Latest / Gone Cold - Texas True Crime / Lecia McGee Part Two: A History of Violence

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Lecia McGee Part Two: A History of Violence · Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Gone Cold podcasts may contain violent or graphic subject matter.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Listener discretion is advised. On the early morning of January 23, 1978,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: 17-year-old Leisha Ann McGee was reported missing to the Fort
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Worth police. She'd been at the home of a couple
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: friends the night before, but didn't return to her house
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: after leaving there at about 12.30 a.m. Leisha's family searched
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: everywhere they could think of and when they couldn't find her,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: they began to panic, fearing the worst. At around 5.30
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: that evening, those fears were realized when Leisha's car was found,
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  Speaker 1: the interior covered in blood. Leisha McGee was discovered deceased
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  Speaker 1: in the trunk of her prized 1968 Chevy Impala. She
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: had been stabbed multiple times, and her throat was slashed.
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  Speaker 1: During the initial investigations, Detectives never got any closer to
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: finding Leisha's killer than they'd been on day one, and
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  Speaker 1: then the case file sat collecting dust at Fort Worth
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Police Headquarters. For more than 30 years, the case was
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  Speaker 1: essentially cold, with virtually no new leads and certainly no
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: big breaks. In 2009, however, one finally came. Detective Jose
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Hernandez picked up Leisha's case that year. hoping fresh eyes
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  Speaker 1: might catch something investigators had missed over the decades. Now,
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  Speaker 1: the police had access to forensic technologies they hadn't even
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  Speaker 1: dreamed of in 1978, including DNA testing. But there was
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: a problem. According to Leisha's sister Lori, much of the
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: evidence had been lost. A Monopoly board game that had
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: been in the trunk of Leisha's car and contained fingerprints
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  Speaker 1: was gone. the clothes Leisha wore and the green coat
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  Speaker 1: found in the back seat, all covered in blood, were
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  Speaker 1: presumably destroyed by mistake. Nevertheless, Detective Hernandez began requesting DNA
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  Speaker 1: testing in June of 2009 on the physical evidence that
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: still existed, including a Marlboro cigarette butt taken from the
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: rear door ashtray of the 1968 Impala. From that item,
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  Speaker 1: Two DNA profiles were obtained, one belonging to a female
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  Speaker 1: and one a male. After securing samples from Leisha's sisters,
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  Speaker 1: the female DNA profile was compared and found to match
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  Speaker 1: the slain teenager. The other, the male DNA profile, was
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  Speaker 1: a mystery at first. Then, after three months, Detective Hernandez
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  Speaker 1: got a hit. The male DNA on the cigarette butt
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  Speaker 1: came back as a match to a 48-year-old Fort Worth
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  Speaker 1: man who was serving a 50-year sentence at the Allred
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  Speaker 1: Unit of the Texas Department of Corrections in Wichita Falls,
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  Speaker 1: a man with an extremely violent past named Robin DeWayne Carter.
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  Speaker 1: At a little before 4.30 p.m. on Saturday, June 17, 1995,
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  Speaker 1: 30-year-old Melanie Gable, a fifth-grade teacher at Lively Elementary in Irving,
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  Speaker 1: was speedwalking in her Colleyville neighborhood. Colleyville is a middle-to-upper-middle-class
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  Speaker 1: suburb just northeast of Fort Worth, and in 1995, it
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  Speaker 1: was undergoing major development. but there was still plenty of
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  Speaker 1: empty land and small wooded areas in the city. Colleyville's
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  Speaker 1: crime rate at the time, particularly the violent crime rate,
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  Speaker 1: was low. The subdivisions and everything in between were considered safe.
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  Speaker 1: As Melanie walked down Maplewood Trail, she passed a red
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  Speaker 1: pickup truck parked on the street. An eerie feeling rushed
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  Speaker 1: over her, but not only because the truck was parked
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  Speaker 1: in an awkward way. As she walked past, the man
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  Speaker 1: sitting in the vehicle, who she later described as creepy,
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  Speaker 1: made eye contact. She looked away fast, Melanie later said,
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  Speaker 1: but she could feel the strange man staring at her
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  Speaker 1: as she walked on. Melanie looked back, and he was.
