Alvin Andrew Kelly
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Alvin Andrew Kelly (March 14, 1951 – October 14, 2008) was an East Texas man who committed four drug-related murders in Longview and
Lake Cherokee, Texas Lake Cherokee is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Gregg and Rusk counties, Texas, United States. Its population was 2,980 as of the 2020 census. Lake Cherokee is located 12 miles southeast of Gregg and northeast ...
from May to June 1984, killing two reserve
marshal Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used fo ...
s, their infant son, and later his roommate. Convicted and
sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...
for the infant's murder, he was executed in 2008.


Murders


Triple murder

At the time of the crimes, Kelly worked as a debt collector for Walter "WW" Shannon, a drug trafficker based in
Kilgore Kilgore may refer to: Places * Kilgore, Texas, the largest US city named Kilgore * Kilgore, Idaho * Kilgore, Nebraska * Kilgore, Ohio * Kilgore College Fictional characters * Kilgore Trout, a recurring character in the novels of Kurt Vonnegut ...
. After somehow acquiring information that 30-year-old Jerry Glenn Morgan and his 25-year-old wife Brenda, who were reserve marshals for the city of Longview, were providing information about their illegal activities, Kelly drove to the family's
mobile home A mobile home (also known as a house trailer, park home, trailer, or trailer home) is a prefabrication, prefabricated structure, built in a factory on a permanently attached chassis before being transported to site (either by being towed or ...
in late April 1984 together with his brother Steven and 27-year-old drug dealer Ronnie Lee Wilson. While Steven remained in the car, Kelly and Wilson went inside, where an argument erupted between Kelly and Jerry Morgan. Kelly then pulled out a gun, tackled Jerry to the ground, and started beating him with the gun, claiming that he could kill him whenever he wanted. Before the situation escalated further, he noticed that Steven was peeking through the window and ordered him to go back to the car, with Kelly and Wilson following him soon after. On April 30, together with his wife Cynthia and Wilson, Kelly again drove to the Morgans' trailer. Upon arriving, he told Cynthia to stay in the car while he and Wilson went inside and went to the bedroom, where he shot and killed Jerry Morgan. The gunfire alerted Cynthia, who went inside to see Kelly pinning Brenda to the wall while the couple's 22-month-old son Devin was crying. While trying to calm the child down, Kelly shot Brenda in the neck and dragged her to the bedroom, placing her next to her deceased husband. According to Cynthia's later testimony, Brenda Morgan was still alive. She begged her for help, with Cynthia placing a towel under her head before returning to the living room to calm Devin down. At that time, Kelly followed her, took the infant from her, and held him in his arms before shooting him in the head with his pistol. After killing the child, Kelly then ordered her to return to the car, at which point he returned to the bedroom and shot Brenda again, killing her. He then placed the infant's body on top of his father's, stole some items from around the house with the help of Wilson, and promptly left. He returned to Shannon, claiming that the "job" had been done. Cynthia's sister, Violet Brownfield, later claimed that he had bragged about killing the Morgans and had even replaced the pictures featuring him and Cynthia in a photo album with those of the Morgans. The Morgans' bodies were discovered on the next day by a concerned relative, who went to their trailer after they failed to return her phone calls. After finding their bodies, she flagged down a passing motorist and told him to call the police, saying the whole family had been murdered. After doing so and checking the bodies to make sure they were dead, the police arrived and started investigating the crime scene. Despite gathering every possible clue, questioning neighbors, and sending out a bulletin for the Morgans' missing car, a blue 1978
Pontiac Catalina The Pontiac Catalina is a full-size automobile produced by Pontiac (automobile), Pontiac from 1950 to 1981. Initially, the name was a trim line on hardtop body styles, first appearing in the 1950 Chieftain Eight and DeLuxe Eight lines. In 1959, it ...
, authorities were initially unable to determine a motive or with what weapon the victims had been shot.


Murder of John Ford

On June 9, a passer-by walking around the northern section of Lake Cherokee, discovered the severely decomposed body of a man lying face up in some shrubbery. After notifying a nearby construction worker about his discovery, the man called the police, who traveled to the area and examined the body for possible identification. As the decedent had no such documents on him, the body was sent to a forensics lab in
Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
. On the next day, using the man's fingerprints, coroners identified him as 32-year-old John Eugene Ford, a resident of
Jefferson Jefferson may refer to: Names * Jefferson (surname) * Jefferson (given name) People * Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), third president of the United States * Jefferson (footballer) * Jefferson (singer) or Geoff Turton (born 1944), British s ...
, who had been shot multiple times with a small-caliber pistol. After his identification, Ford's murder was quickly linked to that of a burned 1974
Ford Ranchero The Ford Ranchero is a coupe utility that was produced by Ford between 1957 and 1979. Unlike a standard pickup truck, the Ranchero was adapted from a two-door station wagon platform that integrated the cab and cargo bed into the body. A total ...
found in Longview a week prior, which was found to belong to his father. A few days after the discovery, Kelly was brought forward as a possible suspect in the case, as he had sought treatment at the Hart Clinic in Gladewater for
gasoline Gasoline ( North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When for ...
burns on his body, supposedly caused while repairing a truck whose
carburetor A carburetor (also spelled carburettor or carburetter) is a device used by a gasoline internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the Ventu ...
blew up. At that time, he had an arrest warrant issued for failing to appear in court on drug distribution charges. Still, as no solid evidence linked him to the killing, Kelly was considered only a person of interest.


