Kentucky Fried Chicken Murders /// Part 2 /// 858

Summary

True Crime Garage Episode 858: Kentucky Fried Chicken Murders /// Part 2

Introduction

In Episode 858 of True Crime Garage, hosts Nic and the Captain delve deeper into the chilling case of the Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) murders that occurred in Kilgore, Texas, in 1983. This episode builds upon Part 1, providing a comprehensive exploration of the investigation, the suspects, and the challenges faced by law enforcement over the years.

Overview of the KFC Murders

The episode begins with Nic recounting the horrifying events of the KFC massacre. On a fateful night in 1983, five individuals—Mary Tyler, David Maxwell, Joey Johnson, Opie Hughes, and Monty Landers—were brutally murdered following a robbery at the local KFC restaurant. The victims were later found in a remote oil field in Rusk County, approximately 14 miles south of Kilgore. Each victim was shot in the back of the head with a large-caliber weapon, and the nature of the killings suggested a level of brutality that went beyond a simple robbery.

Nic describes the gruesome discovery: "Four of the bodies, the men and Mary Tyler, were found together, lined up as if they had been executed one by one... the last one must have faced abject terror." (03:00)

Initial Investigation Challenges

The investigation faced significant hurdles from the outset. Being 1983, law enforcement lacked the advanced technology that could have provided more definitive evidence. Nic emphasizes, "The investigation was hampered mostly by the lack of technology to conclusively analyze and give hardcore evidence to the physical evidence that they had at the time" (07:50). Additionally, multiple victims and crime scenes complicated the efforts, with little to no eyewitness accounts available.

Inter-agency communication further hindered progress. Kilgore resides in both Greg and Rusk counties, leading to jurisdictional confusion. Nick explains, "The Kilgore Police Department responding to the abduction site and robbery at the KFC because it is the city of Kilgore... but you have the murder scene where the bodies are found, where the victims were killed in Rusk County" (18:00). This overlap resulted in fragmented resources and inconsistent investigative approaches.

Suspects and Evidence

The podcast details the primary suspects: Jimmy Mankins Jr. and Romeo Pinkerton, cousins with criminal backgrounds. Mankins Jr., a known drug trafficker, became a focal point due to his alibi and subsequent evidence linking him to the crime. "Mankins Jr. is 30 years old at the time, has multiple brushes with the law, mostly thanks to his habit of trafficking drugs" (31:15). Blood evidence played a crucial role, with type O blood found at the scene matching Mankins Jr. Additionally, a sliver of a fingernail from one of the victims was later linked to him, though initially deemed insufficient for conviction (39:00).

Significantly, Darnell Hartsfield, Pinkerton's cousin, was also implicated. Although initially passing a polygraph test, further DNA analysis eventually connected him to the crime. Nick notes, "By Christmas time, all the leads had pretty much dried up in this case... until 2001 that they finally turned a major corner on this case when they linked DNA from the blood evidence to Romeo Pinkerton" (50:00).

Developments Over the Years

As years passed, advancements in forensic technology provided new avenues for investigation. In 1995, after a grand jury convened in Rusk County, both Pinkerton and Hartsfield were indicted. Their trials, however, were fraught with challenges. Mankins Jr. eventually admitted to certain aspects of the crimes but maintained his innocence regarding the murders, leading to conflicting narratives and incomplete convictions.

The episode highlights the pivotal moment in 2001 when DNA evidence conclusively linked Pinkerton to the murders, finally providing the necessary proof for his conviction. "One major piece of evidence was that the blood type matches and the fingernail shard found on Joey Johnson noted a connection to Mankins Jr." (42:00).

Conclusion and Current Status

By the time the episode concludes, Darnell Hartsfield had passed away in prison from a stroke in 2022, effectively sealing his fate without the possibility of further appeals or parole. Romeo Pinkerton remains incarcerated, awaiting further legal proceedings. The possibility of a third perpetrator remains, as some evidence suggests, though this individual has never been apprehended.

Nic and the Captain reflect on the enduring impact of the case, emphasizing the relentless pursuit of justice despite numerous setbacks. They recommend further reading to listeners interested in delving deeper into the case, including "The KFC Murders: The Deadly Saga of the Infamous East Texas 1983 KFC Massacre" by Jackie Hilborn Simmons and Kenneth Dean, as well as relevant episodes of Cold Case Files.

Notable Quotes

• Nic: "This was leading authorities to believe that she had found the opportunity to try to escape... still clutching clumps of dirt and grass in her hand." (06:30)

• The Captain: "Yeah, hashtag ban the van." (14:58)

• Nic: "It's like a good plaster cast of those tire tracks... really disrupted." (21:17)

• The Captain: "All right, everybody gather round, grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime." (03:15)

Recommended Reading

• The KFC Murders: The Deadly Saga of the Infamous East Texas 1983 KFC Massacre by Jackie Hilborn Simmons and Kenneth Dean
• Cold Case Files with Bill Curtis, episode titled "Friday Night Ghost"

For more detailed information and additional resources, listeners are encouraged to visit TrueCrimeGarage.com.

Final Thoughts

Episode 858 provides a thorough examination of the KFC murders, illustrating the complex interplay between technology, inter-agency cooperation, and the relentless drive for justice in cold cases. Nic and the Captain offer insightful analysis and maintain a captivating narrative throughout, making this episode a must-listen for true crime enthusiasts seeking an in-depth understanding of one of East Texas's most notorious unsolved crimes.

Transcript

[Nick]

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[The Captain]

So whether you're buying your first home.

[Nick]

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[The Captain]

Dr. Horton America's Builder and equal housing opportunity builder.

[Nick]

It's Wednesday. Adams, I see you're trying to distract.

[Adams]

Yourself from your own banal thoughts. Let me help.

