List of arrest made in the I-45 killings spree.

Houstonians know all too well that the forth largest city in America is full of criminals. Many sex offenders are about and could prey on another innocent victim at any time. Back in the 1970's when the very first I-45 killings happened, the city was smaller, as Houston grew so did the crime rate. But Houston is still not the same as other large cities like New York. Houston was built on oil and the port system at the Gulf of Mexico. There are towns all around Houston that have rural territories and make the perfect hiding place for some criminals. Virtually all serial killers are white males but some can even blend into regular socially so well, it's like the forest and the trees. For example Dennis Radar - BTK, who seemed like a normal father who was to most people somewhat erratic but he also killed.

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William Ray Mathews: A drifter confessed to killing Wanda May Pitts but he couldn't recall just where he put her body. About a year later due to a tip to Crime Stoppers helped the police find her remains. On January 17, 1999, 18 year old Pitts had worked at the Lodge Motel in Shenandoah for about two months and did not have a car. The motel is on the east side of I-45 and she worked in the lobby where Mathews abducted her. He took her to one of the motel rooms where he sexually assaulted her, he made it a point to say she was a virgin. He had strangled Pitts within hours of kidnapping her, a far too common signature of other I-45 killers. A plea bargain prevented authorities from charging him with Pitts murder but got him for a similar crime. Weeks after Pitts had vanished, Mathews attempted to abduct Tracy Vickery from the office where she sold mobile homes. The Country Time Mobile Homes just happened to located on the other side of I-45 from the Lodge Motel. He came in with a briefcase, sat down and wrote her a note. She was to do what he said because he had a gun and would kill her if she did not. He forced Vickery into his truck, then he drove off down I-45 with her but she leap from his moving truck. He tried to pull her back in by her hair but he couldn't, she got away and ran to the Gulf Cost Trades Center to save herself.

William Lewis Reece: Previously convicted of rape in Oklahoma, he was working construction in Texas. 19 year old Sandra Sapaugh was fixing a flat on NASA Road 1 in Webster, across I-45 from Friendswood on May 16, 1997. Sapaugh said Reece stopped to help her but then he pulled a knife on her and forced her into his truck. As he drove 70 miles per hour north on I-45 he threatened her with the knife and ordered her to undress. Sapaugh who was pregnant at the time opened the passenger door and jumped out of the fast moving truck. She was rescued by another driver and she sustained serious injuries. Her and her baby had both survived, five months after she was abducted she was brought in to look at a lineup by Webster police. She picked out Reece as her attacker and he was charged with aggravated  kidnapping. She believed he caused the flat tire on her van in the first place. Reece also is a suspect in the murder of Laura Smither and the disappearance of Jessica Cain. Both of these cases also happened in 1997 but he has denied he was involved in either of these two cases. Reece was working at a construction site when the workers were let go for the day because it was just too wet to work from the rain. The construction site was near the residence of 12 year old Laura Kate Smither in Friendswood, where she was last seen jogging. Her parents believed he killed Laura but he was never charged with her murder nor in the case of Jessica Cain. Allegations of evidence tampering surfaced and put the case in jeopardy. Questions on whether the case would ever move forward to prosecution and the case had little physical evidence from the get go. Problems with the autopsy also surfaced, the autopsy report to indicate that African American hairs found on the girl's body were contaminants and that they did not come from the crime scene. Reece admitted he drove down the street where Smither was jogging but returned to the job site and his boss saw that he was alone in his truck. According to Reece, he then went home and did laundry. After a search of his home and truck turned up nothing and a lie detector test was determined to be inconclusive. Reece's pickup truck was analyzed for possible fiber, blood or other clues. Authorities even went as far as to dig at a stable in a pile of horse manure at the Diamond B Ranch. Reece was boarding a palomino at the stables and infrequently shoed horses for other owners there. He continued to be a prime suspect because of circumstantial evidence, not much in the way of clues ties Reece in with the Cain or Smither cases. Friendswood police had their backs to the wall because of the public outcry over when they found out the girl had been sexual assaulted before she died and how she had died. But did he do it?

Walter Alexander Sorto, Edgardo Rafael Cubas and Eduardo Navarro: This trio was arrested in February of 2003 for the rapes and shooting deaths of Roxana Capulin, age 24, Teresa Rangel, age 38 and Esmerelda Alvarado, age 15 on the Houston's east side. Sorto has since been convicted in the murders of Capulin and Rangel, who were abducted from the resteraunt where they worked on June 1, 2002.  Also 13 year old Laura Ayala missing since March 10, 2002, her DNA was in Cubas' father's SUV but they won't discuss their involvement in her murder and have not been charged with her death.


