The 1982 Lake Waco Murders

I have been reading true crime books for as long as I can remember and without revealing my age, let us just say that has been a very long time. I went from books to television movies, to true crime documentaries. You name it I can probably tell you about it and yet from time to time I come across a case that not only I have not heard about but one that ignites my passion for true crime. This happens to be one of them and it came at a great time as I am attempting to get back into my blogging process.

I have often said that cases make it to my list of cases to research in a variety of ways. Generally they come from books or shows I have seen but sometimes I will just see a reference to something when I am researching or I cannot tell you how many times someone has said “Hey, you need to look up …..” I am going to gander to guess that this case came in one of the latter two categories. But, I started my research like I do all other cases, with a simple search and read the first thing I came across. I knew quickly that this was going to be a case that would catch my attention. It is only on the rare occasion that I am still up at midnight and it is even more rare that I stay up not just to finish the research but to compile to case here.

If you are a regular reader then you know I have often said I am neither adamantly for or against the death penalty. I think it is warranted in the most heinous of crimes from the most evil of criminals but only when there is absolutely no question as to the guilt of the person. You also likely know that for me I am as passionate about the crimes as I am about the justice system and making sure that guilty or innocent, sweet or evil, everyone deserves a fair trial that follows the law. I do not believe in bending rules or making new ones to get even the most evil out of society, so I surely do not believe in making things up to do the same. I do not believe that anyone can honestly say they do not believe an innocent person has been executed. Decades and centuries past should be a sign of that. I mean aside from all the ways investigators were allowed to interrogate, get confessions the issue of forensics alone has changed crime and how it is investigated and solved. Look at all the people who have been exonerated by DNA in the last several years so you simply cannot tell me that someone in the 1950's (maybe even multiple people in several decades) was innocent, yet executed. That being said until I read about this crime the only person you would hear me say I believed was likely wrongly executed was Cameron “Todd” Willingham in 2004 in the state of Texas. The name David Wayne Spence has now made it to that list. And, I cannot say I am surprised to know that he too was executed by the state of Texas some seven years before Willingham. On one hand I would like to think that while obviously the state cannot fix those mistakes, hell, they will not even admit it publicly, they were the first to learn they needed to dig deeper and created a group whose mission was to investigate old “solved” crimes and get DNA testing if available. Willingham was executed under Governor Perry, but Spence was executed when future President George Bush was the Governor of Texas. It was during Bush's reign that it was sadly joked that Texas not only utilized their right to execute criminals, they made it an express lane.

Now, let me be clear, while doing my research I came across several different articles that discussed the fact that Spence may have been innocent of the crime he was executed for, but I have to say I had already come to that conclusion after reading a small portion of the first article I came upon. I had not yet realized that there were so many of the opinion that Spence was unjustly executed. And, to be fair, just as I have with all my other blogs, I do not go with one person's opinion, or one website, and I try to be unbiased when researching but this one was difficult. I found myself going back and researching more and more on particular people and issues and the more I found the more angry I became.

By the sounds of it few people will tell you that David Wayne Spence was anything close to an angel. He obviously had his issues with the law. In fact by the time he was indicted, along with three others, in November of 1983 he was serving a 90 year prison term for sexual assault. To be fair I do not know the details of that particular case but if I were to assume the investigation and the trial was all above board then I also have to assume David Spence was never likely getting out of prison. I always try to go into every case and assume the jury got it right and everyone involved did things by the book. But, after reading about this case and in particular a certain investigator I have been left to wonder about many of his cases. A further search on the man, which I will surely be getting into later, indicated that he is/was a less than stellar individual who took the idea of being a gung ho investigator to levels I am unsure I have ever seen in all my years of looking at true crime. If I could be confident that this individual was not involved in the investigation of the crime Spence was already serving and without knowing anyone else involved in the case, I would give high probability of him remaining in prison. However, if I were discover this certain individual was involved that probability would be severely lowered. But, here I am getting way ahead of myself again and I would prefer that you, as the reader hear the details before my opinion. I do warn you though, it will be extremely difficult for me to not let my extreme distaste for this case and some that are involved from shining through.