[Nick]

Here's a recording thing made of my latest root Canal.

[The Captain]

Wednesday Season 2 begins August 6th only.

[Adams]

On Netflix.

[Nick]

Foreign welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, thanks for listening. I'm your host, Nick, and with me, as always, is a man who is waiting like a stalking butler. Here is the captain.

[The Captain]

Well, if I'm stalking people, I don't know if it's good to be seen and good to see you because that means I'm caught. But thanks for listening and thanks for telling a friend.

[Nick]

This one is my new summertime friend. This delicious beer is called no Colonel Sanders, you're wrong by Trail Point Brewing Company. This is a hazy IPA with a wave of pineapple, pear melon and citrus ABV 7.4% garage grade, four and a half bott caps out of five. And here's some cheers to our friends. Thank you for helping us out with this week's show. First up, a shout out to Marque and the dude from Casper, Wyoming.

[The Captain]

And a big we like the jeep goes out to Ratch from Port Arthur, Texas.

[Nick]

Here's a cheers to Jessica and Matamora's Pennsylvania.

[The Captain]

And a big tall canes in the air goes to Gina from Sonoma County, California or California.

[Nick]

Here's a cheers to Mr. Bestin from parts unknown, Colorado. And last but certainly not least, we have a trip fisted cheers, which is very hard to do. That goes out to Julie, Monica and Michaela from Poke, New Mexico. Everybody we just mentioned went to true crimegarage.com clicked on the pint glass and helped us out with this week's beer run for the beer fund. And for that we thank you.

[The Captain]

Yeah, BWR you in beer run. If you need more True Crime Garage for your earballs, check us out on Patreon or Apple podcast subscription. And Colonel, that's enough of the business.

[Nick]

All right, everybody gather round, grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's and let's talk some true crime. Terry Picard, president of Fast Stop Foods and chairman of the Kilgore Chamber of Commerce Retail Merchants committee, posted a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the people who killed five people after a robbery. He had this to say to the Kilgore News Herald. Kilgore has been shocked and horrified by the horrible, senseless, cruel, terrible, terrible deaths of some of our friends and loved ones. The merciless massacre and slaughter of the five people at Kentucky Fried Chicken has left our town and the families of Mary Tyler, David Maxwell, Joey Johnson, Opie Hughes and Monty Landers terror stricken, completely deflated and emotionally drained. I am calling the merchants and citizens of our town to band together and get mad. It's alright and it's normal for us to be sick right now, but we must absolutely do our part to prevent anything similar from ever striking our town. Five bodies, five victims, all taken from the Kilgore KFC the night before, were discovered in a Rusk county oil field about 14 miles south of Kilgore. All had been shot in the back of the head with a large caliber weapon. Four of the bodies, the men and Mary Tyler, were found together, lined up as if they had been executed one by one. They were laying face down on the ground, side by side with their heads resting on their hands in a somewhat relaxed position. Although some were found with their hands covering their eyes, it is not too difficult to imagine the abject terror the last one must have faced once he or she realized the assailants were going down the line, shooting the victims one after the other. Opie, as we had said in part one, was found apart from the rest, about 20 to 50 yards away. Sources say both distances and in some sources saying distances between 20 to 50 yards. I've seen reports of 20, 30, 40, 50 yards. It sounds like at minimum it's 20 yards at maximum, probably closer to 50 yards away from the other victims. This was leading authorities to believe that she found the opportunity to try to escape. She was clutching clumps of dirt and grass in her hand and was still in her KFC uniform with her name tag on the lapel. All the victims were robbed, their pockets turned inside out, and each victim had been shot at least once. Reports revealed that the five victims had been shot a total of 11 times. David, Monty and Opie were shot twice in the back of the head. Mary was shot in the head and the back, and Joey suffered gunshot wounds to the head, neck and lower side. Slugs taken from each victim were sent to Ballistics for analysis. Authorities did not intentionally reveal the type of caliber of weapon at the time, only saying the victims had been shot with both large and small calibers. Although about $2,000 had been taken from the KFC restaurant, the nature of the killing suggested overkill and a motive far beyond simple robbery. And that's kind of where we left things hanging at the end of part one. This is an incredibly complicated case, and I think a lot of this has to do with the complications faced by the time period. It's 1983, and I feel as. As much as this investigation has been criticized over the decades, I personally feel that the investigation was hampered mostly by the lack of technology to conclusively analyze and give hardcore evidence to the physical evidence that they had at the time. Evidence that will lead to an arrest and conviction.

[The Captain]

Yeah, I agree. Being 1983, lack of technology, but also multiple victims, multiple crime scenes, little to no eyewitness accounts.

[Nick]

