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Event Timeline

Kenneth Dean Video Trial Summary

Sept. 21, 1983: Convicted burglar Romeo Pinkerton of Tyler is paroled. Sept. 23, 1983: Five people — four employees and one friend of a worker — are reported missing at 11:30 p.m. from the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Kilgore. The restaurant was to have closed at 10 p.m. A Rusk County couple reports hearing gunshots about 11 p.m. Sept. 24, 1983: An oilfield worker at 10:20 a.m. finds the bodies of the five missing people along an oil lease road near a well off Rusk County Road 231 just northwest of Henderson, about 15 miles south of Kilgore. All had been shot in the head. Sept. 26, 1983: Pinkerton’s cousin, Darnell Hartsfield, commits burglary in Smith County, according to prison records. Sept. 27, 1983: Reward for information about the slayings reaches $50,000, half of the total offered by the restaurant chain. It is never claimed. Feb. 13, 1984: Hartsfield is sentenced to nine years for burglary and 25 years for robbery. May 8, 1984: Pinkerton is sent to prison for 25 years for January 1984 Smith County burglary while on parole. Jan. 27, 1988: Pinkerton paroled. June 8, 1989: Pinkerton parole revoked for April 1988 burglary while on parole. He gets 50 years. March 1995: Rusk County grand jury begins hearing KFC testimony. April 27, 1995: James Earl Mankins Jr., son of a former state legislator, indicted on five counts of capital murder after fingernail recovered from clothing of KFC victim said to match Mankins. Aug. 11, 1995: Hartsfield taken to prison with 40-year sentence from Smith County for delivery of controlled substance and engaging in organized criminal activity. Nov. 13, 1995: Charges against Mankins dropped after fingernail evidence determined to not be his. »» More Maps

Key Individuals Romeo Pinkerton James Earl Mankins Jr. Glenn Elliot William Brown Judge J. Clay Gossett David Griffith »» More

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