A Hunt County father shot and
stabbed nine times in his own home.
His wife shot repeatedly.
The person jailed for their murders.
Their son, 17 years later.
The question looms larger than ever.
Is Brandon Woodruff innocent?
Is the focus of this week's
2020 and ABC's John Quinones
joins us with a preview.
Good morning, John.
Good morning, Sharon.
Thank you for having me on
absolutely first. I want you to
remind us a bit about this case.
What evidence actually sent Brandon to jail?
Well, you know this all happened.
As you mentioned the 16 years ago
a middle aged couple in Royse City,
Dennis and Norma Woodruff.
They're at home having dinner with their
son when suddenly they're never seen again.
Two days after that dinner,
they're found brutally murdered and
it's not long before their son,
18 year old Brandon Woodruff,
who happens to be gay,
is accused of the crime.
Authorities say he lived a double
life and they recovered this weapon.
An old dagger that had his
father's DNA on it.
Police say it belonged to Brandon
and that he'd used it that he
used it to kill his parents.
Now Brandon claims he did not do this,
that the blood on that dagger
was from when his father cut
himself on it years before.
And really in the end there
is no other physical evidence.
Nonetheless,
it isn't long before a jury
convicts Brandon of these
double murders he sentenced to
life in prison without parole.
And now Brandon is pleading
pleading for an appeal.
Brandon hasn't done a TV interview
since his conviction in 2009
until now, what did he tell you?
Well through tears he's been in
prison now 16 years he he tells
me that he loved his parents,
that he did not commit this crime
and he claims that the authorities
focused on him in large part
because of his sexual orientation.
Remember this happened in a small
conservative town 18 years ago.
He's desperate for an appeal.
He wants to clear his name and
the Innocence Project of Texas,
whose mission is to overturn
wrongful convictions.
They're seriously looking at this case.
But you know, Chara.
The sad thing about it is how this
whole thing has a torn apart.
The, uh, the Woodruff family.
Brandon's only sister is convinced
that he committed this murder.
Convinced of his guilt and yet their
grandmother stands right by Brandon,
maintaining he's innocent,
paying for his legal fees,
and she's doing everything she can
to get Brandon freed from prison.
And you mentioned the Innocence Project.
What are they saying about this case?
Because it means a lot for
them to get involved in it.
They're studying it.
They haven't decided yet whether
they're going to do anything about it,
but they're leaning close to to to indeed
taking it on and and and trying to get
it appealed and somehow overturned.
There's a big movement he has his
share of supporters now who are
convinced that the reason he was
arrested and convicted in large part
again was simply because he's gay?
What's your take? Could Brandon go free?
We don't know. It depends on
whether the Innocence Project takes
it on and we haven't heard for certain
whether they filed will file for an appeal.
If they do, it'll be an interesting case.
Again, he's already served 16 years.
He's there without any possibility of parole.
He has to get an appeal, otherwise he
will spend the rest of his life there.
All right. John quinones.
Thank you so much for joining us
here in with ABC Dallas on midday.
We appreciate you have a
good rest of your day.
Well, did a son kill his parents
in their North Texas home?
You can see this true crime edition
of 2020 featuring the first TV
interview with Brandon Woodruff this
Friday at 8:00 o'clock here on WFA,
followed by our news at 10.