When we take a look at this on its surface, and even once you get into the details of this case, it's. It's often thought that shares similarities to some other cases and some that we have covered here in the garage. Some people point out to the Lane Bryant shooting case. Some point out the yogurt shop case that also took place in Texas. To me, this one most mirrors the Burger Chef case from Indiana in the greater Indianapolis area. That case to this day is still unsolved. And the reason why I think this one is very similar, right? Most people say, oh, the Browns Chicken massacre from Illinois would be similar. Well, great, they both serve chicken. But here, a big part of this case and one of the major details here is that the victims were removed from the restaurant, Five victims abducted, moved and killed at another location. Where. Which is actually the same thing that happened, unfortunately, at the Burger Chef case, which still sits unsolved all of these years later. Texas Ranger Stuart Dow said that at least one of the murder weapons was probably a.38 caliber pistol, but that two guns were used, implying that there were two, perhaps even three persons, perpetrators involved, three potential murderers. Here. A piece of broken fingernail was found on the belt loop or waistband. Again, sources vary on that detail of victim Joey Johnson. This is going to play a big role in this investigation and this story here. Authorities also agreed that the offenders were likely familiar with the area, perhaps even somewhat local or very local, since they appear to be obviously familiar with the winding, rugged roads leading to the remote Royal Oil field, which, of course, was the eventual dump site or the kill location for this particular. Heinous crime. They theorized, they being law enforcement, that the victims may have even known at least one of their captors. Well, and heartbreakingly may have assumed that they would be released after having been robbed. Scared and roughed up a little. Police felt the relaxed position of the heads on their hands may have indicated at least some measure of trust. I don't know that I, I, I, I think that, yes, we can speculate on that. And that's all you're left to do when you're law enforcement in this case, looking at what is presented to you. I don't know, I, I, to me, and I guess we said this yesterday, to me, the only reason for removing these individuals from the location is either one of them identified you or one of the persons involved in the robbery, or you were met with resistance that you did not anticipate. The victims were laid to rest the following week. We talked about some of the evidence. Let's get into some other findings and maybe some potential leads here. Captain. So immediately after the discovery of the bodies, searchers on foot and horseback comb through the murder site at that oil field. They're fanning out for four miles in every direction looking for clues. All they find was a rag and a shirt, but could not confirm a tie to any of the victims for either of these items. Likely this is probably just debris that one would have found out in this field whether there was a murder that had taken place or not. As the days wore on, authorities grew frustrated at the lack of leads in the case when they were at the crime scene. Here's the deal, man. They're, they're hoping to find fingerprints. And I know that sounds like a no duh statement here, but it's, you got to factor that it's 1983.

[The Captain]

Yeah.

[Nick]

And the, the fingerprint here is your DNA, essentially. Right. What we, we would hold that to the same degree as what we would consider DNA evidence to this day, to current day. A lot of this is your left with no survivors and no eyewitnesses. So you are basing the entirety of your investigation off of physical evidence and what evidence and clues you can find at both of these scenes.

[The Captain]

In layman's terms, today, if you find DNA, you go, got him. But back in 1983, you find a fingerprint. Got him.

[Nick]

As far as analysis and fingerprints and blood and all that goes with some of the different information that we've reviewed as the days wore on, the best they could get here is, remember, we have that pool of blood that was found inside the restaurant. They did confirm that that blood was human blood. Police, frustrated by the lack of leads in the case, called for psychics for their assistance. They even brought, physically brought two psychics out to the oil field, to the field where the bodies were found. They were hoping to maybe get some information, maybe some out of the box thinking or ideas here. They say that that really led to nothing. They learned nothing new. We know that they were hoping to find fingerprints at the KFC suspect prints. But the place is going to be littered with prints. Employee prints, customer prints, vendor prints, they're going to be all over the place. The whole restaurant is one big Where's Waldo. And you're looking for a thumbnail sized piece of barely visible evidence.

[The Captain]

But we have this blood. Does the blood match one of the victims or is this blood from one of the killers?

[Nick]

Well, at the time you're simply going to do blood typing and what your analysis will find is that it's type O blood. That's really all they're working with then and there in 1983. But this, this blood is going to play a pivotal role in this case, in investigation as it drags on through the years. And again, we have that van theory to pursue. Remember the potential that this white van was possibly involved in the robbery abduction homicides.

[The Captain]

Hashtag ban the van.

[Nick]

So early on, one thing that investigators learned was that a white 1981 Ford van had been stolen that Friday night in nearby Longview, Texas. So this potentially matches or at least aligns with the description of the van that had been seen parked at the back of the restaurant. This is going to spark the interest of the detectives for obvious reasons, because police suspected that the five victims had likely been transported to the field where they met their fate by a van or maybe a similar large vehicle, large sized vehicle. However, authorities quickly dismissed this stolen van as being linked to the actual crime because they learned that the theft happened somewhere between 10:15 and 10:30pm Thus ruling it out because it does not allow enough time for the vehicle to make its way from where it was stolen from to the abduction site. So you're still looking for a van, just not this one. Interestingly, yet another van had also reportedly been seen at and near the field where the bodies were discovered. And I've read a few different reports on this other van that was spotted. Some of them say white van, some of them say light colored van. And at least one report says that they spotted somebody had seen a blue van. Forget what color it is. Here's what I find incredibly interesting and probably very helpful to your investigation. It's a van. A van was spotted at the abduction scene. And now you have sources telling you that a van was spotted regardless of what color at the murder scene.

[The Captain]

Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think because of the eyewitness you would lean towards van. But because the, the, because of the shell casing and because of the, the different caliber of guns, it's, it is possible that hey, meet me at the KFC and we're going to go rob this place together. And you have more than one vehicle.

[Nick]

Absolutely. It's also possible that, yeah. That a different type of vehicle was used. I, but where I don't move on from is when I have multiple sources telling me that a, that a vehicle very similar in description is spotted at two of the crime scenes. Right. So I have three crime scenes. I know what two of those crime scenes are. The third one, I don't know what it is. That third crime scene could have been a frickin van for all I know.

[The Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

So the Kilgore police, they set up a tip line to collect information from people who claim to have information about the robbery or murders. Officially, Rusk county authorities were assigned to investigate the murders since they occurred in their county. And then remember we have Kilgore Police Department officers were charged with investigating the robbery. Look, this is how worked back then. And I hate this, it seems so damn dumb. It's like I don't get it. It's like, oh, the murders. And this is the other problem. We started off at the top of show one. Purposely pointing out that one thing that is unique about this city, most cities aren't this way, at least where I live anyway. But this city resides in two different counties. A portion of it is in Greg County, a portion of it is in Russ County. The abductions took place in Greg county, the murders took place in Russ County. And here you have Kilgore Police Department responding to the abduction site and robbery at the kfc because it is city of Kilgore and that's who got the call. But you have the murder scene where the bodies are found, where the victims were unfortunately killed in Rusk County. And when that was phoned into law enforcement, that call was received by Rusk County Sheriff's Department.

