Murder of Rick and Suzanna Wamsley

Last updated

Rick and Suzanna Wamsley were murdered on December 11, 2003 in their home in Mansfield, Texas, as part of a conspiracy involving their son Andrew and two others.

Contents

Crime

On the evening of December 11, 2003, Rick and Suzanna Wamsley, an upper class Mansfield, Texas couple, were shot and stabbed to death in their home by Andrew Wamsley's friend Susana Toledano. [1] The murders were part of a scheme orchestrated by Andrew Wamsley, his girlfriend Chelsea Richardson, and their friend Susana Toledano to collect on Andrew's parents' $1.65 million estate. [2] The three conspirators also wanted to kill Andrew's older sister Sarah, but she was not home on the night of the murders. [3]

Conspirators

Andrew Wamsley

Andrew Wamsley (born July 7, 1984) was the second child born to Rick and Suzanna Wamsley. He began dating Chelsea Richardson in January 2003. [3] Andrew's parents reportedly disapproved of their son's relationship with Chelsea.

Chelsea Richardson

Chelsea Lea Richardson (born March 26, 1984) [4] grew up in a working-class neighborhood of Tarrant County, Texas in contrast to her boyfriend Andrew Wamsley. She and Andrew started conspiring to kill Andrew's parents in October 2003. She was also roommates with Susana Toledano at the time of the murder. [3]

Susana Toledano

Susana Alejandra Toledano (born September 28, 1984) was Chelsea Richardson's roommate. Susana was reportedly forced by her co-defendants to shoot and stab Rick and Suzanna Wamsley on the night of December 11, 2003. She had also been made to shoot at the gas tank of the Wamsleys' Jeep Laredo during a failed murder attempt that occurred on November 9, 2003. [3]

Hilario Cardenas

Hilario Cardenas was an IHOP restaurant manager in Arlington, Texas who conspired with the three other co-defendants on how to murder the Wamsleys. [3] He provided the gun that was used in the murders. [5]

Convictions

In order to avoid the death penalty Susana Toledano pleaded guilty to murder in January 2005. [5] On May 26, 2006, she was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years. [3] As part of her plea deal she testified against Chelsea and Andrew at their subsequent trials. Susana will be eligible for parole in 2034. [6]

Chelsea Richardson's trial began in May 2005. Chelsea's fellow prison inmates testified at her trial that she had admitted her role in the murders. [3] Susana Toledano also testified that Chelsea told her to kill the Wamsleys so they could share in the family's estate. [5] After three hours of deliberation Chelsea was convicted of capital murder. The jury deliberated for just over two hours before unanimously sentencing Chelsea to lethal injection. The jury cited the crime's brutal and premeditated nature, and the fact that she was considered a "danger to society." [3] She became the first female sentenced to death in Tarrant County, Texas, later followed by Lisa Coleman. On December 13, 2011, Chelsea's sentence was commuted to life in prison. [7]

Andrew Wamsley was convicted of capital murder on March 5, 2006. [2] Jurors did not view Andrew as a future danger to society and sentenced him to life in prison. His conviction and life sentence were affirmed by the Second District of Texas Courts of Appeals on March 13, 2008. [8] Andrew is serving his sentence at the John B. Connally Unit in Kenedy, Texas. Barring a successful appeal, Andrew will be eligible for parole in 2044. [6]

Hilario Cardenas pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder. On May 26 2006 he received a 50-year sentence with parole eligibility in 2014. [6] Cardenas was denied parole in June 2016 and again in June 2017. [9]

Related Research Articles

The Texas 7 were a group of prisoners who escaped from the John B. Connally Unit near Kenedy, Texas, on December 13, 2000. Six of the seven were apprehended over a month later, between January 21–23, 2001, as a direct result of the television show America's Most Wanted. One of them committed suicide before he could be arrested. The six surviving members were all convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Irving, Texas police officer Aubrey Wright Hawkins, who was shot and killed when responding to a robbery perpetrated by the Texas Seven. Four of the six sentenced have since been executed.

Capital punishment in Texas Overview of capital punishment in the U.S. state of Texas

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the state of Texas, part of the United States.

Genene Jones American female serial killer

Genene Anne Jones is an American serial killer, responsible for the deaths of up to 60 infants and children in her care as a licensed vocational nurse during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1984, Jones was convicted of murder and injury to a child. She had used injections of digoxin, heparin, and later succinylcholine to induce medical crises in her patients, causing numerous deaths. The exact number of victims remains unknown; hospital officials allegedly misplaced and then destroyed records of Jones' activities, to prevent further litigation after Jones' first conviction.

Huntsville Unit

Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville or Huntsville Unit (HV), nicknamed "Walls Unit", is a Texas state prison located in Huntsville, Texas, United States. The approximately 54.36-acre (22.00 ha) facility, near Downtown Huntsville, is operated by the Correctional Institutions Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), administered as within Region I. The facility, the oldest Texas state prison, opened in 1849.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice Department of the government of Texas

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the U.S. state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails, and private correctional facilities, funding and certain oversight of community supervision, and supervision of offenders released from prison on parole or mandatory supervision. The TDCJ operates the largest prison system in the United States.

Allan B. Polunsky Unit State prison in West Livingston, Texas formerly known as the Terrell Unit

Allan B. Polunsky Unit is a prison in West Livingston, unincorporated Polk County, Texas, United States, located approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Livingston along Farm to Market Road 350. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) operates the facility. The unit houses the State of Texas death row for men, and it has a maximum capacity of 2,900. Livingston Municipal Airport is located on the other side of FM 350. The unit, along the Big Thicket, is 60 miles (97 km) east of Huntsville.

