ASSAULT CASES SITTING IN
STORAGE. AND HOW A LOCAL GROUP
IS PUSHING BACK ON TRACK.
3
Neal Barton:TAKE VOAND...
HISTORY MADE IN THE TEXAS
LEGISLATURE. WHAT PASSED
REGARDING MARIJUANA.. AND THE
BIGGEST OBSTACLE STILL WAITING
FOR THE
3
TAKE SOT
3
"the evidence has been there
all along, it was just waiting
for the science to catch up
with it." "hard to imagine
someone taking another
person's life, no more than
what they got."
3
Kaci Koviak:IT WAS ONE OF THE
MOST INFAMOUS CRIMES EVER
COMMITTED IN EAST TEXAS.FIVE
PEOPLE KIDNAPPED FROM A
KILGORE KFC, THEN SHOT TO
DEATH.NOW, 35 YEARS LATER, ONE
OF THE MEN CONVICTED FREE.Neal
Barton:TAKE: MUGA PAROLE BOARD
WILL DECIDE WHETHER ROMEO
PINKERTON STAYS BEHIND BARS OR
STREETS.TAKE: BACK ON CAMSO
TONIGHT, WE LOOK AT THE CASE.
Kaci Koviak:KETK'S TRENT
BENNETT TAKES US BACK TO 19-83
FOR PART ONE OF OUR SPECIAL
REPORT, "THE KFC MASSACRE."
3
TAKE: PKGOUTCUE: standard
through your mind. What's
going on here. What has
happened and why has this
happened." DANNY PIRTLEit's
just a slaughter that's all it
was." KIENY"there's probably a
hundred stories within this
one story." áOPEN BOOKáFADES
TO OIL PUMP. IT'S A LATE
SEPTEMBER EVENING.IN KILGORE
TEXAS. AND ON A FRIDAY NIGHT.
MEANT A BUSY NIGHT AHEADFOR
THE 3 PEOPLE CLOCKED IN AT THE
KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN.RASBERRY
"we had record sales. I think
we had so much business
because people were taking
football game out of town."
DANNY PIRTLE"they had a full
staff of employees there.
There was Mary Tyler, Opie
Hughes, and Joey Johnson."
WITH MOST OF THE TOWNUP THE
ROAD ROOTING ON THE TEAM. THAT
LEFT KILGORE SUBJECT TO
SOMETHING SINISTER. JUST
RE-ENTER THE RESTAURANT. 3
MEN... PIRTLE"they overcome
Joey going back into the
building and went in with him
and took everybody under
control." AMONG THE OTHER
EMPLOYEES INSIDELANA MAXWELL'S
20 YEAR OLD HUSBAND DAVID. AND
MAXWELL AND JOHNSONS FRIEND
AND FRATERNITY BROTHER19 YEAR
OLD MONTE LANDERS. WHO WERE
JUST AT THE WRONG PLACE AT THE
WRONG TIME. LANA DUNKERLY"I
was gonna go with him and he
stopped at the stop light in
front of Gibsons and said I
gotta take you home because 3
people can't ride on the
bike." RASBERRY"he was an
employee so it was okay for
him to be there, but he only
came up there so that he could
help Joey so they could get to
the party." STANDUP: WHAT
THEY WOULD FACE NEXT. NOT A
IN.BROWNI did not know that
anyone had been kidnapped from
Kilgore or anywhere else."
MEANWHILE PIRTLE WAS
PROCESSING THE kilgore kitchen
CRIME SCENE...PIRTLE"we got a
phone call that the bodies had
the Overton highway." BROWN
"you have four people there
side by
3
side and those four down on
their arm where if you were to
lie down in the grass or the
dirt expecting to get back up
you would put your head on
your arm to keep your face
from being in contact with the
ground.""as I was walking down
the lane, I
3
always expect the worst at
every homicide scene and I
3
never thought I would see five
country."
3
Pirtle"I knew Joey Johnson
through Overton Schools. He
was quite the athlete. I knew
mary tyler, but I knew David
since he was just a young
boy." NOW THAT THE FIVE WERE
FOUND. PIRTLE WENT BACK TO
KFC. HOPING TO RE-TRACE THE
TRACKSTHAT MIGHT LEAD straight
TO THE KILLERS. BUT IN 1983.
BROWN"dna as we know it today
was basically a theory."
FINGERPRINT DUSTING REVEALED
NOTHING.AND ALL THE WOULD BE
WITNESSES WERE MURDERED. BUT
AS AUTOPSYS WERE DONE. A NEW
DISCOVERY... KIENY"when they
undid Joey Johnson's belt a
piece of fingernail fell out."
PIRTLE"i believe the biggest
lead at that time was a
fingernail." THE POLICE
DEPARTMENT MADE A PLEA TO THE
PUBLIC. PIRTLE"on the hotlines
we had set up we received
probably 3500 calls within the
first week." AND ONE NAME.
KEPT POPPING UP. PIRTLE"about
a week later. Jim Earl Mankins
was
3
interviewed and he had a
finger nail missing off his
middle finger." KIENY"that
rang some bells during that
time." MANKINSWAS LATER
INDICTEDAND BOOKED FOR THE 5
KILLINGS. AS INVESTIGATORS
GATHERED ENOUGH EVIDENCE FOR
PROSECUTORS TO CONVINCEA JURY
HE DID IT. áááNATSáááBUT A
STRIATION TEST SCRATCHED
MANKINS NAMEOFF THE LIST OF
sitting there and hearing that
call and they saying yeah I
don't know what to tell you
guys, but that's not his
nail." KIENY"that was very
disappointing because the
whole case was hung on that
fingernail." AFTER SERVING 6
MONTHS BEHIND BARS. IN AN
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH KETK
NEWS. MANKINS RESPONDED TO THE
PUBLIC'S PERCEPTION THAT HAVING
with FBI agents, highway
patrolman, Texas Rangers then
you got county law and you got
city law. There's no way.
Maybe knowing some people in
high places?""no I don't even
think that would help."
ANOTHER DEAD END... AND BY NOW
the grand jury handed down 10
capital murder indictments. 5
for Darnell Hartsfield and 5
for Romeo PinkertonTANNER"the
evidence has been there all
along, it was just waiting for
the science to catch up with
it." THE ANSWERS SURROUNDING
THE UNCRACKABLE COLD CASEWOULD
ULTIMATELY BE FOUNDRIGHT
INSIDE THE RESTAURANT.TRENT
BENNETT, SHOT OF KFC FADES
MUSIC FADES OUT.
3
TOMORROW NIGHT ON K-E-T-K
NEWS AT 10...TRENT IS FACE-TO-
FACE WITH "ROMEO PINKERTON" AS
HE SITS BEHIND BARS. IT'S HIS
FIRST-EVER TV INTERVIEW.YOU'LL
HEAR "HIS VERSION" OF THE
EVENTS AND WHY ááHE CLAIMS