[The Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

So you have investigating agencies. Now the good of that here, Captain, is you have more people power, more manpower, more woman power, whatever you want to call it, multiple law enforcement agencies and resources available to investigate what is ultimately an extension of the same crime.

[The Captain]

Right. Double the resources.

[Nick]

But now you're also hoping that the communication is seamless.

[The Captain]

And we've seen in many cases that the communication becomes very muddy.

[Nick]

I can tell you from life experience, it's difficult to have seamless communication with, from one person to another, let alone agency to agency, outfit to outfit, when we're talking about multiple people and what is a complicated investigation. You know, I used to lead teams of people, and in one of the companies I worked for, there was a lot of growth opportunity. They, they were quick to promote people, which would come with a raise and a better title, maybe an. An office with a window in it, what have you. What I constantly saw, because there was so much opportunity for growth was people squabbling over credit, over, oh, you know, I did this, I did that, I made this achievement, I made that achievement. And what I used to always remind every one of the people that, that work for me on my teams, I go, that's nice and good, but keep in mind, when you're seeking all the credit, you can also catch all of the blame, Right? Again, I think they conducted a pretty good investigation here, but today this would have been handled differently. You would have had multiple agencies working hand in hand. They can say they were working hand in hand. In this case, I can see things, obvious signs where things weren't working so great hand to hand.

[The Captain]

Well, I think what makes it complicated in 1983 would have made it easier today because you would have multiple crime scenes that you could then process and maybe get touch DNA or actual DNA from the killers because you have more locations to be able to collect that information from. And I know you probably have a hard time communicating with me, but in my defense, I have what they call a relaxed brain.

[Nick]

One thing that is of particular interest to me here is that we never anywhere hear any mention of tire tracks. I would have. That would have been huge at the. On my list. That would have been at the top of my list of priorities, tire tracks. Regarding the murder scene, because we, we get this great description and all of this hypothesis, right, we get this educated guess and evidence indicators of, well, these victims were made to lie down. This victim, we can see evidence that she was attempting to flee. We can tell by the way that she fell and what the scene is telling us, that she had momentum when she went down, the rest of them didn't. So if you have indicators telling you that off of the weight of a person, I would expect to find tire tracks from the weight of a vehicle and. Or vehicles that transported seven to eight or more people to this location.

[The Captain]

But also, didn't you say that there was footprints found at the KFC in.

[Nick]

Flour inside the restaurant?

[The Captain]

So does that tell us anything? Does that tell it? Is it one set of footprints? Is it multiple footprints? Is it footprints from the victims or is it footprints from suspects that's going to.

[Nick]

And this is. So this is where I'm going. Same thought with the tire tracks. Because if the pumper, if, if Arthur Warlick, who arrives on the scene, just a man out there doing his job on a Saturday morning, if he pulls in and goes over top of those tire tracks, especially if it's just a single vehicle that made those tire tracks on. And tire tracks would be very important to me as an investigator for forget all the obvious reasons why they would be important. Like there's dozens of reasons why they'd be important. But to me, the number one would be to check that box. There will be certain tires that will be used on a vehicle of that size that will not be used on vehicles of other sizes. So that could confirm if you should be looking for a van or not. But if the pumper drives over top of those tracks, those are gone. And then when you talk about flower, I mean that if you sneeze, you mess up that portion of the crime scene, right? If you open a door, if there's any kind of breeze, it's flower. It's. It's not prints into dirt or mud. It's almost like a plaster caster. Sorry, a plaster cast of those tire tracks. This is sneeze and the flowers completely disrupted. So we have to believe that when Kim arrived shortly after 10:30pm to find the back door open and the flower having been spilled near the back door of the kfc that, that she and then the responding officer very likely completely disrupted the flower evidence that that might tell you the shoe size of persons that tracked through that flower. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile.

[Adams]

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[The Captain]

All right, we are back. Cheers mates. Cheers to you Colonel okay, just tell you a little something. Something about me Colonel that you might not know.

[Nick]

Sure.

[The Captain]

Back in the 70s when I used to go disco dancing, my nickname was.

[Nick]

The Pumper, the Plumper.

[The Captain]

I was known to plump and pump on the dance floor, pump and dump.

[Nick]

Shout out to the people in the back. Sorry you had to hear that. Now look, I. I'm thankful that they did get a bunch of other agencies involved. And let's read through this roster real quick here before we move on.

[The Captain]

Captain, the who's who's of the crime world.

[Nick]

