Staff Writer
NEW BOSTON — During opening arguments in the infamous Kentucky Fried Chicken murders, the prosecution told the jury Monday morning that one victim had been sexually assaulted — a fact never before divulged.
The statement brought tears to family members gathered in the courtroom as they embraced and comforted each other. They have waited 24 years for someone to be held responsible for the deaths of their loved ones.
At the defense table, Romeo Pinkerton, a career criminal, sat listening. Pinkerton is the first of two Tyler cousins to stand trial for the slayings of Mary Tyler, 37; Opie Ann Hughes, 39; Joey Johnson, 20; David Maxwell, 20; and Monte Landers, 19. The victims had all been abducted from the KFC restaurant in Kilgore on Sept. 23, 1983. Their bodies were found the next day. Each had been shot at least twice — “execution-style.”
Lisa Tanner, Texas Attorney General prosecutor and deputized prosecutor for Rusk County, told the jurors in her opening remarks that it took “fresh eyes” looking at the case in 2003 to see there was something wrong with the crime scene.
“It was always assumed that Opie Hughes tried to run, but when new investigators began looking at the case, they began to see something else,” she said.
Ms. Tanner said in recent years, testing showed that there were “large” semen stains in the crotch of Opie Hughes’ uniform pants, but there has yet to be any match made.
“Despite Herculean efforts, to this day, there has been no match made, but we know that there was a third person,” she said. “This information was the closest-guarded secret in this entire case.
“The first time this information was made public was about five minutes ago when I told you. This was by design to see if anyone knew there was a third person. The evidence was there all along. The science just had to catch up.”
She also told the jury they would hear about Jimmy Earl Mankins Jr., but there was no physical evidence linking Mankins to the crime scene. DNA testing had put Pinkerton and his cousin, Darnell Hartsfield, at the restaurant.
Tanner added there was a flyer circulated by Texas Rangers looking for Pinkerton, Hartsfield and another man named Elton Winston for questioning in the KFC case.
Ms. Tanner said once Mankins was thought of as a suspect, then all other suspects were pretty much discarded. “Tunnel vision had set in.”
After the jury heard about the sexual assault, the defense team of Jeff Haas and David Griffith began to attack the prosecution’s case by planting a seed of doubt. Both men said the case and evidence had been mishandled from the start and may have even been altered.
Griffith said the semen stains on Hughes and the blood stains on Monte Landers exclude Romeo Pinkerton and Darnell Hartsfield.
Family members, called by the state to testify, talked of their loved ones and when they heard the news of the murders. They became emotional, but pushed forward answering the questions posed by the state.
Billy Tyler, Mary’s husband, talked about Mary’s duties at the restaurant and he and his stepdaughter, Kim, finding the place in disarray. “About 10:30, I called up there and didn’t get any answer,” he said. “At a quarter until 11, she still wasn’t home, and I just had this feeling.”
“There was no movement anywhere in the restaurant,” Tyler said. “There was trash next to the back door, and the back door was open, and that was unusual.”
He told Haas he witnessed Kim open the register up front and she said the money was gone. Tyler also testified that Kim had been in trouble and she had stolen checks.
Haas and Griffith told the jury they wanted them to look at the evidence and the lack of evidence.
“What I am asking the jury to do is follow the evidence. This case is not only built on the evidence you hear, but also on the evidence you don’t hear,” Griffith said.
Testimony is scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
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