On July 14, 1982 the bodies of three teenagers were found in Speegleville Park, near Lake Waco, in Waco Texas. The teenagers, eighteen year old Kenneth Franks and his two seventeen year old companions, Jill Montgomery and Raylene Rice had been missing since the day prior. Raylene's car had been found, but not the teenagers. While it was not unusual for teenagers to hang out in the area... and it was summer... and of course maybe not come home overnight, many later said something just did not feel right about this. The car looked undisturbed when it had been found. It does not seem to be completely clear just how they were found, or by whom. Kenneth Franks body was found fully clothed and leaning against a tree. Sunglasses were on his face. The two girls were found nearby. Both were naked and bound. All of the victims had been stabbed multiple times. Both of the girls had their throats cut and there was evidence of sexual assault.

By all accounts it seems they had several suspects right a way. It seems that it may have been possible that Franks was involved with drugs, as several in the area it seemed and because his body had been positioned the way it was it was initially thought that he was likely the target. One of the people that the investigators suspected was a man named Terry Harper. It is unclear who interviewed Harper but it was said that Harper had an alibi. In fact, my reading called it a “solid” alibi. However, when an investigator for a defense attorney looked over his alibi it was alleged that it was false. One of the articles I read stated that Harper had said he was at home watching Dynasty on television but it was determined that did not air that night. Whether that information was garnered from his initial interview just after the murders or from another later is unclear.

Strangely within just about two months the police department claimed to have no leads, that the case was “stale” and basically suspended keeping someone on the case full time. This is where a man by the name of Truman Simons comes into play. At the time of the murders it was said that Truman was a narcotics officer but it seems he spent much of his time as a patrolman. He was one of the first on the scene when the bodies were found. He had been with the department for over fifteen years by his own assessment and according to him he did not like “desk work.” After all I've learned about him I wonder if this was not code for “I cannot get promoted” but that is just me. I do want to mention that in the initial investigation Lieutenant Marvin Horton was the lead investigator. He was accompanied by Decective Ramon Salinas and a patrol officer. Simons worked on the case but not in a “formal capacity” according to my research. However, when the case stalled out Simons asked his superiors to continue on the case and was given permission.

Within a few days Simons had arrested a man named Muneer Deeb. Deeb owned a gas station/convenient store and, according to Simons, Deeb had “confessed” to two women that he had committed the murders. Simons alleged that Debb had several confrontations with Franks (it was eluded that it was over drugs but never really said) and that the two did not get along. Deeb was given a lie detector test that many reports say lasted three hours and he passed. Simons was ordered by his superiors to release Debb. It was said that after this Simons got a lot of slack from his co-workers and while some reports say that he simply quit his job over the issues others point to there being other reasons for his leaving.

Simons moved on to working for the county Sheriff department. Again, some reports indicate he was nothing more than a prison security guard at that point but for whatever reason, he was given permission in his new place of employment to continue looking into the Lake Waco murders. Whether Simons had ever really investigated a homicide case, or even interrogated anyone at this point is basically anyone's guess unless someone knows more.

In November of 1983 Deeb was once again arrest. Only this time three other men were also arrested with him, David Spence, and brothers Anthony and Gilbert Melendez. Simons had come up with a new theory. Deeb carried life insurance polices on all of his employees. It was said that one of the girls that worked for him, Gayle Kelley, had a “striking” resemblance to Jill Montgomery. Simons new theory was that Deeb's had hired Spence to kill the employee, that Spence recruited the Melendez brothers and that they mistakenly took Jill Montgomery as the girl. It was also theorized that Kenneth Franks and Raylene Rice were simply murdered because they were witnesses to the crime. To be fair, while a lot of information came out in the upcoming trials I am unsure that this theory was in any way proven or even discussed in the trials, other than again, in theory.

There was something interesting about the charges. Whether they were all initially charged with all three is unclear. However, two of the four men would plead guilty, while the other two would take their cases to trial. The men who pleaded guilty did so on two counts of murder. Ok, that happens. The men who went to trial had two separate trials each, one for each girl. It appears that in a legal sense no one was ever charged with Kenneth Franks murder, which I find extremely odd. I also found it odd that both of the men who went to trial has separate trials on each charge. This is not done often.

