August 1966. Near Fort Worth, Texas.
Three teenagers—Edna Louise Sullivan, Robert Brand, and Mark Dunnam—stop at a baseball field, never imagining they have crossed paths with a predator. Kenneth Allen McDuff and an accomplice abduct them at gunpoint, drive them to a remote location, and murder all three. The horrific method used to kill Edna would earn McDuff the name the Broomstick Killer.
McDuff was convicted and sentenced to death, but when the United States Supreme Court temporarily struck down existing death-penalty laws, his sentence was reduced to life in prison. Then, despite the savagery of his crimes and repeated warnings that he remained dangerous, he was released on parole in 1989.
Women soon began disappearing across Central Texas.
Among them were Brenda Thompson, Regenia Moore, convenience-store clerk Melissa Northrup, and Colleen Reed, who was abducted from an Austin car wash. Authorities eventually connected McDuff to multiple murders committed after his release, while investigators suspected there may have been still more victims.
McDuff fled Texas and became the subject of a nationwide manhunt before he was captured in Kansas City. He was returned to Texas, convicted of capital murder, and sentenced to death for a second time. In November 1998, the state executed the man it had once released back onto the streets.
How did a convicted triple murderer ever regain his freedom? And how many women died because the system failed to keep one of Texas’s most dangerous predators behind bars?
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
