The Murder of Nathan and Krystal Maddox

 

While most cases of murder are “senseless” this case seems even more so than others. What makes it even worse is that there were signals that things could have turned violent and there were even many people who seemed to know that there was a plan. It is unclear if any of those people reported anything to the police, but there are reports that the victims had contacted the authorities on several occasions and that the local district attorney was made aware of these reports and yet nothing had been done.

Before I get into the complete story I want to point out that my research was quite difficult. One of the first things I came across stated that the date of the murders was January 18, 2016. As I kept delving into information I realized that the actual date was January 18, 2014. Then there was an issue with names. I found Kirsten Westfall's name spelled differently several times, as well as her daughter Madison, as it was spelled Maddison more than once. In addition to this when it came to Kirsten every article on the story listed her as Kirsten Westfall. Officially and legally her name was Kirsten Maddox which caused confusion when looking into the Department of Corrections but was helpful in finding an appeal that was filed that also helped in confirming other things that were in contention. The last one that I will mention here is the name of Lloyd Paul Westfall. Initially my information called him Lloyd, without the middle name. I believe this was the same article that had the wrong year of the murder. Everything else I found, except the appeal, listed his name as Paul. So, technically both were correct but he went by the name Paul. I confirmed the Lloyd through the appeal, as well as his name through the Department of Corrections.

On January 18, 2014 Nathan Maddox and his wife of just over a year, Krystal were leaving Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Colmesneil Texas, a rural community about 110 miles northeast of Houston, when they were both shot and killed in the parking log. They had been at the church that Saturday morning having a visit with Nathan's five year old daughter, Madison.

Nathan had previously been married to Kirsten Westfall. I was unable to determine when their marriage, and later, their divorce occurred. Because of that I could not determine how old their daughter was when they separated. What I can say is that upon their divorce Kirsten had received custody of their daughter and it was said that she prevented Nathan from having any contact with her for a period of at least nine months. Over time Nathan had posted his story and quest to be reunited with his daughter on a website. He said his fight for his daughter began in 2011.

At the time of Nathan and Krystal's murder Kirsten was living with her parents, Letha and Lloyd “Paul” Westfall and her younger brother, Cameron. The family, or at least the parents, were members of Mount Carmel Baptist Church. Kirsten apparently had a drug problem and in January of 2014 she was out on bond after being charged with the “delivery” and possession of meth. This arrest was apparently far from her first. There was a bit of confusion surrounding this time and the custody of her daughter, Madison. Many articles stated that Kirsten retained custody of her daughter but then there were a few that claimed Letha and Paul had custody of her and appeal papers I later found confirmed this. However, it is not completely clear whether Kirsten had voluntarily done this or whether Child Protective Services (CPS) had stepped in and did this. Part of the problem here is that when Kirsten was not serving time after an arrest or apparently out “running around” she lived with her parents and it was even said that Madison shared a bed with her mother so it is unclear just how much difference her parents having custody really made. One thing my research made very clear was that Kirsten did not want Nathan to have any contact with Madison, let alone have a chance at custody so I do suspect that she may have voluntarily given her parents “possession” of Madison thinking, or knowing, they would likely have a better chance of keeping her than she would if and when Nathan attempted to have contact or custody.

Relations between Nathan and Krystal and the Westfalls were less than kosher. I could never find anything in great detail however on specifics. There were several reports that the couple feared the Westfalls and even that they had received threats. Nathan's mother, Kelly, would later say that the couple made several police reports of things (again, nothing specific) that were never followed up on by law enforcement or the local district attorney. There was also a report that in October of 2013 Nathan and Paul had engaged in a confrontation but I was not able to determine exactly what that had been about. At some point it appears that there were mutual protective orders between the couple and the Westfall family.