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  Speaker 1: She described it as a very sick stare. Because of
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: the feeling she got from the stranger, she had glanced
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  Speaker 1: quickly at the truck's license plate when she looked back.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: As she continued down the street, Melanie repeated the license
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  Speaker 1: plate number over and over in her head. A few
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  Speaker 1: minutes later, the red pickup drove past and eventually disappeared
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  Speaker 1: from sight. She felt an immediate sense of relief. She
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: was just being paranoid, thinking the man was up to something,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Melanie said to herself. He was probably just picking someone
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  Speaker 1: up or doing something else completely normal. but Melanie's initial
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  Speaker 1: instincts were right. Moments later, she heard a vehicle driving
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  Speaker 1: at a high speed behind her. She quickly stepped off
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  Speaker 1: the street and onto the grass, looking over her shoulder
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  Speaker 1: as she did. It was the red truck, and it
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  Speaker 1: was only about five feet away and moving fast, too
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  Speaker 1: fast for Melanie to react. The truck sped onto the
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  Speaker 1: curb as she turned around and slammed into her. The
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  Speaker 1: vehicle took her 20 feet from the site of the
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  Speaker 1: impact before the driver slammed on the brakes, sending Melanie flying.
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  Speaker 1: She hit the concrete street and her head split open.
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  Speaker 1: Melanie's legs were already both broken from the impact of
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  Speaker 1: the pickup truck's bumper. Exited the vehicle and walked up
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  Speaker 1: to her, smiling. She was still conscious, but she couldn't
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  Speaker 1: go anywhere. At first, Melanie thought he was going to
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  Speaker 1: help her, that his smile was warm and one of
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  Speaker 1: concern for her. But that only lasted for a split second. Aw,
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  Speaker 1: does it hurt? The man asked her, facetiously and cruelly.
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  Speaker 1: Melanie tried to pull herself up, but even if the
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  Speaker 1: man hadn't quickly grabbed her, it would have been a
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  Speaker 1: futile attempt at an escape. One of her arms, like
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  Speaker 1: her legs, was broken. She had the serious head wound.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: One of her vertebra was crushed. and her liver lacerated. Still,
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  Speaker 1: Melanie struggled with the man while she screamed for help. Regardless,
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  Speaker 1: he was able to drag her to his truck. He
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  Speaker 1: opened the door and tried to push her in, telling her,
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  Speaker 1: You're my evidence. I ain't leaving you here. But she
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  Speaker 1: continued fighting him. Melanie, however, was beginning to lose consciousness.
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  Speaker 1: She looked at the bone protruding from her arm. and
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  Speaker 1: knew she had little fight left. She screamed one last
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  Speaker 1: time for help. A neighbor who had heard Melanie being hit,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: and then her screams, suddenly showed up at the scene. Luckily,
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  Speaker 1: she was enough to startle the man. He fled, leaving
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  Speaker 1: his victim broken and bleeding on the street. Though the
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: entire assault seemed to have lasted a long time, in reality,
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: only moments had passed. The red pickup truck was traced
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  Speaker 1: after the victim was able to give police the license
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  Speaker 1: plate number, along with a description of the man. And
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: only two days after the attack, a 35-year-old remodeling contractor
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  Speaker 1: named Robin DeWayne Carter was arrested at a construction site
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  Speaker 1: in Colleyville, where he was working. Bail was denied as
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: prosecutors sought an indictment. On August 8, 1995, a grand
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  Speaker 1: jury indicted him on an aggravated assault with serious bodily
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  Speaker 1: injury charge. Melanie Gable spent the next several months recovering
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  Speaker 1: from her injuries and was most often confined to a
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  Speaker 1: wheelchair during that time. After five surgeries and a considerable
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: stint at physical therapy, she was able to return to
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  Speaker 1: Lively Elementary to teach, but only part-time and with the
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  Speaker 1: aid of a cane. Meanwhile, Carter's family took to the
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  Speaker 1: press defending him, insisting he hadn't intentionally run over Melanie.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: One family member told a Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter that
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  Speaker 1: his brother's crime was drinking and driving, and he had
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: only fled to avoid a parole revocation. When Carter ran
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  Speaker 1: Melanie down, he'd only been out of prison for a
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  Speaker 1: few months since February 13, 1995. He had served seven
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  Speaker 1: of a 20-year sentence for a crime spree in 1987,
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  Speaker 1: in which he pleaded guilty to several counts of aggravated robbery.
