tom Kelly, a spokesman for the Texas Attorney General's office, said the office would not comment on any aspect of the trial. Kelly said a gag order for the trial has also been issued by the court.

"Jimerson is taking this very seriously," Davidson said. Davidson defends several clients in Rusk County. He said when he's stopped in the district attorney's office during the past few weeks, he's seen Jimerson pouring over the case files.

"He's been in his office studying case files as if he were a law student studying for the bar exam," Davidson said, and added that he meant that as a compliment.

Until about seven years ago, the investigation had focused unsuccessfully on someone other than Pinkerton and Hartsfield. A break-through in the investigation occurred when former Rusk County Sheriff James Stroud hired retired FBI agent George Kieny to look into the case. Kieny turned to blood evidence from the crime scene that had never been tested for DNA, according to Kieny's 2005 written overview of the investigation. The DNA evidence, found on a napkin and a cardboard box at the restaurant, was compared with a national DNA database of felons and connected Pinkerton and Hartsfield to the crime, according to earlier reports.

Court records indicate the prosecution might seek the death penalty if Pinkerton is convicted, but the defense has filed motions seeking to determine if Pinkerton is mentally handicapped. Jeff L. Haas, Pinkerton's defense attorney, said that determination would likely be made in court before a jury. Haas declined to comment further about his client or the trial.

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KFC case timeline

On Sept. 23, 1983, five people were taken from a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Kilgore. Their bodies were found the next day in rural Rusk County.

A capital murder trial for one of the suspects in their deaths will begin this week with jury selection. The following is a timeline of events in the investigation.

— Sept. 23, 1983, 9 p.m. and 10 p.m.: Three employees get off work at the restaurant, including Kim Miller, daughter of assistant manager Mary Tyler, who would be one of the victims. The business closes at 10 p.m.

— Sept. 23, 1983, 10:30 to 11 p.m: Tyler, 37; Opie Ann Hughes, 39; Joey Johnson, 20; David Maxwell, 20; and Monte Landers, 19; are abducted from the restaurant. Landers, the only non-employee, had gone to the restaurant with Maxwell to visit Johnson.

— Sept. 23, 1983, 10:30 to 11:30 p.m.: The original reports vary on the time, but Miller and her step-father return to the restaurant. They find blood on the floor and the building empty. Miller and her step-father notify Kilgore police at 11:30 p.m. Around 11 p.m., a couple of residents in rural Rusk County hear gunshots.

— Sept. 23, 1983, 11:45 p.m.: Kilgore Police Sgt. Danny Pirtle arrives at the Kentucky Fried Chicken. Investigators discover $2,000 missing from the cash register. Rusk County investigators, Texas Rangers, FBI agents and other agencies would assist in the investigation.

— Sept. 24, 1983, 10:20 a.m.: Arthur Warlick, a Henderson Clay Products employee, finds five bodies on an oil lease road off Walker King Road in Rusk County.

— Sept. 25, 1983: The victims' bodies are taken for autopsies. A torn fingernail is found clinging to Johnson's body.

— Sept. 27, 1983: A reward for information about the case reaches $50,000, including $25,000 from Kentucky Fried Chicken and matching donations from local residents and businesses. The reward was withdrawn several years later after no one claimed it.

— Oct. 1, 1983: Texas Rangers questions Jimmy Mankins Jr., son of former state Rep. Jimmy Mankins Sr., and find he has a broken fingernail.

— Oct. 10, 1983: A news report describes two unnamed Tyler men with a history of armed robbery who had been questioned and released as part of the investigation. Investigators still search for a third Tyler man, who also was wanted on an arrest warrant for an armed robbery in Tyler. The story appears to match a police bulletin from 1983 describing three men wanted for questioning in the Kentucky Fried Chicken case.

— September 1988: Investigators say the case has been solved, but the Rusk County district attorney disagrees, saying more evidence is needed. His successor would agree in a 1993 news story that said there were four suspects.

— Sept. 23, 1993: The family of victim David Maxwell asks for help on the case from the Texas attorney general's and governor's offices. The office of former Attorney General Dan Morales joined the case in 1994, after local officials requested help.

— April 27, 1995: Jimmy Mankins Jr. is arrested on five charges of capital murder after a grand jury indicts him based on the torn fingernail investigators believed belonged to him.

November 1995: The attorney general's office dismisses the charges against Mankins after DNA tests determine the nail is not his. The indictments are expunged from his record almost eight years later.

— December 2000: Former Rusk County Sheriff James Stroud hires retired FBI agent George Kieny to work on the case. Kieny reviews earlier work and turns to blood evidence from a napkin and a cardboard box at the crime scene that had not been tested for DNA.

— October 2001 to January 2002: A comparison of crime scene DNA and a national DNA database of felons return matches to Texas prison inmates Romeo Pinkerton and Darnell Hartsfield. The two men ere wanted for questioning in connection with the crimes in 1983, according to a police bulletin from that time.

— September 2003 to January 2005: Assistant Attorney General Lisa Tanner, lead prosecutor in this case, meets with two Rusk County grand juries without any indictments being issued. Pinkerton, Hartsfield and another inmate testify at least once before a grand jury.

— November 2004: Hartsfield is indicted on an aggravated perjury charge in connection with the Kentucky Fried Chicken case. Hartsfield had told grand jurors in September 2003 that he had never been to the restaurant.

— October 2005: Hartsfield is convicted of aggravated perjury in connection with the Kentucky Fried Chicken case and sentenced to life in prison because of six prior felony convictions.

— November 2005: The attorney general's office announces that Pinkerton and Hartsfield have been indicted on five counts of capital murder in the case.

December 2005: Pinkerton and Hartsfield plead not guilty during their formal arraignment.

— May 2006: An Aug. 6, 2007, trial date is set for Pinkerton. The age of the case, number of witnesses and amount of documents are cited for the delay. A trial date for Hartsfield has not yet been set.

— Aug. 5, 2006: District Judge J. Clay Gossett grants a change of venue for Pinkerton's trial, moving the trial from Henderson to New Boston.

— Monday: The court will begin juror selection.

Source: Earlier published reports and court records