Yeah, we already mentioned the Kilgore Police Department and the Rusk county authorities as well. But we also had Longview who was involved, which, which makes sense. Remember, we have the reported stolen vehicle, stolen van from a dealership in Longview, Texas. We also have Henderson police departments, which Henderson is quite nearby, where this all went down. Greg county obviously was involved because that's where the abduction and robbery took place. We have the Texas Attorney General's Office, the Department of Public Safety, Department of Wildlife, and the Texas Rangers aided in the investigation. Later on, the Tyler Police Department and that's going to become very obvious very soon why and how they got involved. Plus you're going to have FBI with joint efforts in on this as well. And a lot of it has to do with just not only the sheer brutality and heinousness of these crimes, but also the types of crimes committed, robbery, abduction, going across county lines, things of that nature. Now, less than a week after the murders, the Department of Public Safety asked Texas Ranger Captain G.W. burke to oversee the investigation into the abduction and murders of the five victims. The coordination between Rusk and Greg county law enforcement officials had. It started to break down quickly. Right. And that's something that I was alluding to earlier when I was talking about my dissatisfaction of divvying up investigating portions of the overall spectrum of this entire crime and the crimes committed. Berks, though, went on record very early on saying that he was confident the case was solvable. A few days later. This is early October. We get Texas Ranger Glenn Elliott, who interviewed potential eyewitness Star Spagano, the customer who had been at the KFC on the night of the crime. Star reported that while standing in line for her food, she overheard two of the staff openly discussing the fact that the bank deposit had not been made that day, leaving $2,000 in cash in the till. She recalled her surprise reaction to overhearing the conversation, adding that two African American males, young African American males, men, were in line behind her. And also an earshot of this interesting exchange discussing money inside the restaurant. After interviewing this woman about the men present at the KFC on the night of the murders, the Rangers reached out local jurisdictions. The Smith County Sheriff. This is another city and another county. Smith county at this point. So the Smith County Sheriff gets a. Gets a reach out from the Rangers here. On with this bit of information, they soon develop a lead. This is cousins Darnell Hartsfield and Romeo Pinkerton. So authorities learned that there was a warrant out for the arrest of Hartsfield in connection with a robbery of a Tyler Gross grocery store. Tyler, Texas grocery store. The crime had occurred just three days after the KFC murders, and Tyler was only about 30 miles away from Kilgore. So even today, if you pop into your map app, your favorite map app, you're going to see, depending on Route, it's 27 to 33 miles from Kilgore to Tyler, Texas.

[The Captain]

Right. Wasn't one of these individuals dis recently released from prison?

[Nick]

Yes, that's how the story goes. Now, in this grocery store robbery, thankfully, no one lost their lives. But the crimes were very similar in nature.

[The Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

Both had occurred near closing time or at closing time. Multiple perpetrators, multiple weapons were used to subdue the patrons. In both robberies, the register was emptied and the petty cash box cleaned. Out. But the most chilling similarity was that before the robbers left the store, the grocery store, they made the women lie on the floor with their heads on their hands until they had safely gotten away.

[The Captain]

Were they all made to lay in the same direction?

[Nick]

That details, as far as I know, has not been discussed.

[The Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

According to an article for the My Imagine. I would imagine that unless they were trying to conceal some kind of vehicle, if it was necessary to conceal some kind of vehicle, you're probably just having them lay wherever they stand, right? If you think about the nature of the oil field murders, you're marching them in there and you're like, all right, we've gone far enough. Lie down with your. Put your. Put your hands on the ground and lay down. According to an article in The Longview Journal, two weeks after the abduction and homicides, police announced on October 7 that they had developed persons of interest in the case. They informed the media that they were seeking three 1, 2, 3 Tyler men in their 20s for questioning and that one of them was believed to have driven a white van or be driving a white van at the time. All three of the men wanted for questioning had a history of armed robbery, and there was an arrest warrant out for one of them in relation to the September 26th Tyler Convenience Store, that grocery store robbery that we just discussed. So they're. They're looking for Hartsfield and Pinkerton for questioning about this grocery store robbery. But of course they're going to want to question them regarding KFC as well. That happened just three days prior. The third man that they're looking for is Elton Winston is his name. I've not been able to confirm this, but I believe that Winston was a roommate of one of the other individuals. So keep in mind Hartsfield and Pinkerton are cousins. Winston, I believe, is the roommate of one of these individuals. And I've seen several reports that say that the roommate of one of these individuals owned a white van. So authorities put together a wanted poster featuring these characters announcing that the two, at least Hartsfield and Pinkerton, were being sought for questioning in connection with the KFC robbery, abduction, homicides. Despite their efforts, Hartsfield was in the wind, could not be located. They did, however, catch up with Pinkerton. He. This goes along with what you were saying here, Captain. Seemed to have an airtight alibi for the night of the KFC murders. He said he was in prison on the day of the crime and had only been released days after the murder. So he's out in time to, I guess, potentially be involved in this Grocery store robbery.

[The Captain]

I think they even looked into this too. Right. And. And they're like, oh, his story checks out. He was in prison.

[Nick]

Well, since we're in the second half of the second episode, I think we can go ahead and burn a bridge and give out a spoiler alert here. You would hope that they reached out.

[The Captain]

Yeah.

[Nick]

Because what we would learn here is that while he says he was in jail or prison and at the time of the KFC murders, look, a couple of things happened. Either A, nobody checked. B, they checked, and again, there could have been a breakdown in communication, information wasn't correct, or C, they checked and the information was wrong. Because what we're going to learn years later is no, this was just a good story that this guy told. Yes, he was in jail. He's a career criminal. He was in jail or prison at one time, but not on the night of the KFC shootings. But here's where the investigation, I think, gets a little tangled up. Right. Because in addition to that robbery angle, we. We know robbery was the motive or at least played a big part in the motive because the money's all gone. But police were starting to hear these rumors, these local rumors about illegal drug trafficking as a possible motive for the murder. So the rumors here, as I understand them, Captain, are that there were drugs being sold out of that store, out of the KFC restaurant. The thought was that there was some high grade methamphetamine recipe that was being made somewhere, maybe it was being even made at the store, and that the. The drugs were being sold out of the store and hidden somewhere inside of the restaurant. So this is going to drive your investigation. Police then decide. We got to round up all these known drug users and distributors in the area. One of these individuals is a guy named Jimmy Mankins Jr. This is a resident of Kilgore, but he's like this local troublemaker, right? He's got a history of drug distribution. He's got a history of arrest. So they find this James Earl Makins Jr. And he's questioned by the Texas Rangers regarding his potential involvement in the KFC robbery and murders. He is the son, however, of Texas State Representative Jimmy Mink Mankins. So Jimmy Mankins, super great guy, but this apple fell very far from the tree because his son. Bag.