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  Speaker 1: Robin Duane Carter's trial was set to begin on April 8, 1996,
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  Speaker 1: but minutes before jury selection was to begin, he accepted
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: a plea deal with the Tarrant County DA because it
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  Speaker 1: reduced the charges significantly. At sentencing, he rambled to the court.
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  Speaker 1: begging Melanie, who was present, for forgiveness, and insisted he
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  Speaker 1: wasn't a bad person. He told the judge he'd been
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  Speaker 1: drinking that day, saying he'd consumed at least 18 beers.
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  Speaker 1: But then Carter lied. He said he'd only gotten out
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  Speaker 1: of the truck to help Melanie out. accidentally hitting her,
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  Speaker 1: but fled after remembering his parole. When it was time
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  Speaker 1: for his victim to speak, she told Carter she forgave him,
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  Speaker 1: but she'd do everything in her power to make sure
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  Speaker 1: he served his full sentence. Carter had proven, Melanie said,
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  Speaker 1: that he was incapable of living outside prison walls without
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  Speaker 1: hurting others. Taking into consideration his past criminality, the judge
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  Speaker 1: sentenced him to 50 years in prison. Robin Duane Carter, who,
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  Speaker 1: in cold blood, ran over a Colleyville school teacher and
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  Speaker 1: attempted to kidnap her afterward, had prior run-ins with the
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  Speaker 1: law that weren't insignificant. On Saturday, March 21, 1987, police
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  Speaker 1: stations from Benbrook to Fort Worth were receiving multiple calls
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  Speaker 1: from different, unconnected people about a man taking their vehicles
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  Speaker 1: at gunpoint. Luckily, police put two and two together, and
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  Speaker 1: quickly figured out they were looking for the same man
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  Speaker 1: for all the crimes, a man who became known briefly
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  Speaker 1: as the Man in the Red Shirt, as witness descriptions
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  Speaker 1: trickled in. The man's real name was Robin Carter. At
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  Speaker 1: about 4 p.m. that day, 25-year-old Carter burglarized two cars
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  Speaker 1: and one building on the 5300 block of West Vickery
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  Speaker 1: in Fort Worth, beginning his elaborate crime spree for the evenings.
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  Speaker 1: About 300 feet away from the scene of the burglaries,
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  Speaker 1: Carter approached a child on his bicycle, pointed a pistol
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  Speaker 1: to the boy's head, and demanded his bike. He rode
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  Speaker 1: about four blocks away, approached a man getting in his vehicle,
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  Speaker 1: and stole it at gunpoint. Carter made it just a
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  Speaker 1: couple miles away. Police later discovered the stolen car on
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  Speaker 1: the 4500 block of Greenbrook Place abandoned. A few blocks
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  Speaker 1: from there, Carter stole another vehicle from a home on
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  Speaker 1: Spring Hill Road, drove the car a few miles away
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  Speaker 1: to the 6000 block of Camp Bowie, abandoned it, and
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  Speaker 1: made off with yet another car. But this time he
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  Speaker 1: was choosy, having inspected a different vehicle before deciding to
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  Speaker 1: take it, his fourth stolen car. He abandoned that one
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  Speaker 1: about 10 miles away in Morningside, a neighborhood south of
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  Speaker 1: downtown Fort Worth. There, he stole a fifth vehicle and
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  Speaker 1: drove it to a gas station at 1701 South Freeway,
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  Speaker 1: having traveled about a mile, where he threatened the clerk
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  Speaker 1: at gunpoint before stealing a sixth car. From the gas station,
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  Speaker 1: Carter drove a couple blocks to the 2100 block of
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  Speaker 1: Jennings Avenue, where he began stealing a man's pickup truck.
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  Speaker 1: This time, he had bitten off more than he could chew.