Nathan had retained attorney, Ryan Deaton, to defend him against the PO brought against him, to pursue one against the Westfalls and to help him gain custody of his daughter. Deaton would have a wealth of information including letting law enforcement know not just what was going on in the custody of Madison, but also who knew what and when. According to Deaton only he, Nathan and Krystal and the Westfall family knew where visitation would take place on January 18^th. A month before Nathan had been “awarded a series of visits that would have likely led to full custody of Madison.” This particular visit was said to be the last one that would be supervised by Leatha Westfall and a “neutral third party.” The next visit would be a day visit with the couple at their home and an overnight visit would follow.

But, of course the couple never made it. They arrived at the church a little after nine that morning and at 12:25 a 911 call was made stating that there had been a shooting outside the church and at least one person was “down.” When law enforcement and paramedics arrived they found both Nathan and Krystal Maddox dead. Both had been shot in the head. Five year old Madison Maddox had been inside the church during the shooting but thankfully only heard the shots and did not see the shooting.

Everyone that knew the couple, including those in law enforcement, were convinced that the Westfalls were responsible but of course they had to prove things. CPS stepped in fairly quickly it seems. They decided to remove Madison from the home on the premises that they feared that it was possible that somehow her life was in danger considering the shooters had not been identified. She was placed in a foster home that was said to have been at an undisclosed location. I suspect that the reason given by CPS was not completely on the up and up. I believe they took her knowing that investigators were looking to build a case against the Westfalls. It is also possible that they removed her realizing that it is likely that she should have been removed sooner. Soon after Leatha and Paul continued their pursue custody of Madison (first they were apparently fighting Nathan, now it was the state and others). CPS had argued that they had done a home visit and found things that were unsuitable for the child, including finding meth in the home, a gun that was easily accessible to the child and even issue with the home itself including sewage in the yard of the home. Letha would claim that the bag of meth found in her room was not for her use but something that she kept to keep control of her daughter and hence keep her granddaughter. She claimed that Kirsten knew that if she made any attempt to take Madison away from them or apparently anywhere that her mother would turn the meth over to the police and have her charged. My research indicated that both of Nathan's parents (each separately as they had each remarried) had also filed for custody of the child. One article indicated that CPS favored Nathan's mother, Kelly Haggard, in gaining custody. I was never able to determine just who retained custody of the child. What I can is that Kelly sadly passed away in July of 2018 at the age of fifty-six.

It did not take long for all of the pieces of the investigation to fall together, especially considering that they had a very cooperative suspect at hand. On March 11^th, less than two months after the murders, the Tyler County sheriff conducted a “felony traffic stop” in the exact same parking lot in which the couple had been murdered. Just after 8:00 that evening four arrests were made. Arrested were Paul and Letha Westfall and their two children, Kirsten and Cameron. The four were initially charged with “engaging in organized criminal activity.” This was because at this point investigators were not completely certain who the shooters were. Due to the fact that there had been evidence of a 30-30 rifle and a .20 gauge shotgun being used they believed that there were two shooters.

For his part Cameron Westfall had appeared to be completely cooperative with the investigators and help put a lot of the pieces together. However of course investigators could not completely go on the word of one of the suspects so they had to gather other evidence and witnesses. I will start with Cameron's story and what he claimed he knew. I will say that while it is often the case in which a suspect will tend to tell a story that lessens their own involvement in a crime that does not appear to be the case with Cameron. His sister would be another story much later but both investigators and prosecutors believed that Cameron's story was the true story.

According to Cameron, his sister Kirsten was the first to bring up the idea of “getting rid” of Nathan. She did not want him to have anything to do with their daughter Madison. Cameron said that after the incident between Paul and Nathan in October of 2013 both Paul and Letha were now on board with this idea too. Kirsten had claimed that she could get someone to do the deed for her. She apparently tried, reaching out to two different friends, Justin Reynolds and Cody Shaver, separately asking them to take care of Nathan for her. Both men refused but would later say that Paul and/or Letha had also spoken to them and all had said if they could not find someone to do the deed they would do it themselves.

