A man in Kansas City has been arrested for the murder of a Texas woman who was found dead in Montgomery county in 1983. Thomas Elvin Darnell, 75, was charged with murder for the death of Laura Purhcase whose naked body was found burning in a field.
According to Fox News, investigators back then were misled by the confession of self-professed serial killer Henry Lee Lucas who admitted to the crime in 1983. Lucas was then convicted in 1986.
However, in 2007, Lucas and his alleged accomplice Otis Elwood Toole were eliminated in the case in 2008 after the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Squad resubmitted the DNA samples of an unknown man found during the initial investigation.
On the day the victim’s naked body was found, the sheriff's office said a deputy had been patrolling along Interstate 45 and investigated a fire that was burning in a wooded area east of his location.
The deputy spotted what appeared to be the body of a woman who had been set on fire. After evidence was gathered, the woman was identified as Purchase who was listed as a missing person from Houston. Autopsy findings revealed DNA traces of a man suggesting the victim was sexually assaulted and strangled.
In October 2019, the cold case brought the accused killer to light when investigators sent DNA evidence for a second round of genealogy testing along with an investigative lead from the report that pointed them towards Darnell as a potential suspect. A DNA search warrant for him was obtained as a result of the investigation.
Montgomery County Cold Case Detectives tracked down Darnell in Kansas on March 17, 2021 and collected DNA samples from him to enable a match. On April 30, Darnell's DNA positively matched that of the unknown man’s DNA profile that was collected from the crime scene 38 years ago.
On May 11, Darnell was arrested in his home for capital murder. He is currently detained in the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Jail with no stated bond while he awaits trial.