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  Speaker 1: The owner, who was packing heat himself, caught the spree
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  Speaker 1: criminal in the act of stealing his vehicle. As Carter
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  Speaker 1: sped off in the pickup, the men exchanged gunfire. The
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  Speaker 1: owner hopped in the car Carter had just abandoned and
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  Speaker 1: gave chase, but the car ran out of gas after
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  Speaker 1: only four blocks. Carter barely escaped from the stolen truck's owner,
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  Speaker 1: and he'd been shot twice. He only made it to
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  Speaker 1: Magnolia and Fifth about a mile away, before he crashed
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  Speaker 1: the truck, colliding with another vehicle. Carter then fled on foot,
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  Speaker 1: but he left a literal trail of blood and witnesses
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  Speaker 1: that allowed police to track him to an apartment nearby.
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  Speaker 1: After a witness told police which one he'd gone into,
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  Speaker 1: he was found hiding underneath a pile of clothes in
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  Speaker 1: the closet there. After committing about a dozen major crimes,
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  Speaker 1: As he was being treated at John Peter Smith Hospital,
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  Speaker 1: he blamed the entire ordeal on bad dope, which wasn't
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  Speaker 1: necessarily unbelievable. He'd pay for his actions regardless. He also
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: told a judge that it was all bad dope, but
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  Speaker 1: Carter was eventually sentenced to 20 years in prison anyway.
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  Speaker 1: He served less than nine. Obviously, he wasn't rehabilitated, as
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  Speaker 1: is evident by his horrific attack in 1995 on Melanie
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  Speaker 1: Gable in Colleyville. But Robin DeWayne Carter's history with crime
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  Speaker 1: and violence began long before that, and there is more
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  Speaker 1: than just DNA on a Marlboro cigarette butt and a
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  Speaker 1: violent criminal background that made him a suspect in the
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  Speaker 1: January 1978 murder of Leisha Ann McGee. On Tuesday, January 24, 1978,
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  Speaker 1: the day after Leisha McGee was slain, Robin Carter appeared
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  Speaker 1: before District Judge Scott Moore at juvenile court. His history
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: of offenses as a teenager are, of course, sealed. However,
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  Speaker 1: many who grew up in the Greenbrier and surrounding neighborhoods
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  Speaker 1: are all too familiar with his activities, which usually consisted
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: of breaking and entering, car theft, and vandalism. His criminal
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  Speaker 1: career began as early as when he was 13. The
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  Speaker 1: case he was in court for the day after Leisha's
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: murder is known. Carter had abducted a woman on Saturday,
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  Speaker 1: December 3, 1977, at a Fort Worth service station on
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  Speaker 1: Crowley Road, just off Interstate 20, a 24-year-old student from
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  Speaker 1: Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. stopped to fill up her tank.
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  Speaker 1: The woman's Chevy Nova was overheating, too, and noticing the
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  Speaker 1: steam coming off the vehicle's engine was a 16-year-old Robin Carter.
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  Speaker 1: Carter offered to help the woman, and she accepted. As
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  Speaker 1: he filled the car's radiator with water, he made small talk.
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  Speaker 1: He asked her where she was headed, and when she
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  Speaker 1: told him, he said he needed a ride to somewhere
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  Speaker 1: near there. She agreed to give Carter a lift. He'd
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: helped her after all, but the woman's returned favor quickly
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  Speaker 1: turned into a nightmare. After they had traveled only a
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  Speaker 1: short distance, the teenager wrapped a rag around the woman's neck.