Cameron stated that after the murders he was told by his father and sister that they had been hiding in the woods near the church and had shot the couple. They had hidden their clothes and the weapons in the woods. Later Letha would wash their clothes and Cameron was told to “get rid” of the guns and other evidence. Cameron would eventually take investigators to one pond in which they would find a bag with the murder weapons and duct tape inside. He would lead them to another pond in which they would find a glove that allegedly Paul Westfall had used, inside the glove would be ammunition and cartridges used in the murder.

Cameron was offered a deal. He would be charged with two counts of tampering with evidence if he would continue his cooperation and testify, if needed against his family. He would face between 2 and 10 years for each count at sentencing. His sentencing was delayed until the other three suspects cases ended to ensure that Cameron kept up his end of the deal.

Investigators would find text messages and evidence of a pinging app on Kirsten's phone that allowed them to piece together things also. Investigators knew that Letha Westfall was in the church at the time of the shooting so they knew she had not been the shooter. However, they did find evidence that she had text messaged Paul and Kirsten and told them that the couple was preparing to leave the church.

Letha Westfall would also take a plea bargain. Most articles indicate that she pleaded guilty to capital murder but that is not the case. According to the Texas Department of Corrections, as well as an appeal later filed by Kirsten, Letha actually pleaded guilty to her original charge of engaging in an organized criminal act. She would receive a life sentence with parole after thirty years, making her eligible parole at the age of eighty-six, in the year 2044.

Initially, in May of 2014 Paul would be declared “incompetent” to stand trial. However, four months later that would be reversed. It was said that by the time Kirsten would stand trial Letha and Cameron had accepted plea deal (although as pointed out above, Cameron's sentencing was delayed) and Paul had confessed to the crime. Initially it seemed that both Kirsten and Paul would take their cases to trial but in the end it would only be Kirsten who would go to trial. Paul too would eventually plead guilty to two counts of first degree murder. Like his wife he would receive a life sentence and be eligible for parole in the year 2044. Paul would not accept this plea until after Kirsten's trial in 2016 and just a short while before his own trial was to begin.

Kirsten stuck to her guns though and went to trial in August of 2016. She even testified at her trial. She seemed to agree with everything that Cameron had told investigators, and testified to at her trial except she claimed the roles were reversed between she and Cameron. She repeatedly claimed that her parents were sacrificing her for the sake of their son, her brother, as they had always “sheltered” him. Prosecutors did not believe this to be true. It had been shown that while it was true that Paul and Letha had “sheltered” Cameron quite a bit that it was Kirsten, not Cameron, that engaged in hunting and things of that sort. It was said that Cameron was not into those types of things. It was determined, or at least believed, that Cameron was the type that would have simply done as he was told to do by his parents so theoretically if he had been told to shoot the couple it is possible that he would have, but prosecutors did not believe that to be the case.

Investigators and prosecutors would say that the Westfalls, particularly Kirsten and her parents, “were worried Nathan was doing better in life and might get custody of the little girl.” Nathan's attorney believed this to be true. He believed that the courts had set up these steps on visitation to re-acquaint Madison with her father and that would lead to him gaining custody of the child. The lawyer also testified about Nathan's quest and fight to even seen the child and that he had expressed fear of the Westfalls. I am fairly certain, although I cannot prove, that the confrontation between Paul and Nathan a few months before the murders and likely other issues that had been reported to the police were discussed at the trial in detail. While, as I said I cannot prove this, I believe there is absolutely no way the prosecution would have left these details out. They would have solidified the motive the prosecution was claiming and made their case stronger.

In every situation it seems that Kirsten refused to admit any involvement or complicity in the murders. Her defense consistently claimed that Kirsten's parents had set her up to take the fall. Kirsten claimed that basically everyone was lying when they claimed her involvement. In one particular area prosecutors stated that Cameron had claimed that he had been told that the duct tape that he was told to hide had been used to wrap around Kirsten at the time of the murder so that it altered her appearance if she was seen and would make her look more like a man. She of course denied this but it was said that between Cameron's statement and “forensics” (although not specific) this was proven to be true.

