The “bogeyman” behind a 1990 rape and murder that spawned a podcast about a brutal unsolved crime in a small Mississippi town has been caught thanks to DNA evidence, authorities and relatives said.
A quiet Labor Day evening on Sept. 3, 1990, was disturbed by knock at the door of the Starkville home of Kathryn Crigler, who was getting ready for bed. Her friend, Betty Jones, 65, was also at Crigler’s home, helping the 81-year-old woman whose leg was amputated navigate her nightly routine.
Jones then opened the door, unaware of the man on the other side who would slash her throat, killing her “pretty immediately,” her grandson, Jason B. Jones, told the Mississippi Clarion Ledger.
The suspect then went into the back bedroom, where he raped Crigler before fleeing and locking the door behind him. Crigler managed to drag herself into the kitchen, where she tugged the cord of her rotary phone from the floor and call 911.
Responding officers took Crigler to a hospital, where a rape kit was performed before being sealed in a bag, as DNA testing was not widespread at the time. Crigler would die at a nursing home months later from her injuries and deep depression, WTVA reports.
The brutality behind the attack fueled speculation for years throughout the town of 25,000 residents as to who could be responsible. The nearly three-decade quest came to an end on Saturday with the arrest of Michael Devaughn, 52, of Reinzi, on charges of capital murder and sexual battery, according to the Clarion Ledger.
Starkville Police Sgt. Bill Lott declined to provide additional details aside from that “a lot of hard work” went into the investigation. He would not comment on a motive out of fear that “loose lips” could taint a potential jury, he told the newspaper.
“Know we have a person that’s been arrested, that person is innocent until proven guilty,” Lott said. “It’s not his job to prove his innocence, it’s our job to prove he’s guilty.”
In all, investigators tested DNA from more than 60 people in connection to the case, with it ultimately leading detectives to Devaughn, Police Chief Frank Nichols said.
Devaughn, who was already jailed on a prior drug charge, remains held on $11 million bond at Oktibbeha County Jail. It’s unclear how authorities matched his DNA to the scene of the crime, the Clarion Ledger reports.
Two of Jones’ grandsons, Jason and Simon Jones, started a 23-episode podcast in 2017 called “Knock, Knock” that detailed the so-called “Labor Day Murders” that rocked Starkville.
“My parents didn’t want to talk about it because there was very little to tell,” Jason Jones told WTVA, adding that all credit for Devaughn’s arrest goes to police.
Jones said he finally has a sense of closure after seeing Devaughn in court on Monday.
“I was absolutely floored and just stunned,” he told the station. “This has been a taboo story in my life since I was 10.”
Devaughn faces life in prison or the death penalty if convicted of capital murder. He faces up to 30 years if convicted of sexual battery.
Jones, meanwhile, said he wished his grandmother’s accused killer had made different choices some three decades ago.
“I’m sorry his life led him to feel like he had to make those types of choices,” Jones told WTVA. “We always thought of this guy as being a monster. He was the bogeyman personified.”
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