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  Speaker 1: Carter told her to keep driving. The woman realized that
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  Speaker 1: she was in a life-or-death situation. If she didn't find
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: an area where there was a lot of people soon,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: she knew it could be her life. Bravely defying Carter's
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  Speaker 1: attempts to control her, the woman slipped one hand between
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  Speaker 1: the rag and her throat, preventing him from choking her,
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  Speaker 1: and veered suddenly into a Dairy Queen parking lot, purposely
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  Speaker 1: smashing into a brick column. She honked the horn frantically
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: while opening the car door, attempting to flee. The woman
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: was halfway out of the car when Carter floored it,
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  Speaker 1: and she flew from the vehicle. A Tarrant County District
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: Attorney investigator heard the commotion from his home nearby and
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: was able to act quickly enough to follow him. He
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: radioed the Fort Worth police as he pursued the teenager,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: and they were able to take over the pursuit in
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: no time. Once the cops were after him, Carter presumably
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: panicked and crashed the Chevy Nova on the grounds of
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  Speaker 1: the very seminary in which the woman he abducted was
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: a student. A chase on foot ensued but was short-lived.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: Officers detained Carter. He was held at the Tarrant County
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  Speaker 1: Juvenile Center for a couple weeks until he was finally
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: released on December 16th to the custody of his parents.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: Carter's appearance in court on January 24th, 1978 was a
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: rescheduled date due to the weather and was supposed to
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: have taken place the previous Friday. He was given probation
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: even though he was no stranger to the system. At 16,
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: Carter was already a repeat offender who was constantly slapped
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: on the wrist, even as his offenses were escalating. When
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: a Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary security guard heard of Leisha
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: Ann McGee's slaying, weeks after it happened, he phoned Fort
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  Speaker 1: Worth Homicide Detectives. he told them all about Robin DeWayne
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Carter's bungled kidnapping and the chase afterward, the month prior
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: to Leisha's killing. He remembered clearly how the story's ending
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: began when Carter crashed on the seminary's campus. Detectives were
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: certainly intrigued by the story. The abduction and Leisha's murder
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: had potential similarities, it seemed. In March of 1978, following
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: what was perhaps their only lead, Detectives visited the home
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  Speaker 1: where Carter lived with his parents and brothers on Cameron Street,
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  Speaker 1: just two blocks away from where Leisha lived on Hodgson.
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  Speaker 1: Detectives asked to speak with Robin, but he wasn't home.
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  Speaker 1: They told his parents, Betty and George, that they wanted
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: to bring the 16-year-old in for questioning and to take
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: a polygraph test, since the case he'd been caught red-handed
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: for made him at least a person of interest in
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: Leisha's murder. contradicting the fact that both he and his
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: wife were home and Robin was not. George told the
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: homicide detectives that his son wasn't allowed to leave the
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: home without one of them going along with him since
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: the kidnapping in December. Police, for whatever reason, seemed to
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: have not picked up on that. Robin's father went on
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: to tell the detectives that on the night of Leisha's murder,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: The family ate dinner at a relative's house, and when
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: they returned home, George continued, he and his son played
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: cards until shortly after midnight, at which time they both
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: went to bed. The alibi, or the attempt at an alibi,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: didn't necessarily place Robin Carter at home when Leisha was killed.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: As detectives were speaking with the parents, Robin arrived home,
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  Speaker 1: and they got the opportunity to ask him if he'd
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: be willing to take a polygraph examination. At first, he agreed,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: telling them he had nothing to hide, but he quickly rescinded.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: Detectives told the teenager to talk to his parents and
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: reconsider his decision, and that they'd check back later to
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: see if he'd changed his mind. The Fort Worth police
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: never followed up the Robin DeWayne Carter lead during the
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: initial investigations, or in the reinvestigations over the many years after,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: for that matter. Not until his DNA profile matched the
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: cigarette butt found in the backseat ashtray of Leisha's car.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: It wasn't just that Robin DeWayne Carter's DNA was on
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: the Marlboro cigarette butt found in the backseat ashtray of
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: Leisha McGee's car. It's also that the Chevy Impala had
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: been detailed that day, meaning the ashtrays had been cleaned,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: along with the fact that Carter had insisted, both in
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: the initial investigation and in the 2009 reinvestigation, that he
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: didn't socialize with Leisha at all and that he'd never
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: been in her car. He was, however, willing to plead
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: guilty to Leisha's slaying through a deal. Carter told Fort
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: Worth homicide detectives that he would accept a 30-year sentence
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  Speaker 1: for killing her if the time ran concurrently with the
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: time he was already serving, the 50 years for his
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: abhorrent attack on Melanie Gable in 1995. It certainly wasn't
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: a confession. Rather, Carter seemed to have been making the
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: offer just to get detectives off his back. Still, why
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: would he risk his chance at parole if he hadn't
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: killed Leisha? The Tarrant County District Attorney, anyway, wouldn't bite.