In June of 1984, just before David Spence went to trial the following month, Anthony Melendez pleaded guilty and received a life sentence. He agreed to testify against Spence. To plead guilty and still receive a life sentence tells me that the prosecution was seeking the death penalty against all four defendants and the guilty plea was simply his way of saving his life. At Spence's trial there were a lot of witnesses. Of course there was Anthony Melendez who now told a story that went with the prosecution theory in that the four men were involved and gave details on where the bodies were later found and other little specifics. Many, if not most of the other witnesses, were fellow inmates that testified that Spence had either told them, or they had “overheard” him, he had committed the murders. I am unsure if people were already on to Simons and his tactics or if this was the first of many incidents in which inmates were the primary, if not only, people who had heard these supposed confessions. Now, there was one other thing that would be different about Spence's trials more than any of the others. The prosecution would say that one of Jill Montgomery's nipples had been bitten off and that the bite marks had remained obviously. The prosecution was able to find an “forensic odontologist” named Homer Campbell who would claim he was able to compare the bite marks left on Montgomery to Spence's teeth. Now, other than to say that Spence was convicted in both of his trials and sentenced to death for the murders of Jill Montgomery and Raylene Rice, I am going to leave this here for now.

In January of 1985 Gilbert Melendez would plead guilty like his brother and he agreed to testify against Muneer Deeb in his trials. Aside from the bite mark evidence given in Spence's trial, Deeb's trial was much the same. There was one suspect who testified against him and there were several inmates who would claim to hear him say he was involved. However, the prosecution made a huge mistake in one of Deeb's trials. Keep in mind that it took digging to even find that Spence and Deeb's had separate trials (all in different counties it seems) to begin with and then it was impossible really to determine what was said in each one. In Spence's case we know that there was the bite mark evidence that would have for sure been presented in his trial for Jill Montgomery's murder but that does not mean that it was not mentioned in his other trial. The mistake that the prosecution would make in Deeb's trial was allowing an inmate not to testify that he had heard Deeb's confess, but that Spence had told the inmate that Deeb's was involved. You will understand later why I can only assume that this same inmate testified at both of Deeb's trials. Regardless of the “mistake,” initially it was not a problem for the defense because like Spence, Deeb was was also found guilty of both murders and sentenced to death.

The next big thing to happen when it came to this case did not involve any of the defendants at all. At the end of February 1986 Spence's mother, Juanita White got a letter from one of the inmates who had testified against her son. The letter claimed that the inmate had lied at the trial and claimed that he had done so because he had been promised privileges and basically rewards if he did so. Juanita White contacted her son's lawyer, who then contacted the police. On March 2, 1986,just a few days later, Juanita White was found beaten and raped in her home. The following day two men, Joe Sidney Williams and Calvin Washington were found driving Juanita White's car and were arrested for her murder. It would be later learned that once again Truman Simons had been involved in this investigation. Both men were convicted and received life sentences and again many of the witnesses against them were inmates, just as they had in the trials against Spence and Deeb. In November of 1991 a police officer who had been at the scene and also involved in the investigation stated that she believed the men to be innocent. After the home had been secure from the crime scene it had been broken into and an area where White kept papers on her son and his court issues had been gone through. The officer stated she believed that the man involved was named Benny Carroll. Carroll had actually committed suicide in 1990, before the officer had come forward. Keep in mind that this case was a footnote to the Lake Waco murders so I found even less specifics on these men. However, in November of 1992 Joe Williams had his conviction set aside and by June of 1993 the charges were dismissed. Calvin Washington had a bit more of a fight on his hands. He apparently had blood on his shirt when he was taken into custody and at his trial it was said to be White's blood. Now, I cannot tell you if this was actually tested at the time but even if it was keep in mind it was before DNA was available so only blood typing could have been done. Semen in the Juanita White case had apparently been preserved and eventually it was tested. Results would not only exclude both men, but it was linked to Benny Carroll. Washington was released from prison in July of 2001 and officially pardoned in October of that year. He would receive over $300,000 in compensation from the state.