Celeste BeardJohnson, more commonly known as Celeste Beard, is a convicted American murderer who is serving a life sentence at the Crain Unit in Gatesville, Texas for the 1999 murder of her millionaire husband, Steven Beard.

David Lynn Harris was an American orthodontist who owned a chain of offices along with his wife, Clara Suarez Harris. The chain was particularly successful, and the couple was able to afford an upscale home and lifestyle in Friendswood, Texas. On July 24, 2002, Clara Harris confronted her husband in a hotel parking lot over an extramarital affair, then struck and ran over him with her Mercedes-Benz sedan, killing him in an act of mariticide. She was convicted of sudden passion and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Linda Anita Carty is a Kittitian-American former schoolteacher who is on death row in Texas. In February 2002, she was sentenced to death for the abduction and murder in 2001 of 25-year-old Joana Rodriguez in order to steal Rodriguez's newborn son. Carty claimed she was framed by her co-defendants who were drug dealers because she had previously been an informant in years past.

Ellis Unit

O. B. Ellis Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison located in unincorporated Walker County, Texas, 12 miles (19 km) north of Huntsville. The unit, with about 11,427 acres (4,624 ha) of space, now houses up to 2,400 male prisoners. Ellis is situated in a wooded area shared with the Estelle Unit, which is located 3 miles (4.8 km) away from Ellis. From 1965 to 1999 it was the location of the State of Texas men's death row.

John Albert Gardner

John Albert Gardner III is an American convicted double murderer, rapist, and child molester. He confessed to the February 2009 rape and murder of 14-year-old Amber Dubois from Escondido, California, and the February 2010 rape and murder of 17-year-old Chelsea King from Poway, California, after he entered a plea agreement that spared him from the death penalty. Additionally, Gardner attempted to rape 22-year-old Candice Moncayo of San Diego County, and had been previously incarcerated for the molestation of a 13-year-old girl.

James H. Byrd Jr. Unit

The James "Jay" H. Byrd Jr. Unit (DU) is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison for men located in Huntsville, Texas. The 93 acres (38 ha) diagnostic unit, established in May 1964, is 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Downtown Huntsville on Farm to Market Road 247. The prison was named after James H. Byrd, a former prison warden.

Susan Lucille Wright is an American criminal from Houston, Texas, who made headlines in 2003 for stabbing her husband, Jeff Wright, 193 times in an act of mariticide and then burying his body in their backyard. She was convicted of murder in 2004, and was given a 20-year sentence at the Crain Unit in Gatesville, Texas. She was denied parole on June 12, 2014, and July 24, 2017. She was granted parole in July 2020 and released from prison on December 30, 2020.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles (BPP) is a state agency that makes parole and clemency decisions for inmates in Texas prisons. It is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

Murders of John Goosey and Stacy Barnett American double murder over drugs

The murders of John Forest "Johnny" Goosey and Stacy Marie Barnett occurred on July 21, 2009 in the West Campus area of Austin, Texas, when a man, who had two accomplices, shot to death two recent graduates from the University of Texas at Austin who originated from the Greater Houston area. This event is sometimes called the West Campus murders. Police stated that the murder was the result of a drug deal debt. The murder resulted in media attention on the marijuana trade among young, college-educated people.

William G. McConnell Unit (ML) is a Texas state prison located in unincorporated Bee County, Texas, along Texas State Highway 181, 1 mile (1.6 km) east of the city limits of Beeville. It is a part of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ).

Thomas Bartlett "Bart" Whitaker is an American convicted of murdering two family members, under the Texas Law of Parties, who spent nearly 11 years on death row at the Polunsky Unit near Livingston, Texas. He was convicted for the December 10, 2003, murders of his mother and brother by gunman Chris Brashear and sentenced to death in March 2007. On February 22, 2018, 45 minutes before the scheduled execution at 6:00 pm, Whitaker had his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment without parole by Governor Greg Abbott, the first time Governor Abbott has done so. He currently resides in the McConnell Unit in Beeville, Texas, in solitary confinement.

Alexandra Flores was murdered by David Santiago Renteria on November 18-19, 2001 in El Paso, Texas, after being kidnapped. She was last with her parents in a local Walmart. Flores's body was found naked and slightly burnt by employees of a doctor's office, 18 mi (29 km) away from the place of abduction.

Murder of Davontae Williams Nine-year-old boy who, in 2004, died of malnutrition at his apartment in Arlington, Texas

Davontae Williams was a nine-year-old boy who, in 2004, died of malnutrition at his apartment in Arlington, Texas. He weighed 35 pounds at the time of his death. Davontae's mother, Marcella L. Williams, and his mother's partner, Lisa Ann Coleman, were arrested, accused of depriving Davontae of food, and charged with capital murder. Marcella Williams entered a guilty plea in exchange for a sentence of life imprisonment, while Coleman refused a plea deal, was found guilty, and received a death sentence.

References

  1. ↑ "Man gets life for parents' slayings" . Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  2. 1 2 "Man found guilty in slaying of parents". Archived from the original on 2011-10-03. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Tarrant County District Attorney -- Tim Curry". Archived from the original on 2011-08-04. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  4. ↑ "Offender Information". Archived from the original on 2011-09-24. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  5. 1 2 3 "Woman who helped kill boyfriend's parents given death (Texas)" . Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  6. 1 2 3 "Susana Toledano" . Retrieved 2011-08-16.[ dead link ]
  7. ↑ "Offenders No Longer on Death Row". Archived from the original on 2014-05-16. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  8. ↑ "Case Law Full Display". Archived from the original on 2012-03-27. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  9. ↑ "TDCJ Offender Details". offender.tdcj.texas.gov. Retrieved 10 February 2017. Name: CARDENAS,HILARIO | SID Number: 07224090 | TDCJ Number: 01372542
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.