[The Captain]

I was just gonna say bag.

[Nick]

Yeah, Absolutebag.

[The Captain]

You took the shitbag right out of my mouth.

[Nick]

But can you figure out if this shitbag is a murderer or not? So this dude, he's 30. Junior, is 30 years old at the time, as Said he's got multiple brushes with the law, mostly thanks to his habit of trafficking drugs. And this man, you couldn't. The dominoes, how they fall, right? You start looking at this Mankins Jr. Guy, and here's what you figure out. Let's go back to jail. You find out he was actually released from jail that Friday, the Friday of the murders. What was he arrested for? An unlawful weapons charge. But then they figure out not only was he released in time to have been a part of the robbery and homicides, and, oh, he's a known drug trafficker. So if drugs were involved. And when you. 1983, when you're arriving on the scene, you got to think something else is at play. Like you said, you were the one that introduced the term overkill to this case. And it's spot on, my friend. And so when you're. When you're looking at the totality of this case and the crimes committed, you're going 2000 2500. This dollar amount, five murders. Doesn't make any sense. Just doesn't make any sense. Why the overkill? Why the brutality, the heinousness of this particular crime? And so you're learning that Menkins Jr. After you're talking to a bunch of people, you figure out, oh, he's released from prison or jail that day, and he. What's one of the first thing he does on that Friday? He borrows a.38 caliber pistol from one of his friends. Well, that's the same caliber as one of the guns used in the KFC shootings. It wouldn't be, Captain, until November 1st that authorities finally tracked down that Darnell Hartsfield. So they track him down and they charge him with the Tyler grocery store robbery. Hartsfeld is interviewed by the Texas Rangers regarding potential involvement in the KFC murders.

[The Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

But he passes a polygraph examination. So the investigators chose to move on, and they quit looking at Hartsfeld, and now they're back looking at Mankins Jr. The drug trafficker.

[The Captain]

Well, on this, like you said, this whole area has a problem with drugs. And you go, the KFC people working at the KFC would have something to do with drugs. There's a famous series from 2008 to 2013 called Breaking Bad. And we all should remember the chicken man. I wonder if that's where they. They actually got that idea from, is this murder. But now if you're law enforcement, we have these robberies. They're not that far apart, like you said, 27 to 30 miles away. But if they're connected Then there's a. There's not an escalation in the crimes. There's a de. Escalation. Right. So I wonder if that's another thing that played into detective and law enforcement's mind of, well, maybe these guys are involved in this one crime, but maybe they're not involved in this other crime, because this crime, they killed all the eyewitnesses and. And this other one, they didn't.

[Nick]

Well, I think so. There's a lot of reasons, I think, why they were looking at one guy over another. And I think this will clear a lot of that up. So, remember, we talked about it was November 1st that they finally tracked down Darnell Hartsfield. I don't have the exact date on when the polygraph examination was took place or when they came up with the results of that test, but I do know that six days later, during an interrogation conducted on their other guy, that they liked Jimmy Mankins Jr. He can. He consents to a blood test. Remember, they found blood at the kfc. The blood test comes back as type O, which was the same blood type as the blood found at the KFC restaurant. Also, during questioning, they noticed that this drug dealer, Behnkins Jr. His middle finger on his right hand has a torn fingernail. I get it. It's a month and two weeks later. But this, of course, is going to be of interest to your investigation. They take photographs of his fingers. They, in fact, take a mold and a cast of the finger that was missing the fingernails or, sorry, the fingernail. And authorities found a sliver of a fingernail under that waistband or belt loop of one of the murder victims, Remember? And the prevailing technology of the day, their thought was that the fingernail striations, that they were as unique as maybe even a fingerprint. So that if. If so, right? Like if. If I ripped off a portion of my fingernail, if it was large enough that they could compare that to fingernail clippings of mine and confirm if it belonged to me or not. That's the general thought here.

[The Captain]

And obviously, this is something that have to do in 1983 and not something that they would do today. They could simply just do DNA testing.

[Nick]

Here's the other part of this, too. Mankins consents to the blood test. He also consents to, sure, let's clip a bunch of my fingernails. You can have those as well. He consents to them taking a mold and cast of his finger that's missing, has the torn nail.

[The Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

They, again, the blood type matches. They say when they analyze this at The Southwestern Institute, the lab that we already mentioned, they say, yes, this is a match. This, this broken fingernail shard that we found on victim Joey Johnson matches Mankins Jr. Our suspect. But it was determined that it wasn't quite enough to charge and convict this dude with the murder. And all the reports out there say that by Christmas time, all the leads had pretty much dried up in this case. There was not a whole lot that. That happened as far as to advance this investigation throughout the winter, spring and summer. And when the first anniversary rolled around In September of 1984, the murderers were still out there. So time is ticking by. There's no new leads or breaks in the case.

[The Captain]

Yeah, but if you're in law enforcement, you're. You're kind of at the point where you go, well, there's no new leads, but we have these guys that we really think are involved in the crimes. We just can't prove it. Right. I mean, maybe they moved off of them to. To hunt down other leads. But if I'm law enforcement, I'm not taking these guys off my, My, My murder board.

[Nick]

Oh, absolutely not. I mean, you don't go, well, there's not enough to convict the guy, so we. We just remove him. This was. I thought this was interesting because this sounded more to me like something I would suspect to find when we were reviewing older cases from the 20s, 30s, 40s.

