Murder of Angela Samota

The murder of Angela Samota occurred on October 13, 1984, when she was attacked while in her apartment, raped, and killed. The case remained unsolved until DNA evidence surfaced in the 2000s and charges were brought against a convicted rapist, who was subsequently tried and received the death penalty.

Angela Marie Samota
Born19 September 1964
Died13 October 1984 (aged 20)
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Cause of deathMultiple knife wounds to the heart
Resting placeLlano Cemetery, Amarillo, Texas
OccupationStudent
Known forVictim of rape & murder

Background

Angela "Angie" Marie Samota was born on 19 September 1964, in Alameda, California.[1] She enrolled at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and was a part of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority. She was studying computer science and electrical engineering.[2]

Assault

On the night of 12 October 1984, Samota and two friends, one male and one female, went on the town to the State Fair of Texas. Samota's boyfriend did not join them, because, according to the subsequent police report, he was working in construction and had to get up early the next morning. The three friends went to the Rio Room dance club and stayed there until "after midnight." According to subsequent testimony of the male who accompanied the two girls, Samota "was going [from] table to table, talking to people" and seemed like "she knew everyone."

Afterwards, Samota drove her two companions to their homes, first dropping off the male at around 1 a.m. at his apartment on Matilda Street, in Lower Greenville, which was a five-minute walk from Samota's condo on Amesbury Drive, and then the female. The man later testified that, when he returned home, "he went to bed and fell asleep."[3]

Samota next went by her boyfriend's apartment to say goodnight, and then returned to her place.[2] Τhe boyfriend subsequently stated that around 1:45 a.m. he got a call from Samota who told him there was a man in her condo who asked her to use the phone and the bathroom. It was not made clear by her if the man was already there when she got home, or if she allowed him to come in. "Talk to me," Samota reportedly said to her boyfriend, then said she would call right back and hung up. When she did not call back, the boyfriend phoned her and no one answered. He drove to her condo but there was no response when he knocked on the door, which was locked. He had with him an early-generation mobile phone, provided for his construction job, so he called information who connected him to the police.[3]

Police officers arrived at 2:17 a.m. and broke through the door. They discovered Samota's dead, bloody, and naked body on the bed. The autopsy showed that the victim had been raped and then "repeatedly" stabbed, dying from wounds to her heart.[2]

Investigation and arrest

For a long period of time, the police reportedly suspected an architect who was 23 years old at the time and living in a Lower Greenville apartment.[4] He was the man who had gone out with Samota and another girl the night of the murder.[5] The victim's boyfriend was also reportedly a suspect.[2]

The case remained unsolved until 2008.[6]

In 2006, then-Dallas police detective Linda Crum, tasked with the case, used the DNA evidence from blood, semen, and fingernail samples to try and find a match among persons with a criminal record. In 2008, the results pointed to a Donald Bess who, at the time of Samota's murder, was on parole while serving a 25-year sentence.[2]

Claims by friend

Sheila Wysocki, who went to SMU and was a roommate of Samota, subsequently claimed that the case was re-opened only because she kept "badgering" the police until "they were so sick and tired of" her that they assigned detective Crum to re-examine it. Wysocki credits the fact that she became a licensed private investigator to her desire to assist in solving Samota's murder. The police initially had stated the rape kit collected at the crime scene had been lost "in the [Dallas] floods."[6][7]

The defendant in the 2010 trial for the sexual assault and murder of Angela Samota was already in prison, serving a life sentence. Donald Andrew Bess Jr. (born September 1, 1948, in Jefferson County, Arkansas),[8] had been previously convicted in 1978 for aggravated sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping. He had been sentenced to 25 years in prison, and was out on parole by 1984, when he raped and murdered Samota. In 1985, in a case unrelated to Samota's murder, Bess was sentenced in Harris County, Texas to life imprisonment for one count of aggravated rape, one count of aggravated kidnapping and one count of sexual assault.[9]

During the 2010 trial's punishment phase, other women testified that they had also been raped by Bess.[10] The defendant's ex-wife testified that he abused her and their child during their marriage. They had wed in 1969 and divorced three years later.[11]

On the basis of the DNA match, Bess was found guilty by the jury and, on 8 June 2010, received the death sentence. On 6 March 2013, the appeal filed by Bess was rejected and the judgement of the trial court was affirmed.[11][12] On 13 August 2013, a certiorari petition was filed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and denied on 13 January 2014.[13] In April 2016, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused an appeal submitted by Bess, upholding the findings of the Dallas County trial court.[14]

Aftermath

In 2016, the Dallas Police Department re-established a unit dedicated to researching old cases.[14]

Donald Bess remains on death row[15] in Polunsky prison[9] with no execution date set.[2] Samota's body is buried in the Llano Cemetery, Amarillo, Texas.[16] Sheila Wysocki lives in Tennessee and is still a practicing private investigator.[17]

See also

References

  1. "Angela Samota, 1964-1984". MyHeritage.com. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  2. Bever, Lindsey (29 June 2016). "Her friend's brutal murder was unsolved for decades. This is how she helped find the killer". The Washington Post. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  3. Wynn, Christopher (15 October 2017). "Architect suspected of SMU sorority student's murder cleared in surprise twist". Dallas Morning News (published 3 October 2012). Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  4. Wynn, Christopher (16 June 2018). "Dallas architect wrongly suspected in rape and stabbing death of SMU sorority girl steps out of the shadows". Lakewood Advocate. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  5. "Murder case followed neighborhood resident for decades". Lakewood Advocate. 3 October 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  6. "My best friend's killer got away - until I made police try again". BBC. 26 June 2018. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  7. "Dallas Floodway Timeline 1908-203" (PDF). U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 2014. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
  8. "Donald Bess Death Row Information". Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
  9. "Donald Andrew Bess, Jr". The Texas Tribune. May 2018. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  10. "Woman testifies that she was raped by convicted killer years before SMU student's brutal death". The Dallas Morning News. 15 June 2010. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  11. "Man on Death Row for 1984 Rape and Murder of SMU Student Loses Appeal". The Dallas Morning News. Associated Press. 13 April 2016. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  12. "Donald Andrew Bess, Jr., appellant, v. the State of Texas" (PDF). The Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas. 6 March 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  13. "Donald Andrew Bess, Jr., Petitioner v. Texas". Supreme Court of the United States. 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  14. Steele, Tom (13 April 2016). "Man on death row for 1984 rape, murder of SMU student loses appeal". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  15. "Death Row Offender Information: Bess, Donald Andrew". Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  16. Angela Samota grave at Llano Cemetery, The U.S. Cemeteries Project
  17. Dodd, Johnny (9 July 2016). "Solving My Best Friend's Murder: How a Stay-at-Home Mom Became a Private Investigator to Crack a Cold Case". People. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
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