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The Killing of Connie Jane Bibb · Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

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The concol podcast may contain violent or graphic subject matter. Listener discretion is advised.
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Even before graduating second in her class from the University of Texas El Paso
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with a bachelor's degree in geology in May of nineteen eighty six, thirty four
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year old Lyndon Kaufman Lenham was a very successful and very busy woman. For
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more than nine years, she had worked as an engineer for the Southern Pacific
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Railroad as she earned her bachelor's degree. Lyndon was a scuba teacher and member
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of the Professional Association of Diving Instructors and a member of the Inner Space Divers
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of El Paso. Because her husband, Patrick understood Lyndon's passion for the sea
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as a master diving instructor himself, he supported her decision to move into an
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apartment in College Station so she could attend Texas A and M University's Graduate School
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of Oceanography. Lyndon began taking classes for her master's degree the fall semester of
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nineteen eighty six, after securing a small apartment off Kane Road, just a
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little over a mile off campus. As the semester's final exams loomed, However,
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Lyndon's life was cut short by a cowardly man determined to make his way
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through life writing the back of others hard work and determination. Twenty three year
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old Malcolm Trent Primrose was a boy local to the Brazos Valley and Gulf Coastal
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Plain regions of Texas. He'd been unable to cut it as a university student.
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He dropped out around nineteen eighty four and began working as a roughneck.
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Primrose stuck around College station and Brian, bouncing around the spare bedrooms and sofas
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of area friends. Much like his inability to meet the intellectual challenges at Texas
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A and M, Primrose couldn't quite handle the laborious and tiring work the oil
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fields demanded. By the fall of nineteen eighty six, he was unemployed and
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apparently refusing to seek and even somewhat honest living. On Tuesday, November twenty
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fifth, nineteen eighty six, at six am, Malcolm Trent Primrose lifted the
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unlocked screen on the window of an apartment on Kane Road, down the street
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from where he was staying with a friend. He made his way through,
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and once in the unit's living room, he began stuffing his bag with anything
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and everything that looked like it might catch a few bucks at and out of
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town pawn shop. Suddenly, a woman walked in and began yelling at Primrose.
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Unlike the cowardly burglar, the woman, though presumably fearful, was brave.
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She began physically fighting the man just after he pulled a short length of
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rope from his pocket. For a while, she held her own, but
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Primrose eventually overpowered the woman, and soon the rope was around her neck.
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The intruder squeezed tight until she no longer struggled. Lyndon Kaufman Lenham's promising life
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was over. Though the sun hadn't yet risen on the eastern horizon, its
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rays shot through the otherwise starry morning sky. If he was going to leave
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the apartment without being seen, Primrose thought it had better be now and quick.
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He left the spoils behind for the rest of the day. The young
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man who'd gone from burglar to murderer in a matter of minutes, stayed inside
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his friend's house between seven thirty and eight p m. When the sun had
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fully retreated, leaving a half moon the brightest source of light. Malcolm Trent.
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Primrose made his way back to the crime scene to collect the items he
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had originally planned to steal, and then some though an attempt to comprehend this
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violent criminal's thinking process would undoubtedly prove futile for anyone who values life. When
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he returned and bound the wrists and ankles of Lindon's lifeless body, it was
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likely to make it easier to carry her away. That was Primrose's plan to
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dump Lenden in some remote area, a plan that was thwarted when as he
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collected her valuables, the woman's friend entered the apartment through the back door.