League City Connections

Jonathan David Drew: Who worked as a League City mechanic. November 29, 1998 upon pulling over Drew a policeman approached his vehicle, found Tina Flood a 23 year old waitress slumped over in his passenger seat. Drew remained clam while pulling out his proof of insurance and asked the policeman what was wrong. As if there was nothing happening or out of the ordinary. Tina Flood had been sexually assaulted, beaten and died two days later in the hospital of a massive head injury. Tina Flood had befriended Drew at a Seabrook nightclub, he offered her a ride but he turned violent soon afterwards. In October 1998 Drew attempted abduction of a League City woman from her apartment on the infamous Calder Drive. Drew grabbed her wrist and attempted to pull her into her car but she freed herself. Then he broke a glass bottle, seized her again cutting her in the process. The woman once again freed herself by kicking his knee and escaped from him. In November 22, 1997 another League City woman identified Drew along with an still unidentified man had forced their way into her car. They kidnapped her as she sat in her car at a traffic light at Calder and Main in League City, the men threatened to kill her. Drew and his accomplice took her to an unknown trailer, where they sexually assaulted her for several hours. A search of his parents home in League City, the police discovered a vial containing many human teeth. Drew also is suspected of several other murders and sexual assaults. He was charged with capital murder but jurors convicted him on the lesser charge, finding they did not believe Drew planned to kill Tina Flood. He was convicted of killing Tina Flood in December of 1998 and later the sexual assault as well, he was handed a life sentence. Drew had lived in Austin and has been investigated for similar crimes in the state capital, where two escorts accused him of forcing them into sex.

Anthony Allen Shore: At the time a 42 year old registered sex offender. Convicted in October of 2004 in the murders of four young females in Houston, these four killings from 1986 to 1995. His victims Diane Rebollar 9 years old, Dana Sanchez 16 years old, Laurie Tremblay 16 years old and Maria Del Carmen Estrada 21years old. His murders dating back to 1986, with the victims ranging in age from 9 to 21. All of the victims were strangled to death and had been sexually assaulted. September 26, 1986, Laurie Lee Tremblay was found dead behind a restaurant in the 10600 block of Westheimer. April 16, 1992, Maria Del Carmen Estrada had been abducted as she walked to work from her home at 7200 Shadyvilla. Her body was found hours later in a parking lot of a business at 6707 Westview. October 19, 1993, a 14 year old girl was sexually assaulted in her home in the 1900 block of Portsmouth. She had come home from school and found the him in the kitchen. After sexually assaulting the girl he fled and the girl survived. August 7, 1994, Diana Rebollar was abducted in the 6600 block of North Main as she was walked home from a convenience store. Her sexually assaulted body was found at 1440 North Loop. July 6, 1995, Dana Sanchez was talking on a payphone at West Cavalcade at Airline. On July 14, her body was found on North View Park. A tiny particle of DNA underneath Estrada's fingernail is what had linked Shore to her murder.Being such a depraved individual, Shore's DNA was already in a database stemming from two child molestation cases in 1998. He had jobs as a phone service man and a tow truck driver which gave him the freedom to roam throughout Houston. He had ample opportunity to stalk or kill other females, he remains a suspected of several other murders and sexual assaults. Shore lived in League City until he was 13 and attended Clear Creek High School, this would have been in the mid 1970s. League City is where the infamous Calder Drive "Killing Fields" murders took place. Shore also abducted Robollar and Sanchez at or near convenience stores, a common abduction method in the Killing Fields and other I-45 murders. He was a serial sexual killer and that's what they had on Calder Drive. DNA collected from Janet Doe, one of the unidentified victims was sent to forensic lab which handled the evidence used in the Shore cases. Detective Sgt. Brian Goetchius of Texas City also compared evidence in the 1996 disappearance of Krystal Jean Baker to evidence involving Shore. As well as the Jessica Cain but evidently he has not been linked to any of these or other I-45 cases. One case that remains a mystery. it centers on a set of bones found blocks from his home, the medical examiner was able to determine that they belonged to a young female. She only had on a T-shirt and a tied cord was found close to her remains. The loop in the cord loosely fitting was Shore's modus operandi. Shore received the death penalty from the state of Texas authorities.

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