[The Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

But, you know, you get a whole year that goes by. No justice for these victims, no justice for their families. Then you have multiple years that go by. No justice for the victims, no justice for the families. As the 10th anniversary of the killings neared, there was an increased media attention and press attention regarding the still unsolved case. On the eve the night before the 10th anniversary, some family members asked Russ County DA Kyle Freeman to call in the state attorney general's office in attempt to reinvigorate this stalled investigation. A month later, he compiled, inviting the state attorney general's office to assume responsibility for the case. Now, the. The part of this that I would suspect that you would find in a much older case was the people of Kilgore. The longer that this drug on, and I think because the brutality and how many victims were involved, they were like openly getting more and more angry. They were bloodthirsty to find the. The perpetrators and punish them, not just Texas, capital punishment style. A lot of the locals were like, when we find these guys, we need to bring back a public execution. They should be beheaded in the middle of town. So, captain, it was around this 10 year time that we see that, we get that fingernail shard found on victim Joey Johnson. That sample is then sent to a new laboratory. This is sorry gene screen in Dallas for testing. Meanwhile, we have the rusk county that convened a grand jury in March of 1995. So for this grand jury, we have 15 witnesses that were subpoenaed, some of whom claimed that they had no idea why they were even called to testify. I think they were just freaking desperate by this point. The grand jury comprised of seven men and five women. Among the witness list were former state representative Jimmy Menkins and his son Jimmy Menkens Jr. And so he. This is all going to go back to the blood and that fingernail clipping that was found on the, on the victim. This grand jury session lasted, I believe, three hours. Mankins Jr. Testified in front of the grand jury in April of 95. Details of his testimony are not shared with the public, but two days after he testified in front of the grand jury, he was indicted on all five counts of capital murder for these homicides.

[The Captain]

Got him.

[Nick]

So by this time, it had been 11 years, seven months and four days since the brutal slayings in Russ county. They set the bail at two and a half million dollars, $500,000 for each of the five victims. Texas Attorney general Dan Morales announced that if Menkins Jr. Was found guilty of the crimes, his office would seek the death penalty. His trial was moved from nearby Henderson to Beaumont in July of 1995. The trial was supposed to start the 24th of July. It was delayed several times. I think it was delayed several times because I think the prosecution was still trying to build their case.

[The Captain]

Right, that makes sense.

[Nick]

So it actually doesn't start until November of 95.

[The Captain]

Well, because it's complicated because you have a crime with so many victims and there's evidence that there's not just one killer. So I think it'd be hard to put just one killer because basically. Am I making any sense? Because the defense team's going to go, yeah, well, you got the wrong guy. And by the way, there's more than one guy. And we, and we know because of the evidence there's more than one guy.

[Nick]

Well, think about the time that had passed. We talked about it been over 11 years between the murders and now we got somebody who is indicted.

[The Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

In this case, I'm, I'm thankful that that amount of time took place because technology has advanced and we have physical evidence that we can test. And what ultimately happens is they determined that that fingernail did not come from Mankins Jr. Even though the grand jury said go ahead and charge him and try him for the five murders. Right. So eventually they have to. The charges are dismissed. The case is going to go cold again. Mankins Jr. Does end up going to prison. I believe it was 10 years that he gets. But this was for something, a completely separate crime. This was for a federal drug charge.

[The Captain]

Well, like you said, he's a pack, so he's eventually going to get caught for doing something shitty.

[Nick]

But police and investigators, the FBI, the sheriff's departments, none of them ever gave up on this case. And we have all kinds of evidence again. It's not just the fingernail shard, but we also have blood evidence that was found at the robbery and abduction scene. These key pieces of evidence. So you have bloodstain on napkin. On a napkin. You also have a box that held cash register tape that contained blood on it. We had the puddle of blood that was found in the store as well. And we also mentioned that there was a small amount of blood on some of the file folders that was in the manager's office. It would take until 2001 that they finally turned a major corner on this case when they linked DNA from the blood evidence to Romeo Pinkerton.

[The Captain]

Old Pinkerton.

[Nick]

So one of your original suspects that you can never really tie 100% to the point of, hey, let's take this guy to court, take him to trial. Finally happens all of these years later, and you don't have to go very far to look for this dude because his ass is already sitting in prison for a completely other crime. He's. He's an inmate of the Texas department of corrections.

[The Captain]

Well, but I'm guessing law enforcement and prosecutors then threaten the death penalty because there's five victims.

[Nick]

Yeah. This is the part of the case that gets really strange for me because he's going to swear up and down that he's innocent. He's going to face, likely face the death penalty. And so then he has a change of heart. Remember, it appears they had moved on from him and moved on from Hartsfeld in part because of a past polygraph. And that's what amazes me. We're 10 years in on this garage business, this garage thing we're doing here. And we. We were talking about don't move on. On polygraph examination results. We were talking about that in the first 15 episodes that we did 10 years ago. This is a similar situation they. They moved on from him for. And I think part of that, too, is not just the polygraph But I think they thought they had a better suspect in Mankins Jr. And I think the evidence at the time was suggesting that Mankins Jr. Was a better suspect. It was just technology needed to catch up to what evidence they had.

[The Captain]

Also the narrative that they came up with makes more sense. There's some kind of drug deal going on. There's some kind of drug operation that, that means there's big money involved. Okay, well, so what, there's $2,000 missing from the register. But well, how many, how many thousands of dollars in drugs are missing? So I just think the narrative makes more sense. And, and then they're taken out to this oil field and they're executed. Like if you're law enforcement on some level you're going, there's no way somebody's going to do all this. Not somebody, but somebody's is going to do all this and kill these five people for, for what, $1500, $2000. And if you go with that narrative, you go, well, how many of these people that worked at the KFC were actually part of this drug operation? So they're not just innocent bystanders that are being killed. So I just think the narrative makes a little more sense.

[Nick]

Yeah. And into, to clear the deck here a little bit. That drug angle was just wrong. They were just wrong about that. And I think that that's where you have the imagination of the civilians in the area going. Why would they murder five people? There was hardly any money in the, there's only $2,000.