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The thief killer quickly bolted out the front and sprinted to a nearby and small
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wooded area, where he waited out the night as college station policeman investigated the
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scene of London's murder. Primrose later denied sexually assaulting Lendon, and it's unclear
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whether there was any evidence he had. After stealing a truck that day from
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an area grocery store parking lot, Primrose headed out of state using Lyndon Kaufman
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Lenham's credit cards. Along the way, a Benton, Arkansas patrolman found Primrose
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asleep in the stolen truck at a rest stop off Interstate Thirty items belonging to
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Lendon, her identification, credit cards, jewelry, and even her pistol were
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discovered in the vehicle. Malcolm Trent Primrose confessed to the murder almost immediately upon
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his arrest. Before he was apprehended, and perhaps for a short period after,
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police in Austin, Texas theorized that Lyndon Kaufman Lenham's slang might be connected
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to one of their cases that shared several similarities, the murder of Connie Bibb
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two days later. Connie Jane Bibb was born on May twenty sixth, nineteen
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fifty eight, in Spokane, Washington, to parents Carl and Genevieve. Carl
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Bibb was a major in the Air Force, and was in fact on the
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Special Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service Task Force that picked up Apollo eight in the
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Pacific Ocean when it returned to Earth on December twenty seventh, nineteen sixty eight,
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after orbiting the moon. Connie's family, which included a brother and sister,
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lived in Honolulu, Hawaii for several years, but Connie mostly grew up
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in plain O, Texas. Her extended family had gotten bigger after her parents
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divorced. Her father went on to have another daughter, Connie's half sister,
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and she had several stepbrothers. After graduating plain O' High School in nineteen seventy
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six, she followed in her father's footsteps and joined the Air Force, though
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she'd not go on to a lifelong military career like he had. While stationed
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on a base in Germany, Connie learned and mastered repairing ground radio communication equipment.
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She served her four years and left the military as an Airman first Class
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in Communications. Once back in the States, Connie lived in Reno with her
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mother and stepfather. While attending the University of Nevada. She took a job
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as a dealer at Harrah's Hotel and Casino in Reno. In nineteen eighty three,
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Connie returned to Texas, this time Austin, and began taking classes at
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the University of Texas, but she kept close contact with her family and Reno
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through letters and phone calls. Tragically, her father, Major Carl Bibb,
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died that year, and three years later, in nineteen eighty six, her
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brother Kurt died at only twenty six years old In the fall of nineteen eighty
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six, Connie Jane Bibb entered her senior year at UT, her major special
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education. She was a devout Christian and planned to become both a teacher and
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a missionary. Connie worshiped at Marianatha Christian Church, a couple miles north of
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the home she shared with nine other women students at the university and some evangelists.
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She had moved into the house at twenty eight or seven Hemphill Park just
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as her senior year at the University of Texas began, and she was elated
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to be living with so many of her friends, nearly all of whom were
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fellow members at her church, where Connie had been going for more than two
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years. The North University neighborhood in which she lived was a prime spot if
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you were a student. Not only was it a short distance to class for
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Connie and her roommates, the Drag was also less than a mile away,
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one of the best spots in Austin to grab a burger and shake or do
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a little shopping. The house was also just south of the Hyde Park neighborhood,
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a very desirable place to live, but because the cops had kept mum
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about a series of sexual assaults there. No one knew Hyde Park was a
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dangerous place to be in November of nineteen eighty six. Only the residents who
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had survived the Hyde Park rapists attacks and their closest friends knew of him.
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Over the course of this devil's reign of terror, only a few survivors reported
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the assaults they endured to police, but it's been theorized the Hyde Park rapist
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is responsible for the sexual assaults of dozens of women in the North Austin neighborhood
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for which he's named. The first known attack occurred on January seventeenth, nineteen
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eighty six, though the brazen competence and seemingly meticulously planned assault suggested the rapist
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had done his worst several times before. That night, a nurse returned to
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her apartment in the detached garage of one of the many craftsman homes in Hyde
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Park after a date. She was her usual confidant and jovial self as she
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turned the key in the lock, but after opening the door, she'd never
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be the same again. The nurse was immediately accosted by a stranger claiming to
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wield a gun. His face obscured by the darkness. She was gagged,
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blindfolded, bound with nylon cord, and commanded to comply with the man's demands
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both before and as he raped her. After the armed stranger fled, the
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nurse reported the assault to police. Almost a year later, on Thursday,
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November twenty seventh, nineteen eighty six, Connie Jane Bibb eight Thanksgiving dinner at
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a friend's house. It's been reported that Connie eight Thanksgiving dinner and returned at
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about seven pm, and although she had plans to visit another friend, she
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did not for reasons unknown. It is unclear if that report is correct,
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but to further confuse the events of that day, another report as Connie coming
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home at six thirty pm and was phoning relatives when one of her roommates came
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home and changed clothes before heading to the football game. Since that game started
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at seven twenty pm, The third conflicting report that Connie left her friends at
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around eight thirty pm, stopped in another friend's house for a quick visit,
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and arrived home between eight forty five and nine pm, is likely incorrect.
