The Kentucky Fried Chicken murders were an

armed robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person o ...

and

mass murder Mass murder is the violent crime of murder, killing a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. A mass murder typically occurs in a single location where one or more ...

which took place at a

Kentucky Fried Chicken KFC Corporation, doing business as KFC (an abbreviation of Kentucky Fried Chicken), is an American fast food restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken and chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's s ...

restaurant in

Kilgore, Texas Kilgore, officially the City of Kilgore, is a city in Gregg County, Texas, Gregg and Rusk County, Texas, Rusk counties in Texas, United States. Located where Interstate 20 and US 259 converge just south of the Sabine River (Texas–Louisiana), ...

, in 1983. For over two decades, it was unsolved.

Robbery and murders

On the evening of September 23, 1983, just before the restaurant closed, armed robbers held up the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Kilgore, Texas, US. The five people in the restaurant at the time (three of whom were restaurant employees, and two of whom were friends of one of them, and waiting for someone there), were abducted, taken to a nearby field on County Road 232, and each executed with a shot to the back of the head along with shots to the torso. One of the victims, who was found a short distance from the others, had been raped. The victims' bodies were discovered by a local resident and were identified as: David Maxwell (20), Joey Johnson (20), Monty Landers (19), Mary Tyler (37) and Opie Hughes (39).

Investigation

For 22 years, the case remained unsolved, although several people were arrested. The discovery of a torn fingernail on one of the bodies led to the arrest and charging of James Earl Mankins Jr., a man with prior drug convictions who was also the son of state representative Jimmy Mankins. However, DNA analysis concluded that the fingernail was not his, and he was released after the beginning of pre-trial

proceedings In academia and librarianship, conference proceedings are a collection of academic papers published in the context of an academic conference or workshop. Conference proceedings typically contain the contributions made by researchers at the confer ...

. In November 2005, two men (already in prison for other crimes) were arrested and charged: cousins Darnell Hartsfield (44) and Romeo Pinkerton (47). At the time of arrest, Hartsfield, a Tyler resident, was serving a

life sentence Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life imprisonment are c ...

for aggravated perjury in connection with the case. They were both charged with

capital murder Capital murder refers to a category of murder in some parts of the US for which the perpetrator is eligible for the death penalty. In its original sense, capital murder was a statutory offence of aggravated murder in Great Britain, Northern Irela ...

and could have received the

death penalty 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 ...

if convicted.

Convictions

Jury selection in Pinkerton's trial began August 6, 2007 in New Boston and completed on September 27, 2007. Pinkerton's death penalty trial was scheduled to start at 9 a.m. on October 15, 2007, at the Bowie County Courthouse in New Boston. An April 2007 article from the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...

'' details Pinkerton's denial of the crime. Despite this, on October 29, 2007, Romeo Pinkerton pleaded guilty to five lesser counts of murder and was sentenced to five concurrent life sentences as a part of a

plea deal A plea bargain, also known as a plea agreement or plea deal, is a legal arrangement in criminal law where the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest to a charge in exchange for concessions from the prosecutor. These concessions can include ...

. He is currently serving his sentence at the James V. Allred Unit in

Wichita Falls Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita Counties. According to ...

. In 2008, Hartsfield was convicted at trial in Bryan (Brazos County), Texas (on a change of venue from East Texas due to pre-trial publicity) and sentenced to five consecutive life sentences. On February 4, 2010, the Texas Sixth Court of Appeals upheld Hartsfield's conviction.

Possible third perpetrator

DNA evidence taken from Opie Hughes' body – found some distance away from the rest of the victims – indicated she had been sexually assaulted. However, the DNA did not match that of Hartsfield, Pinkerton, Mankins, or any other suspect. This led investigators to the possibility of a third man. Neither of the two convicted felons ever revealed the identity of any accomplice. The murders were featured in the "Friday Night Ghosts" episode of ''

Cold Case Files ''Cold Case Files'' is a reality legal show/documentary on the cable channel A&E Network and a rebooted series. It is hosted by Bill Kurtis and the original series produced by Tom Golden. The show documents the investigation of many long ...

'', which aired in February 2022.

Death of Darnell Hartsfield

On May 4, 2022, one of the two suspects, Darnell Hartsfield, died after suffering a massive

hemorrhagic Bleeding, hemorrhage, haemorrhage or blood loss, is blood escaping from the circulatory system from damaged blood vessels. Bleeding can occur internally, or externally either through a natural opening such as the mouth, nose, ear, urethra, va ...

stroke in his jail cell at the French M. Robertson Unit in Abilene at age 61. At the time, Hartsfield's next parole hearing had been scheduled for January 2023.

References

{{reflist 1983 mass shootings in the United States 1983 murders in the United States Mass murder in 1983 Mass shootings in Texas Mass murder in Texas KFC 1983 in Texas 1980s crimes in Texas Attacks on restaurants in the United States Deaths by firearm in Texas Mass murder in the United States in the 1980s September 1983 in the United States Attacks on buildings and structures in 1983 Attacks on buildings and structures in Texas Robberies in the United States