[The Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

And I think, remember it was local rumor that really started up that whole idea that there was a big drug angle here. And it's not a far fetched theory, but I think that that rumor fueled a. Some misdirection in the investigation. There was never, they were never able to ever prove any kind of drug angle. The only drug angle that's likely involved here is that your perpetrators of the robbery, abduction and homicides were probably drug users.

[The Captain]

Yeah. Or.

[Nick]

And they didn't go there looking for drugs, they went there looking for money and they found it. And if they were in fact one of the individuals or both the individuals that were standing in line, they heard that there was a bunch of money there.

[The Captain]

Well, I think the only drugs that were at that KFC were in the colonel's secret recipe.

[Nick]

Pinkerton, even though he swore up and down that he was innocent, maintained his innocence even after he pled guilty to the crimes.

[The Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

And you can say all day and night that he was innocent. His blood was found at the Abduction scene. Now his believed co conspirator, Darnell Hartsfield, he too claims he's innocent.

[The Captain]

Shit bag number two.

[Nick]

There are prisons filled with innocent people. Filled and filled with all these. Every. Nobody's done anything. They get, in 2003, they get a new grand jury to indict Darnell Hartsfeld.

[The Captain]

But they have no physical evidence against.

[Nick]

No.

[The Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

His blood and DNA was found at the abduction scene as well. So his DNA evidence from a spot of blood on the cashier's tape box put him at the KFC on the night of the murders. He was already facing other charges. He had been arrested previously arrested in Tyler, Texas. He was facing charges for burglarizing a Griffin elementary school as well as evading arrest in, in, in some case. So he continued to be a shitbag after the KFC murders. And blood and DNA evidence put both of these guys at the scene at the time of the abductions. I, again, I think that their blood being found at the scene is also indicative that they were faced with resistance that they didn't expect to find.

[The Captain]

Yeah, messed them up.

[Nick]

Yes, they were messed up and they decided we're going to retaliate. And I, if it were me there and I met with any kind of resistance, probably using one of the female victims to try to control and move the herd, if you want to call it that.

[The Captain]

Yeah. But good for somebody trying to stop this attack for trying to do something, because if they didn't get attacked, if they didn't leave their blood there, this, this crime might never be solved. Because as time passed, a lot of this evidence would just been lost or you could argue it's contaminated and these tests wouldn't matter.

[Nick]

So they lock him up on this aggravated perjury charge. He's found guilty of aggravated perjury. This is in 2005. He's not actually going to face trial for the actual murders until 2008. And this is the interesting spin and angle to this, this bizarre story, because what you have here is DNA evidence tells us that these guys were both present at the abduction and robbery, but neither of them are willing to admit that they had done it. Even though, even though one pled guilty, the one that pled guilty refused to. He didn't, he wouldn't testify and he didn't tell anybody what, what had happened. He wouldn't even point the finger at his co conspirator, his cousin.

[The Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

One thing that we would learn, this was like a big mystery in, in kind of a bomb drop was in 2002. They're reviewing. They're using a black light to go over the physical evidence that was found at the. At the scene and the victim's clothing. And when they do this with one of the female victims, they find semen, and they test this, the semen that was found on her clothing, and they determined that she very likely was raped before being killed. And the DNA from that does not match Pinkerton or Hartsfeld. So you have two guys that won't talk, two guys that are sent away.

[The Captain]

To prison, two guys claiming they're innocent.

[Nick]

And a third guy that you have no idea who he is. I'm hoping. Look, we're sitting here in 2025, and I'm hoping that they're going to use genealogy work on. On this to figure out who it is.

[The Captain]

I do know that they ran it through codis. Right. And there was no match.

[Nick]

That's correct. And so my suspicion here is, and good for the state of Texas, because they actually started collecting convicted felons DNA well before a lot of other states. I think they started in 1996, and then it was in the early aughts, mid aughts, that they actually started using DNA in Dakotas to go back and clear some of these old cases. What you could have here, though, is 83 to 96. You could have that the third perpetrator, who's never been named, he may have died before any of that happened.

[The Captain]

Yeah. This case has many names, mostly called Kentucky Fried Chicken murders or KFC murders, but what a bizarre case.

[Nick]

Yeah. Both of the cousins, one pled guilty, the other was found guilty. The prosecutors chose not to seek the death penalty. Both Pinkerton and Hartsfield received five automatic life sentences in prison. Darnell Hartsfield has faced and been denied multiple parole reviews since his conviction in 2008. In 2022, with his next parole hearing on the horizon For January of 23, fate stepped in and he passed away. So he was 61 years old. He suffered a massive stroke in his cell while being incarcerated for these crimes. So he died at the French Albertson unit in Abilene, Texas. So he finally got the death sentence that he probably deserved here. And as far as Pinkerton goes, he is still around. And his next chance at parole is scheduled for July of 2029. If there was a third person involved, that man has never been held accountable for these unspeakable crimes.

[The Captain]

I want to thank everybody for joining us here in the garage each and every week. Thanks for telling your mother. Thanks for telling your brother. Colonel, do we have any recommended reading for the beautiful listeners.

[Nick]

Yes, of course. Thank you, Captain. This week we are recommending the KFC murders, the deadly saga of the infamous East Texas 1983 KFC massacre by Jackie Hilborn Simmons and Kenneth Dean. I would also recommend the Cold Case Files with Bill Curtis episode, the old Cold Case Files episode featuring Bill Curtis. On this particular case. It's titled Friday Night Ghost. I think it's one of the better Cold Case File episodes that in existence. Check that out. But also check out the book, the KFC Murders a news account. You can find that title and many more on our website's recommended page, truecrimegarage.com.

[The Captain]

And until next week, be good, be kind, don't live.

[Nick]

Sam.