A Halloween Haunted House Killing

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it The family moved to Castro County, Texas, in 1943 and farmed 300 acres of grain and cotton. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed They raised two daughters, Danice and Sharon, leased their land to neighbouring farmers rather than farm it themselves, and moved to Amarillo. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

Both were interested in the paranormal from an early age. They joined the American Society for Psychical Research in 1961 and joined a Wiccan church, the Church of Arianhu, about 1969, describing themselves as a flam and flamenca, the keepers of the flame. this part of the story is covered for now They practised discreetly and, in appearance, were conventional West Texans.

details of the account remain covered until revealed Two weeks before Halloween, his explanations of Wicca turned him into a local celebrity of the wrong kind. Rumours spread from adults to high school students that the house on Easter Road was a haunted house full of devil-worshipping witches who performed rituals at Halloween. Teenagers from Dimmitt, Hereford and elsewhere made a habit of driving out to harass the family, shouting, throwing beer cans, firing guns near the house and tearing up the yard. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it The name withheld heres kept a calendar of incidents and called the sheriff repeatedly.

On Halloween night, 31 October 1977, Carlos Garza, an 18-year-old janitor at Plains Memorial Hospital, took his younger siblings trick-or-treating and then to a carnival in Dimmitt. There he met Arthur Herrera, also 18, and three 15-year-old girls from school: Roxanne Casas, Adriana Rangle and Maria Travino. Roxanne's father, Raoul, lent them his new red Ford pickup so they would not break down, and the five squeezed into the single cab, Herrera driving, Rangle beside him, Casas in the middle and Garza by the passenger door with Travino on his lap. After meeting another carload of teenagers, they were led to the a covered names' property. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it This is the place where we buy eggs.' Then a woman in a scarf, heavy jacket and glasses, carrying a long gun, walked toward the pickup. Garza pushed Travino down and ducked; Herrera backed out and heard two blasts. One struck the truck bed and the second shattered the passenger window, sending buckshot into Garza and Travino and into Roxanne Casas's right temple.

The name withheld heres had called the sheriff's office repeatedly that evening. Sheriff Granville Martin said he would respond from about 15 miles away, stopped a carload of teenagers on the way and noted their names and plates, but lost the notes. He reached the property about 8.20 p.m. and left without getting out of his car, shining his lights into the trees. details of the account remain covered until revealed The teenagers drove to Plains Memorial Hospital, eight miles away on straight roads, but took between 45 and 50 minutes to arrive, reaching it at 8.45 p.m. Roxanne Casas was pronounced dead shortly before nine o'clock. Maria Travino had pellet wounds to her upper back, Carlos Garza superficial pellet wounds to his head and neck, and Herrera and Rangle were unharmed.

The investigation was chaotic. The dispatcher, 21-year-old Gene Stroud, admitted the department kept a scratch pad beneath the official log and that the page from that night could not be found; radio traffic was not recorded, and the sheriff took no notes. Martin obtained a search warrant at 10.40 p.m., and at about 12.30 a.m. he and a county judge returned to tell the covered names that a girl had been killed. The name withheld heres signed consent to search both houses and went to a hotel. A shotgun was taken that night without being logged, tagged or given an evidence number, and a second, rusty and inoperable shotgun was found in the barn. Reports disagreed about whether number six or number seven and a half pellets were found in the truck, although all the shells at the house were number six. A state firearms expert later testified that pellets from Roxanne's head came from the shotgun he examined and that five spent shells from the property came from the same weapon, though he conceded there were probably at least 500 identical shotguns in the county.

On 2 November the a covered names were questioned separately at the sheriff's office and the rusty shotgun was seized. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now A witness, 19-year-old Terry Moore, said she saw a white car parked near the driveway and that its driver identified himself as Sheriff Martin and told her someone had been shot and she should leave, placing the sheriff at the scene during the shooting, which no one else did. details of the account remain covered until revealed

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it Arthur Herrera had returned to Mexico and could not be found, and his deposition statement was lost. Teenage witnesses gave differing accounts of how many shots were fired and from where. this part of the story is covered for now He said he kept a shotgun outside because someone had earlier fired at his mother's house. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed The civil suits ended cheaply: Maria Travino asked for $200,700 and accepted $2,250, Adriana Rangle asked for $125,000 and received $750, and Raoul and Karen Casas sued for $77,000 plus $5,556.71 in truck repairs and settled for $2,000, the cost of Roxanne's funeral.

In October 1980 the covered names attended a Wiccan seminar at the same Amarillo hotel, where a Baptist convention was also meeting, three hundred people from area churches gathered outside to sing and pray, and bomb threats were called in. The defence had drained their money. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it