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The cold drizzle that night, anyway, didn't keep Connie's friends and roommates from
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cheering on the Longhorns, who ended up being trampled by the aggies that night,
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but perhaps it was the weather that kept her in. Whatever the case,
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Connie Bibb had the house to herself. At ten pm, one of
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her roommates returned home and found the twenty eight year old woman dead. When
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Austin police officers arrived at twenty eight oh seven Mphill Park, they quickly ascertained
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that an intruder had jimmied open the second story pati o'door at the back of
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the house. Once inside, he made his way downstairs, where he either
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surprised or was confronted by Connie in the hallway, judging by the scene damaged
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to the floor and walls, there was a violent struggle. Connie was knocked
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unconscious at some point during the fight, and the intruder tied a pair of
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pantyhose tightly around her neck and knotted it from behind. A scarf was stuffed
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into her mouth and also tied in the back. Detectives couldn't explain what was
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perhaps the detail of the murder. Connie's killer had doused her abdomen and chest
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with perfume. The bottle was never found. Austin Police Sergeant One Gonzales called
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the detail some kind of quirk the killer has. Travis County Medical Examiner doctor
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Roberto Bayardo determined the cause of death to be asphyxiation from strangling and gagging.
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Connie Jane Bibb, doctor Bayardo said, had been dead about two hours before
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her body was discovered. He cited bruises and scrapes to the arms and legs
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as further evidence she'd fought her killer vigorously. Connie was found fully clothed,
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and no evidence of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault could be found, the
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medical examiner said at the time, though months later details emerged that suggests some
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type of sexual assault actually had occurred. Nothing was stolen from the house.
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Due to these reported details, detectives could only speculate a motive, and despite
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those same details, it was theorized that the killer either planned to burglarize the
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home or rape Connie, but she fought so hard he left without going through
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with his intended crime. Connie's roommates were all interviewed, and detectives quickly obtained
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the phone records to see if anyone she'd spoken with might be responsible. Inside
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the home, they searched for fingerprints and outside for boot or show impressions.
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Police immediately cordoned off an area adjacent to the house, where they said transience
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often loiter, but area homeowners and property managers told the Austin American Statesman newspaper
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that the area's transience and homeless were harmless. One apartment manager told police that
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a female at one of his properties directly across the street from Connie's house,
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had reported a suspicious person parked in a car there for several hours at one
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thirty am a couple days earlier. The woman waited for police to arrive,
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but finally went to bed after waiting for more than an hour. A patrolman
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eventually arrived but could find no such vehicle, meaning the car left before he
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got there. Police spokesman CF Adams blew off the possibility of a connection between
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the suspicious car and Connie Bibbs murder. In the area surrounding the University of
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Texas. He said the department gets a lot of suspicious person calls. Friends
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and relatives told police they had no idea who would attack conn It was senseless,
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they said. The cops couldn't come up with a suspect. Austin Police
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homicide Sergeant Hector Ravelles phoned the Texas Department of Public Safety and requested the help
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of Sergeant Ed Richards, a suspect profiler. Newspersons asked Sergeant Ravelles if detectives
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were investigating murders in other cities for possible connections, and they certainly were,
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particularly the murder of Texas A and M student Lyndon Kaufman Lenham two days before.