So, during all of this the four men from the Lake Waco case remained in prison. In 1991 Deeb won his appeal and got his convictions overturned based on that mistake I mentioned earlier. The courts ruled that the inmate who testified that Spence had told him Deeb was involved should have never been able to testify. I know that there are many “hearsay” rules and exceptions when it comes to the law but this seemed rather forward to me. The only other case that I have heard that this kind of testimony has been allowed is in the Illinois case against Drew Peterson when they allowed a minister to testify that Peterson's missing wife had told him Drew admitted being involved in the murder of his ex-wife, for which he was facing trial. Even still they made a new law to allow that testimony. Deeb stood trial again in January of 1993 and was acquitted and released.

In the meantime not only had the Melendez brothers recanted their stories (they apparently were never really consistent anyway) but so had at least half of the other inmates that had testified against Spence. They would claim they were offered special privileges in prison or charges lowered. At least one had been released soon after his testimony despite the fact that he was expected to spend much more time in prison. It had also come to the attention of others that Homer Campbell, the doctor who had testified that bite marks on Jill Montgomery had matched Spence had seen his fair share of trouble too. It had been determined that around the time that he testified against Spence he had not only testified against other defendants but that his testimony had been proven false.

It seems that in Spence's trial the defense had either been unable to point to others due to restrictions or that it was later that they learned more things. I say I am uncertain not just because of the way I found the information through research, but also because there have been allegations through a very recent lawsuit that has been filed that there are audio tape recordings that indicate the prosecutors “colluded” with the court appointed defense attorney's in the case. It has now been said that Terry Harper, one of the first suspects who was cleared before Truman Simons was officially involved in the case, was seen by at least six people in the area of the park on the day of the murders, while no one ever seemed to have come forward against any of the defendants in this case. It has also been said that Harper himself was an associate of Kenneth Franks (allegedly through drugs) and that Harper also had offenses that had involved a knife, such as this case.

Later defense attorney's, working for Spence, often brought up inconsistencies involved in Anthony Melendez's testimony. By this time Anthony himself had recanted his story saying that he was pressured and threatened, as well as fed information as to what to say. Of course he claims he did so in order to save his own life. Apparently Anthony Melendez had told either investigators or the court (I am unsure) that after the murders he, his brother, Gilbert, and Spence had transported the bodies in Spence's station wagon to the place in which they dumped the body. There were also allegations that Rice had been raped in what sounded like her own car. Rice's car had been all but dismantled and checked but nothing had been found. Then when it was discovered that Spence had not owned the station wagon until after the murders occurred, Anthony changed his story and said that his brother's truck was used. It has been alleged that at that time the truck was sitting in a yard, on blocks as it had three flat tires and a blown engine. It appears that much of this information was obtained by the appeals lawyers and not the original defense team.

While DNA test began to come of age it is unclear at what point the bindings that had been on the girls were sent out for testing and there seemed to be a fight about them on top of that. At some point some evidence was apparently sent to a lab in California. Later, when new defense attorneys (it is unclear if it was attorney's for Spence or Anthony Melendez) wanted the evidence sent to another lab that had better testing than the original lab the doctor in charge of the lab was refusing. It appears that a judge in California had to order the doctor to send the evidence back. I do believe however all of this happened many years after Spence had been executed in 1997 and after Gilbert Melendez died in prison in 1998 as many of those articles seemed to be dated in 2011.

Obviously all of Spence's appeals were denied and the state of Texas executed him despite not just all the questions that it seemed the case had left but also after some high profile, and apparently wealthy people had come on board to help determine his innocence. His execution left many questions of his innocence and whether Texas had executed an innocent man. Muneer Deeb apparently died about six years after his release so soon Anthony Melendez was the only one of the four still alive. The questions surrounding the case and Spence's execution however all but started to re-open the investigation, or at least have it looked at it. I believe it was then that the fight over the DNA testing began.

Strangely none of the articles I found surrounding the issue of the DNA ever gave any sort of a result or if there had been one. And yet, on a website devoted to discussing exonerations it was said that DNA had been taken from hairs that were on the bindings of the females and that the results had eliminated Spence and both Melendez's. I cannot confirm if this is true or not.

Anthony Melendez died in prison in January of 2017. When interviewed after his death Truman Simons dismissed any allegations that the wrong men had been convicted. It appears that at that point few others commented. But then again there were several who had commented about it over the years, including Marvin Horton and Ramon Salinas who were involved in the initial investigation. They both have publicly stated they did not believe that the men convicted were guilty.