Investigation, arrest, and charges

Between 1984 and his arrest on March 31, 1990, Kelly was imprisoned several times for minor crimes. Upon his latest release, he adopted the alias of "Doyle Gilbreath" and moved to
Durant, Oklahoma Durant () is a city in Bryan County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 18,589 in the 2020 census. It serves as the capital of the Choctaw Nation, and is the largest settlement on the reservation, ranking ahead of McAlester and Po ...
. A break in the case came in when a local reported finding a rusted handgun which, upon examination, was determined to have been purchased by Ford only weeks before his death. Utilizing this tip, authorities conducted further investigation and finally charged Kelly with the murder. He later pleaded guilty and was given a 35-year prison sentence, to be served concurrently with a separate 25-year prison sentence for sexual assault, concerning Kelly sexually abusing two teenage inmates while awaiting trial at the Gregg County Jail. Five months after conviction for the Ford murder, investigators were contacted by Cynthia, who had divorced and moved away from Kelly by then. She claimed that she was willing to testify against her ex-husband in the murders of the Morgan family, claiming that she and Wilson had been present at the crime scene and had acted as accomplices. Due to these revelations, Kelly was charged with the murders, followed by the arrest and charging of Wilson as well, who had also been sought for stealing a car. Upon announcing the arrests, the Gregg County District Attorney, David Brabham, announced that he would seek the death penalty against both men. For a short time, it was believed that the killings might be related to the then-unsolved Kentucky Fried Chicken murders in Kilgore, which were later found to be unrelated.


Trial and imprisonment

Before the start of the trial, one of Kelly's court-appointed attorneys, Harry Heard, filed a 24-page motion to Justice Alvin Khoury, requesting that the county establish a
trust fund A trust is a legal relationship in which the owner of property, or any transferable right, gives it to another to manage and use solely for the benefit of a designated person. In the English common law, the party who entrusts the property is k ...
so they could pay the trial expenses for him and the other attorney, Elizabeth Ann Fulton. At the pre-trial hearings, Kelly and Wilson maintained their innocence, while their respective attorneys requested that they be granted written statements from Cynthia, which was denied by prosecutors, who maintained that she would act solely as a witness. When this request was denied, Heard filed a motion to have her testimony suppressed on the grounds of confidential privilege between spouses. When this did not work out either, Heard filed yet another motion to delay the trial, claiming that he wanted to locate a witness, known only as "Turtle", who he claimed could disprove Cynthia's claims, but this was, again, denied. The jury was officially sequestered on in early September 1991. Throughout the trial, witness testimony implicating Kelly in the killings was provided by his ex-wife, his brother, and his ex-wife's sister. The latter reiterated that she was present at the crime scene. In contrast, the latter said he openly implicated himself in the murders. On the defense's side, Heard made Cynthia admit that she had lied when providing her original written statements. While making her oral testimonies, reasoning that she did not want to be implicated any further. He attempted to use this admission to invalidate her testimony by claiming she had provided facts published only in the media, but District Prosecutor Brabham pointed that some of the details she had provided had been known only to police, coupled with the fact that she had refused to cooperate out of fear for nearly seven years. In the end, after deliberating for 73 minutes, the jury found Kelly guilty on all charges in relation to the murder of Devin Morgan, an outcome that the Morgans' family members openly welcomed. Kelly himself expressed no emotion upon hearing the verdict. Later that same day, after only half an hour of deliberation, he was sentenced to death.


Execution

For the duration of his stay on
death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting executio ...
, Kelly maintained that he was innocent and repeatedly filed appeals to the state courts, all of which upheld his convictions. He eventually exhausted all of his appeals and was scheduled for execution on October 14, 2008. On the day of his execution, Kelly made a lengthy final statement in which he claimed that he had embraced
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
and wanted to apologize to the family members of both the Morgans and Ford, admitting his guilt in the latter's murder but continuing to claim that he had nothing to do with the former. He was executed via
lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium) for the express purpose of causing death. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but t ...
at the
Huntsville Unit Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville or Huntsville Unit (HV), nicknamed "Walls Unit", is a Texas state prison located in Huntsville, Texas, United States. The approximately facility, near downtown Huntsville, is operated by the Correctional Ins ...
, spending his last moments singing a religious song dedicated to
Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
. He is buried at
Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery The Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery is the main prison cemetery in Texas, located in Huntsville and operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). The cemetery is colloquially known as Peckerwood Hill. The name originates from "Peckerwoo ...
.


See also

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Capital punishment in Texas Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Texas for murder, and participation in a felony resulting in death if committed by an individual who is at least 18 years old. In 1982, the state became the first jurisdiction in th ...
*
List of people executed by lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person by a government for the express purpose of causing immediate death. While Nazi Germany was known to execute enemies of the state using an injection of lethal drugs, the ...
*
List of people executed in Texas, 2000–2009 The following is a list of people executed by the U.S. state of Texas between 2000 and 2009. All of the 248 people (246 males and 2 females) during this period were convicted of murder and have been executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville ...
*
List of people executed in the United States in 2008 A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
*
List of serial killers in the United States A serial killer is typically a person who kills three or more people, with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines serial murder a ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Alvin Andrew 1951 births 2008 deaths 20th-century American criminals 21st-century executions by Texas American male criminals American murderers of children American people convicted of robbery American people convicted of sexual assault Executed American serial killers Executed people from Texas Family murders in the United States People convicted of murder by Texas People executed by Texas by lethal injection People from Culberson County, Texas Serial killers from Texas