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Spokesman Adams said Lyndon's death was a base they intended to cover, though
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he said he preferred not to use the term serial killer. Adams did anyway,
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when he said it was possible they were dealing with a killer who'd come
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from college station. The slang of Lyndon Kaufman Lenham, however, had no
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connect to the murder of Connie Jane Bibb, detectives eventually learned. By month's
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end, the cops announced they were looking for a specific individual who'd been seen
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in the area around Connie's house several hours before her murder. Detective said he'd
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been seen walking through a rear alley a couple houses down from the murder scene
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and then hanging around the general area. The person was described as a light
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complexioned Latino or dark complexioned Anglo, about five feet eleven inches tall and dirty,
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transient looking. Police spokesman CF Adams said he may be a suspect.
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Adams went on, or he might have seen the suspect. He may have
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some information that can help us. A composite sketch of the man was reportedly
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drawn, but it appears never released. Memorial services for twenty eight year old
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Connie Jane Bibb were held in Texas at the Austin Peel and Son Funeral Home
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on Monday, December first, nineteen eighty six, and then in Reno,
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Nevada, the following Saturday at the Walton Funeral Home. She was buried at
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Our Mother of Sorrow's Cemetery in Reno. Meanwhile, more than a week after
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the murder, Austin Police homicide Sergeant Juan Gonzalez commented that while he and other
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detectives had no shortage of persons of interest to check out, they were no
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closer to an arrest than they were day one. But weeks into the investigation,
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detectives later said a suspect emerged that warranted a close look. On Friday,
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March seventh, nineteen eighty seven, a Travis County judge signed off on
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a search warrant to obtain blood, hair, and semen samples from a thirty
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year old man being held at the Travis County Jail on burglary charges, having
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been in custody on a twenty five thousand dollar bond since December fifth, nineteen
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eighty six. This man had been charged with burglarizing a house on Hmphill Park,
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across the street from the house Connie Jane Bibb shared with nine other women
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on the very night she was slain. There was also an attempted rape in
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the area about two weeks prior to Connie's murder, and this man was also
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suspected of that attack. It's unclear if this arrest is in any way related
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to the murder of Connie Bibb, or related to the Hyde Park rapist case
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for that matter, but the evidence the cops needed to convict the man,
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let alone charge him, was almost non existent. Likely tests showed that the
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blood and semen found at the scene did not match this man. Press coverage
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of the murder of Connie Jane Bibb abruptly stopped. The second publicly known sexual
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assault at the hands of the Hyde Park rapist is probably not only the second
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known to the Austin police, but they had kept the attacks quiet. Late.
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On July third, nineteen eighty seven, a year and a half after
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the first known assault, a young University of Texas law student returned to her
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home on Avenue G after a night out with friends, her usual Friday night
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routine. Immediately upon entering the duplex apartment, the Hyde Park rapist grabbed her
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from behind and told the young woman he had a gun as he handcuffed her
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hands behind her back. After gagging her, placing a pillow case over her
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head, and binding her with a nylon chord, the man placed the student
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on her bed, bound her ankles to the bedposts, performed several other seemingly
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ritualistic tasks, and then raped her. The cops continued silence, undoubtedly put
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the public at great risk. No one knew, which meant no one could
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take precautions. Law enforcement also refused to disclose the number of survivors theorized to
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have been victimized by this man. Both in between the first two publicly known
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rapes, and to this day, in fact, but at least six rapes
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and attempted rapes have been attributed to the Hyde Park rapist. Some relatively recent
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blog posts put the total number of victims at around nine, likely the actual
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number is even larger. During this depraved criminal's reign of terror, the homicide
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rate in Austin was high, and at least one nineteen eighty six murder was
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at some point theorized to be at the hands of this person. But it
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became relatively clear in nineteen eighty eight that the Hyde Park rapist was a weak
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little man, after two would be victims very easily fought off his attempts to
