Earl Heiselbetz was executed by the State of Texas for a double murder
According to court documents Earl Heiselbetz and his neighbor Rena Rogers did not get along and their is evidence that Earl had killed her dogs. Earl would break into her home and kill Rena Rogers and her two year old daughter Jacy Rogers
Earl Heiselbetz would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Earl Heiselbetz would be executed by lethal injection on January 12 2000
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When Was Earl Heiselbetz Executed
Earl Heiselbetz was executed on January 12 2000
Earl Heiselbetz Case
Texas Attorney General John Cornyn offers the following information on Earl Carl Heiselbetz, Jr. who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m., Wednesday, January 12th:
FACTS OF THE CRIME
Earl Carl Heiselbetz was the closest neighbor of the Rogers family at their respective homes near Pineland, Texas. Heiselbetz’s home was about two tenths of a mile away from the Rogers’ home, which was secluded and not visible from the road. Before the Rogers had moved into the house, Heiselbetz had actually broken into the locked house and had stated that he could get into the house whenever he wanted.
On Friday, May 24, 1991, the Rogers family — Rena, Bob, and their two year-old daughter Jacy – left their home to spend the Memorial Day weekend out of town. They left their two watchdogs outside to guard their home. Returning to the area on Tuesday morning, May 28th, Rena took Bob to his job in Lufkin before going home. Bob arrived at work sometime between 10:30 and 11 a.m. When Bob returned home from work that evening he discovered that the two dogs were missing. On June 2, 1991, the carcass of one of the missing dogs was discovered in the vicinity of the Rogers’ and Heiselbetz’s houses. The dog had been shot.
The Rogers’ telephone records showed that on May 28th, at 10:01 and at 10:02 a.m., prior to the time the Rogers returned home, calls were made from the Rogers’ home to the Multiquest Sweepstakes at a “900” telephone number. Also on May 28th, Heiselbetz told his wife, Becky, that he had been bitten that morning by a dog. When she saw him later, he had a bite on his finger and scratches on his arms, and he was upset. Evidence was introduced that Heiselbetz liked to participate in sweepstakes contests and that he had informed his wife of his interest in participating in the “dial 900” telephone sweepstakes, but she had discouraged him because of the cost.
On Thursday, May 30, 1991, a neighbor saw Rena and Jacy Rogers at the grocery store at about 9:30 a.m., Rena had planned to meet her sister-in-law, Natalie Whitton, at 11:30 a.m. to travel together to Nacogdoches; Rena planned to take Jacy. Even though Ms. Whitton had confirmed plans over the telephone that morning, Rena failed to show up at the appointed place and time. Her car keys, purse, and a jar of coins were discovered missing from the Rogers’ home, but there was no sign of foul play at the home. Rena’s car was parked in her driveway.
Almost a month later, on June 27, 1991, the human skeletal remains of an adult female and a child were found in and around a barn in nearby Tyler County. The remains were identified through dental and medical records as those of Rena and Jacy Rogers.
Heiselbetz had been questioned by the Sabine County Sheriff on the day Rena and Jacy Rogers disappeared. Because he had responded in a questionable manner when asked about his whereabouts, he became a potential suspect and was questioned again on the day the remains were discovered. At this interview, following a previous one, Heiselbetz voluntarily confessed to the murders in the presence of his wife at a relative’s home.
Heiselbetz subsequently signed a written confession stating that he killed the victims at around 11 a.m. on Thursday, May 30, 1991. Heiselbetz confessed to putting the two bodies into Rena’s car and driving them some miles away to the barn where they were found. He also stated that when he returned from hiding the bodies in the barn, he parked Rena’s car back at her house, then went into the Rogers’ home and got a package of frozen hamburger meat and canned tomato sauce, which he took home. When asked how he had killed the victims, Heiselbetz answered that he did not know. He said he had blacked out, but he noted that he remembered marks on the victims’ necks. The interviewer asked if he had strangled the victims, and Heiselbetz answered that he did not think so. A few days following his confession, Heiselbetz guided the police investigators on the route that he had taken after killing Rena and Jacy and showed them where he had thrown Rena’s purse in a pond. The purse, containing Rena’s identification, was recovered from the pond. It appeared that an attempt had been made to burn the purse and the items in it.
The incomplete skeletal remains of the infant Jacy evidenced no trauma which could suggest a cause of death. The skeletal remains of Rena, however, evidenced a condition known to forensic anthropologists as “pink tooth.” This condition appears in the teeth of those who have died of asphyxiation. A forensic anthropologist testified that strangulation was a possible cause of death of Rena Rogers.
A court appointed psychiatrist testified that he had examined Heiselbetz and that there was nothing in the examination that would explain or excuse Heiselbetz’s actions. The psychiatrist also testified that head injuries sustained by Heiselbetz in a traffic accident in 1975 could not have caused the amnesia which Heiselbetz claimed in his confession.
In his confession, Earl Heiselbetz also claimed that the offense was provoked by Rena Rogers. According to Heiselbetz, Rena Rogers had come to his gate on the morning of May 30th, with Jacy, accusing him of shooting her dogs. He turned to walk away and then felt a pain in his leg. Realizing he had been shot, he went into his house to take care of his leg. When he came back out a significant time later, Rena was still there. He claimed she threw something at him, and when he ducked, he hit his head on a fence post and blacked out. When he came to, both Rena and Jacy were dead; he guessed that he had killed them. However, the evidence supports a version of events vastly different from that related by Heiselbetz. For example, the assistant director of the Jefferson County Regional Crime Lab testified that she examined the holes in the blue jeans worn by Heiselbetz the day of the murders, and that there was no evidence that the holes were caused by bullets. Similarly, the physician who had examined the lesions on Heiselbetz’s leg testified that the injury did not look like a gunshot wound, and was not characteristic of a recent wound but appeared to have been a year or two old.
It was also established that Rena Rogers was a small woman, standing under five feet tall and weighing no more than 90 pounds–compared to Heiselbetz, a large and strong man, weighing about 250 pounds at the time of the murders. Further, it was established that on the morning of the offense, Rena Rogers was preparing to depart on an out-of-town trip at 11:30 a.m. She was seen at the grocery store at about 9:30 a.m. and Heiselbetz confessed to killing her around 11a.m. Considering these facts, it is unlikely that Rena, a petite woman, on a morning in which she was preparing to go out of town, carried a gun and her infant daughter two-tenths of a mile to provoke a violent confrontation over two missing dogs with a man much larger and stronger than herself, and that after shooting him waited there for him to return
http://www.oag.state.tx.us/newspubs/releases/2000/20000111heiselbetzadvsy.htm