In April of 2017 two of Spence's sons filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas. For one the lawsuit claims that evidence was withheld and destroyed. It also alleges that confessions from the Melendez's as well as many, if not all of the inmates who testified, were coerced and untruthful. The lawsuit mentions the bite marks and the testimony as “junk science.” This is also where the claims of audio tape recordings being found proving collusion between the prosecutors and the public defenders. The lawsuit points out that the prosecutors had alleged that basically Deeb was the mastermind of the crime and yet in his second trial he was found not guilty. The thought behind that is that if Deeb was not guilty of hiring the men to kill someone, then there was no proof they did anything at all. And of course the lawsuit alleges that David Wayne Spence was executed unjustly. I imagine it will be years before this lawsuit is settled. I also imagine it is not going to be your run of the mill wrongful death or traditional type of lawsuit. For the state to settle would surely be to admit they executed an innocent man and I truly do not see that happening willingly.

While doing the research on the case the issues with Truman Simons kept popping up. Comments were made here and there that just seemed odd so when I was finished I decided to do a search on him. This is when I discovered the issues surrounding Spence's mother and the two men convicted for her murder that were ultimately exonerated. There seemed to be article after article that discussed Simons behavior not just in this case but his investigation tactics and his arrogance in general. As I said earlier I am unsure if the Lake Waco Murders was his first crack at investigating but apparently he was given more in the future and it was alleged that in all of them his witnesses came from fellow inmates. Many of those fellow inmates have recanted those statements and have alleged bribery and threats. They also allege that Simons not only coerced them to testify and claim things, he fed them information and told them what to say. In 2003 it seems that Simons sued a journalist as well as a man of wealth who had been helping in trying to clear Spence. Simons alleged in his lawsuit that they had defamed his character and broken up his marriage. A blog on the case (that I believe may be ran by one of Spence's children but I could be wrong) has the alleged deposition transcript in which Simons was all but called out when alleging the article had ruined his marriage. It seems that Simons had been having an affair long before the article had been published. It is kind of difficult to claim you had a good marriage until an article attacked your character when you are already being unfaithful to your wife. I cannot tell you what ever came of this lawsuit in the end. Nor can I tell you if Simons is still working in law enforcement and still investigating cases.

Many have said that the four men not only would have not been convicted or even charged if Simons had not been on the case, but they also argue that had the preceding prosecutor not lost the election that year the charges would not have been filed. In late 1982 Victor Feazell was election the county prosecutor. Allegedly he and Simons were already friends and it was in part his decision to allow Simons to continue investigating the case and in the end it was Feazell who would be in charge of charging the four men.

As I said in the beginning of sitting down with this (and in fairness it has taken me a few days to pull it all together), it did not take me long before I realized something was not right with this case. I think my first inkling came when I saw that Simons had arrested Deeb alleging that he had confessed to the crime and that the target was Kenneth Franks due to the two men having a contentious relationship but then after having to drop charges re-arrested him a year later, but with a different motive in mind. It just seemed to me to be stretching it. It felt as if he believed Deeb was guilty and he did not care why. I am unsure if I have ever researched a case like this. Yes, sure, there have been cases with multiple victims in which the investigators may believe that one of the victims was the target only to either determine or believe later that the true target was a different victim, so that part is not necessarily unusual. However, I do not believe I have ever seen a case in which a motive against one victim is believed, with a suspect not just believed to be involved, but actually arrested and then to see the same suspect arrested with a completely different motive and target. Obviously the Melendez brothers and Spence had criminal records (remember they were in prison for other crimes when they were all arrested) but I am unsure about Deeb and I am left to wonder why Simons was apparently so convinced and focused on him. Was it because he really did initially believe he was involved and his co-workers apparently taunted him when he had to release him? Did he have a personal grudge against Deeb? I do not know and apparently Simons will never say as he continues to tell the press that the idea of any of the four men being innocent is absurd.

If you are a pro-death penalty person this is a case that should severely have you questioning if that is the right position to take. Not only do capital murder trials cost more money to the taxpayer, but all the legality that follows is actually more expensive than if the person had received a life sentence. No one wants to see an innocent person sent to prison but at least is one is sentenced to life there is a chance to right a wrong. Death is final and there is no going back and fixing that.