Despite her denial of being involved, after eight hours of deliberation the jury returned a verdict of guilty on August 18, 2016. The families of the victims had already asked that the death penalty not be sought and Kirsten was given an automatic sentence of life without parole. She immediately filed an appeal of the case which delayed her entry into the Texas DOC for a while. Apparently in Texas, at least at the time, and rumor is that it has since changed, any inmate who has filed an appeal is held in the county jail. So Kirsten was held in the Tyler County jail until her appeal was decided. I can only assume that the appeal I did find was this first one because oddly I could not find a date on it. Initially I actually believed it had not been heard, or another appeal was in the works when I could not find Kirsten in the list of inmates at the DOC. Then I realized that despite every article in my research naming her Kirsten Westfall, her legal name was Kirsten Maddox, hence finding the appeal and her name in the DOC.

After Kirsten's trial her father took a plea deal and then her brother, Cameron was officially sentenced. He received a sentence of ten years.

Cameron is not listed in the Texas Department of Corrections at this time. I can say that in 2018 he was up for parole and the parole board denied his request saying that they felt he should serve his entire sentence until the year 2024 but it seems he was up for parole yearly. It appears that he was denied again in 2019. In January of 2020 a Facebook page dedicated to Nathan and Krystal, and ran by Krystal's mother, asked people to write in to keep Cameron behind bars. There is no other mention of this on the page. I can only assume with the issues involving COVID-19 and the push to lower prison populations that he was likely released but I cannot say this for certain.

I found something else odd in my research. After the murders Nathan and Krystal had a double funeral but it appears that Nathan was cremated while Krystal was buried in a local cemetery. I simply found it odd that they were not buried together or both cremated. Nathan's obituary is posted on the Findagrave website but it took a bit to find Krystal's. I wanted to see both to figure a few things out. It had been reported that the couple had left five children behind. I was a bit confused at first when I saw two daughters named Madison Maddox listed in Nathan's obituary. One was listed as “Little Madi.” After finding Krystal's obituary and seeing the same and doing a little research I think I may have figured things out. Three of the five children carried the Maddox name, the two Madison's and a son named Mason. Two other children carried a different last name. The oldest child of all of the five was the older Madison. She graduated from high school in 2020. While it is possible that Nathan had two daughters with the same last night I find it more probable that the oldest was Krystal's child from a previous relationship and Nathan adopted her, although it would not be out of the question that I am wrong in that assumption. I also believe that the couple were both the biological parents of Mason.

The last thing I want to touch on in this story is the issues surrounding then Tyler County District Attorney Lou Ann Cloy. My research was a bit sketchy as some indicated she was elected in 2014, indicating that it would have been late in the year and long after the murders. Other information indicated that she took office in January of 2014, the same month of the murders. It is unclear what position she may have held before that time or what information she was given when taking office. Krystal's mother has been quoted as saying that she held Cloy partially responsible for the murders saying she “knowingly ignored” reports of violent behavior and threats against Nathan and Krystal. But, Cloy's story is one like no other that I have heard before.

In July of 2016, right around the time Kirsten Westfall's trial was to begin (although it had been moved to another county due to publicity), a judge had actually sent a letter to Cloy asking her to step down from her position. It seems at this point the judge felt she had been actively neglecting her duties as district attorney. “Her ejection began with a petition drive seeking her removal citing absence from work and neglect of an increasing backlog of cases.” In May of 2018 Cloy was suspended from her duties until a hearing could be held. It had been alleged that from the time of January 2017 until her suspension, sixteen months later, she did not “attend a single court date, hearing, trial or Grand Jury date.”

In August of 2018 a jury trial was actually held to determine whether Cloy should remain in office. It was said she did not even attend her own trial. She was removed from office, being accused of “incompetence and misconduct.”