McKinney quadruple murder

The McKinney quadruple murder, also called the Truett Street massacre, was when four people were gunned down in a house in McKinney, Texas on March 12, 2004. The incident received notable national coverage on the July 22, 2006, episode of America's Most Wanted, leading to the capture of a suspect.

McKinney quadruple murder
Part of mass shootings in the United States
LocationMcKinney, Texas
DateMarch 12, 2004
Attack type
Home invasion, mass murder, attempted robbery
WeaponsFirearms
Deaths4
PerpetratorsEddie Williams
Javier Cortez
Raul Cortez
MotiveRobbery

Incident

On March 12, 2004, Eddie Williams, Javier Cortez, and Raul Cortez entered the home of Rosa Barbosa (46), a clerk at a local McKinney check-cashing business. Javier Cortez allegedly had been watching Barbosa and believed she took cash home from the business daily.[1] When the men couldn't find any money in the home, they forced Barbosa to give them the key and alarm code to the check cashing business. One of the men then shot and killed Barbosa.[2]

Before the shooters had left, Barbosa's nephew Mark Barbosa (25) entered the home with friends Matt Self (17) and Austin York (18).[3] The three burglars forced Mark Barbosa, Self, and York into a bedroom and shot them before fleeing the scene.[4] Shortly following the botched robbery, Robert Barbosa - Mark Barbosa's brother and a resident in the house - entered the residence to find the four victims.[5] Self was still alive and was rushed to the hospital. He died the following day.

Police response

One month after the killings, police believed they had solved the case but soon realized that the suspects were not guilty due to a lack of evidence and were released. It wasn't until several years after the case that the authorities were led to Eddie Williams and the Cortez brothers. The case had not been progressing steadily until Talisha Haithcox, 37, called the police and told them that her boyfriend, Eddie Williams, was involved with the murders of the four victims in McKinney, Texas. McKinney Police Detective Joe Arp eventually gathered DNA evidence that linked Raul Cortez to the crime scene on Truett Street in McKinney, Texas. Investigators collected a cigarette butt from the place where Cortez worked in Florida to use as DNA evidence against the suspect. Also, investigators retrieved DNA evidence from the latex glove pieces and duct tape the suspects left behind in the house on the day of the murders. Arp used the cigarette butt and the latex pieces to cross-reference and was found to have matched once tested.

Williams and Haithcox went to the police station on June 14, 2007. They cooperated with the police. Williams told police officials that before the shooting, he had been at Raul Cortez’s house in McKinney planning to rob Cliff's Checking Cashing business, where Rosa Barbosa was the manager. Williams also stated that while they were planning the robbery, Raul Cortez fired his .25-caliber pistol into the ceiling of his house at 312 South Kentucky Street in McKinney while his brother stood outside to listen and see if he could hear the shot being fired. Police officials recovered fragments of the bullet in the South Kentucky residence and matched those fragments to those removed from victims Mark Barbosa, 25, and Austin York. Williams admitted to shooting Austin York and explained that his main reasoning was that the Cortez brothers would have killed him if he hadn't shot Austin. Haithcox's 18-year-old son, Cody, reasoned with the police officials about why Williams might have shot Austin. "I heard Shorty (Eddie Williams’ street name) talk about Javier. He was his friend," (Dallas News) Cody said. "If anything, I think they made him do it. He's not that type of guy."

Javier Cortez, 31; Raul Cortez, 26; and Eddie Williams were all arrested and charged. Williams pled guilty to three counts of murder in 2010 and was sentenced to 20 years.[6] Raul Cortez was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death.[7] Williams's relatively lighter sentence compared to that received by Raul Cortez was justified by his co-operation with police and his history of mental disabilities.[8] Javier Cortez pled guilty to federal weapons charges and was sentenced to four years in prison. He is currently confining his sentence at the Clements Unit in Amarillo.[9]

Legacy

Raul Cortez appealed his death sentence to the Texas Supreme Court, but his appeal was rejected in 2011.[10] He subsequently appealed his sentence all the way to the US Supreme Court, but his appeal was rejected in 2017. As of 2020 a date is still yet to be set for his execution.[11] A scholarship fund was raised in the names of the victims of the killings.[12] The killings were also the subject of an episode of the Investigation Discovery channel documentary Nightmare Next Door.[13] The episode first aired in January 2011.[14]

References
  1. WFAA Staff. (2009, October 16). Suspect describes the scene of McKinney murders in '04.WFAA.
  2. WFAA Staff. (2009, October 16). Suspect describes scene of McKinney murders in '04.WFAA.
  3. Wigglesworth, V. (2017, October 30). Man sentenced to die in McKinney quadruple murder loses U.S. Supreme Court appeal. The Dallas Morning News.
  4. Gallagher, D. (2007, July 20). Warrants detail Truett Street evidence. McKinney Courier-Gazette.
  5. Solis, S. (2009, January 12). Quadruple murder trial underway in McKinney. NBC DFW.
  6. Wigglesworth, V. (2017, October 30). Man sentenced to die in McKinney quadruple murder loses U.S. Supreme Court appeal. The Dallas Morning News.
  7. "Man sentenced to death for killing 4". NBC. AP. 3 February 2009. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  8. "Plea deal reached in 2004 Texas quadruple murders". The Eagle. AP. 18 February 2010. Archived from the original on 2021-11-03. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  9. Wigglesworth, V. (2017, October 30). Man sentenced to die in McKinney quadruple murder loses U.S. Supreme Court appeal. The Dallas Morning News.
  10. "Man Condemned For McKinney Murders Loses Appeal". CBS-DFW. AP. 16 September 2011. Archived from the original on November 3, 2021. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  11. Wigglesworth, Valerie (30 October 2017). "Man sentenced to die in McKinney quadruple murder loses US Supreme Court Appeal". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  12. Blakeley, Katy (9 March 2020). "Family Works to Celebrate the Lives of Those Killed in 2004 Robbery". NBC-DFW. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  13. "Nightmare Next Door episode list". Apple TV. Apple. 13 January 2011. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  14. Gallagher, Danny (12 January 2011). "Discovery Channel's ID airing piece on Truett Street murders". McKinney Courier-Gazette. Archived from the original on 2021-11-15. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
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