My prayers are with the Evans Family. I can't not fathom the strength it must take to have to hear about and relive this all over again.
Here is the current news story
A fluke glance in the rearview mirror as Bellmead Police Lt. Anita Davenport was trying to get her police truck unstuck uncovered what authorities said was an important clue in the murder case of Bobby Evans.
Davenport was among a dozen witnesses prosecutors Edward Vallejo and Lytza Rojas called Tuesday to set the murder scene for the jury of eight women and four men and to recount the often-frustrating seven-month investigation that led authorities into the world of drug manufacturing.
Three-time felon Jerry Mack Newland, 33, of Elm Mott, is on trial for murder in Waco’s 54th State District Court in the June 18, 2007, shooting death of 47-year-old Evans, Bellmead’s animal control officer and a volunteer firefighter.
Newland listens to testimony in his murder trial with one of his attorneys, Abby Allford. " title="Jerry Mack Newland listens to testimony in his murder trial with one of his attorneys, Abby Allford. " border="0">
Jerry Mack Newland listens to testimony in his murder trial with one of his attorneys, Abby Allford.
Duane A. Laverty/Waco Tribune-Herald
Despite the many witnesses, crime-scene photos and pathology reports, no witnesses called Tuesday or evidence found at the crime scene linked Newland to Evans’ slaying.
Defense attorney Walter M. Reaves Jr. told the jury during opening statements that the evidence “just isn’t there” to support a conviction.
A pathologist testified Tuesday that Evans, who was found lying facedown just inside the door to the remote animal shelter off Pecan Lane, was shot once in the chest, three times in the back and once in the back of the left forearm.
Gruesome discovery
James Karl, Bellmead director of public safety, and Scott Curry, the city’s former fire marshal, said they became concerned about 9:30 a.m. because Evans had failed to respond to repeated radio and cell phone calls.
Karl testified that he drove to the animal shelter to check on Evans and found his body.
Stunned, Karl said, he called for help but quickly realized that Evans was beyond medical rescue.
Bellmead police officials called in Texas Rangers, Department of Public Safety crime labs from Waco and Austin, and other agencies to assist them at the murder scene, Karl said.
Steve Foster, who retired as a Texas Ranger three months after Evans’ death, said he walked the area surrounding the animal shelter, which was an overgrown former softball complex, and found some boot prints in the soil behind the shelter that had been moistened by the previous night’s rains.
A clue spotted
As many of the investigators who had spent the day searching for evidence began to pack up and leave, Davenport’s vehicle got stuck in a muddy ditch, and the officers had to wait to exit the gate.
Davenport said she spotted in her rearview mirror a green, military duffel bag that had been stashed in a wooded area near the gate about 15 yards off Pecan Lane.
“We probably would not have found that duffel bag had it not been for her vehicle getting stuck in the mud,” said Foster, who is now police chief in McGregor.
Foster said the bag contained a 30-gallon tank with anhydrous ammonia in it, along with tubing and a nozzle, all items the former Ranger said are associated with the manufacture of methamphetamine.
The bag was not wet from the rain, indicating to investigators that it had been placed there earlier that morning and possibly had something to do with Evans’ slaying.
Authorities have said they think Evans possibly drove up and saw Newland and his co-defendant, James Terry Ramirez, with the drug-cooking gear.
And authorities said they think Evans was killed because the men wanted to keep him from reporting them.
Ramirez, 45, of Bellmead, is set for trial April 12.
Long investigation
In other testimony Tuesday, Bellmead police Detective Louisa Nunez said she followed about 30 leads during the seven-month investigation, adding she asked for the assistance of a federal and state task force to help on the case after it grew cold.
Three months after Evans’ death, she said, Bellmead police removed a piece of barbed wire from a fence near the animal shelter after a woman reported that she had a “vision” that police would find DNA from two suspects on the wire. The tip did not prove fruitful, she said.
Prosecution testimony will resume at 8:30 a.m. today.
twitherspoon@wacotrib.com