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assault them. That alone makes this still unidentified serial rapist and unlikely suspect in
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the murder of Connie Jane Bibb. She was ex military and could have easily
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overpowered him. The fact that her killer jimmied the door open, whereas the
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Hyde Park rapist always entered through unlocked doors or windows when no one was home
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and lied in wait until they returned, that the serial assaulter and Connie's killer
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were the same person. But then again, some details of her slang match
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the Hyde Park rapists m O. The depraved criminal attacked white single women between
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the ages of eighteen and thirty, and almost always raped his victims on or
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near a holiday. Connie's murder, of course, was on Thanksgiving. As
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the press coverage of Connie Jane Bibb completely stopped. Stories about the Hyde Park
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rapist had begun, but not in the papers or television news, and certainly
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not because police had decided to alert the public. Instead, it was word
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of mouth since some area women finally became aware, they were able to take
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precautions like purchasing pistols, making sure their homes were locked up tight, forming
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night watch groups, and participating in self defense training. When eighteen year old
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University of Texas student Tiffany Bruce was found dead in her home on October twenty
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second, nineteen ninety, Connie Jane Bibb's name came back up in the press,
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but only briefly. Tiffany's murder was much different than Connie's. She was
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shot three times by a man infatuated and obsessed with her, but still Tiffany's
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violent death and the fact that the Austin American Statesman was finally reporting on the
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Hyde Park rapist had local women in fear. It wasn't until two thousand and
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nine that Connie's name came back up in the newspaper, this time on a
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story about the two investigators who'd been working on her case since nineteen ninety nine.
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Ten years earlier. Austin Police Detective Scott Elert and Travis County Assistant District
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Attorney Darla Davis took over the Connie Jane Bibb murder case upon the formation of
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the city's cold case unit. Until then, her case had still been assigned
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to homicide Sergeant Hector Ravelles, one of the original investigators. Detective Elert seemed
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confident the case could be solved using advancements in forensic technology DNA testing specifically,
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and even went so far as to say such advancements had already helped move the
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case forward. Both Davis and el Ert seemed to believe that someone was sitting
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on a key piece of information that might be the impetus for cracking Connie Bibbs
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murder case, a piece of information the individual has no idea is important.
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In the same article, Connie's sister voiced her lack of optimism. While she'd
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not given up hope completely. It was clear the woman found it difficult to
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believe the case will be solved. More recently, in twenty fifteen, Austin
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homicide detective J. Swuan Connie's case file contains tons of clues, but sometimes
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we just have to wait for the right person to surface. Swan's comment,
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alongside detective alerts in two thousand and nine about technological advancements moving Connie's case forward,
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suggest a DNA profile has been identified and entered into the FBI's Combined DNA
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Indexing System or CODIS, but has received no hit. Although her sister had
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been less than optimistic in two thousand and nine, there is a reason for
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Connie's family to be hopeful today in twenty twenty three, Though Connie Bibb was
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murdered just over a year before DNA would be used to obtain a conviction in
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the United States, DNA technologies are far more advanced now, and advancements such
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as forensic genetic genealogy can help provide detectives with the best lead they can possibly
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get when tradition DNA methods, specifically uploading an str DNA profile in Dakotas have
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failed. If the Austin police are simply waiting for someone to come forward.
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Perhaps enlisting the help of the media would be the way to go, but
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they have not done that. Fox seven Austin's twenty fourteen story about Connie Jane
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Bibb and Susan Lee Wolf's slang in nineteen eighty was the last traditional news coverage
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of Connie's case. Her Thanksgiving nineteen eighty six murder remains relatively unknown to the
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public, including in the city in which it occurred, Austin. If you
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have any information about the murder of Connie Jane Bibb, police, contact the
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Austin Police Cold Case and Missing Persons Unit through the department's Homicide tip Line at
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five one two four seven seven three five eight eight, or by calling the
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Capitol Area Crimestoppers hotline at five one two four seven two eight four seven seven.
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