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  Speaker 1: The DNA on the cigarette butt wasn't enough to try
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: and convict him, or even negotiate a plea deal. And
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: it's really all they had. Since the clothing Leisha was
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: wearing when she was killed had been accidentally and carelessly
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: destroyed in 1988 by the Fort Worth police, testing on
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: those items wasn't an option. And testing on two rings
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  Speaker 1: Leisha wore, as well as bloodied material removed and stored
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: from the car's seats, provided no further DNA evidence other
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: than that of the slain teenager herself. Fort Worth homicide
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: detectives working the Long Colt case in 2009 disagreed with
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: the Tarrant County District Attorney, suggesting that a jury of
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: 12 would easily find Robin DeWayne Carter guilty of Leisha's murder.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: There was his criminal history and a disturbing story about
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: a discovery his father once made. Carter and his brothers
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: were all in seemingly constant trouble with the law, much
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: of the time involving drugs and violence. In 1988, at
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: age 31, Robbins' brother Tony Ray Carter died while serving
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: time in a Texas prison for aggravated robbery and aggravated assault.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Brother George Michael Carter was in and out of prison
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: for various crimes before finally receiving a lengthy sentence for
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: multiple DWIs. His brother Pat Allen Carter was the victim
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: of a hit-and-run auto accident, which left him severely brain-damaged.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: and which presented a predicament to detectives when George Carter,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: Robin's father, gave them some shocking news. He told them
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: that his son Pat once spoke of seeing Robin with
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: a bloody butcher knife around the time of Leisha's slaying.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: A knife had also disappeared from the kitchen of the
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: Carter home around that time. Detective Manny Reyes did not
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: believe George Carter's account of his son's whereabouts that he
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: told detectives back in 1978, even though George had spent
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: 30 years in law enforcement as a reserve police officer
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: beginning in 1982 and had connections with the Tarrant County
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Sheriff's Office going way back. Reyes believes that on the
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: night of Leisha's death, she encountered Robin Carter at a
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: convenience store at James Avenue and West Butler Street. where
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: she was buying cigarettes. The theory is that Carter wanted
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: a ride, and that the ride took a violent turn
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: for whatever reason, perhaps no reason, resulting in Carter murdering Leisha.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: Her mother Helen once told reporters, whoever killed Leisha must
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: have been covered with blood. He couldn't have just walked
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: away from the car and thumbed a ride back to town.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: The walk to Cameron Street, where Carter lived with his family,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: was only a little over a mile from where Leisha's
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: body was found. Perhaps it was this night Carter's brother
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: saw him with the bloody knife. But if he did
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: murder Leisha McGee, Robin DeWayne Carter will likely never confess,
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: especially without the threat of a looming trial. But the
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: Fort Worth Police Department's push, for one, didn't work out.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: Detectives working the case were worried that when Robin Carter's
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: parole hearing came up in 2020, he would be let out.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: In June of 2020, a 59-year-old Robin Duane Carter was
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: granted parole. In September of that year, he was released
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: from the custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: and into the custody of a sex offender rehabilitation program
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: he had to complete before walking free. As a condition
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: of his plea deal for the assault by truck on
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: Melanie Gable in 1995, Carter was court-mandated to participate in
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: the program, something not uncommon in Texas when kidnapping and
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: attempted kidnapping charges are involved. In March of 2022, Carter
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: finished the program after 18 months and was released on
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: the streets of Houston. His last known location is Richmond, Texas,
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: a suburb of Houston located to the city's southwest in
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Fort Bend County. If you have any information about the
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: murder of Leisha Ann McGee, please contact the Fort Worth
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: Police Cold Case Unit at 817-392-4307. If you'd like to
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: join Goncold's mission, To shine a light on unsolved homicides
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: and missing persons cases, get the show ad-free, and have
• 27:29
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• 27:36
  Speaker 1: You can also support the show by leaving a 5-star
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: rating and written review on Apple Podcasts or wherever else
• 27:43
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• 27:47
  Speaker 1: appreciate you. Thanks for listening, y'all.