Latest updates on TX car wash mass killer Robert Wayne Harris,in custody,he CONFESSES to both police and his brother,that he DID carry out car wash shooting rampage that killed 5,+ he ALSOP leads police to rotting,dumped body of gal he killed in late Nov.
Joe1orbit
The news just seems to come in WAVES sometimes. It's quiet for a few days,
but then we get a BUNCH of breasking & developing MAJOR crime news cases, all
at once. Here is the latest on the Texas car wash massacre. As already reported
by others, 28 year old Robert Wayne Harris was tracked down and arrested
yesterday, and will be charged with carrying out the shooting rampage Sunday
night, inside the car wash, in which he shot SIX employees, KILLING FIVE.
Robert had just been FIRED from the car wash two-three days earlier, and
ARRESTED as well, for "indecent exposure", after he bared his private parts to
two co-workers.
After the massacre, Robert fled the scene, leaving the dead and dying victims
behind, and they lay helpless for hours, until the store was finally REOPENED
early Monday morning, and the carnage discovered. Several very interesting
developments have occured in this case, over the past 12-18 hours. Most
importantly, Robert has LED police to the BODY of a gal who disappeared in
November, and was last seen right at the car wash. She was dumped in a ditch,
and Robert IMMEDIATELY OFFERED to show arresting cops exactly where he had
DUMPED her. This is as good as a CONFESSION, as far as I'm concerned, and it
means Robert is ALREADY almost certainly the killer of SIX.
We get fascinating comments from Robert's BROTHER, who shamelessly BETRAYED
Robert by TELLING the media that Robert CONFESSED to carrying out the massacre.
We see here the importance of NEVER trusting ANYONE in life. The betraying bro
says: "They got into an argument about the job and one of the employees grabbed
his arm and someone hit him in the back of the head. He said he lost it. He
felt sorry for doing what he did.'' Well, it's a GOOD thing Robert was
properly ARMED to carry out a PROLIFIC mass shooting, when he did "lose his
composure". And as usual, the VICTIM, certainly victimized his ENTIRE life, was
only RESPONDING to the ABUSE of others, when he "snapped". Every VICTIM has
their own breaking point, and even the SMALLEST transgression can be the "straw
that breaks the camel's back". The IMPORTANT thing to understand is that ALL
explosions of homicidal rage are the result of LIFELONG ABUSE, trauma,
injustice, and brutalization, since CHILDHOOD, that the victim has had imposed
upon him/her. So MANY victims simply suffer mental breakdowns, KILL or ABUSE
themselves, when they cannot stand the abuse anymore. You have to admire those
FEW victims who find the courage to lash OUT at others, instead of "lashing
in", at themselves.
Robert is in a REAL pickle here, his own BROTHER has betrayed him, with
regard to the car wash massacre, he himself has perhaps CONFESSED to police
that he carried it out, AND he has also TOTALLY implicated himself in the
November gal murder, by leading police straight to her body! Seems to me that
an INSANITY defense might be the ONLY way to go, even though there is no
mention of a DOCUMENTED history of mental illness for Robert.
Police are REFUSING to say whether Robert might be a suspect in OTHER
unsolved disappearances/murders. The fact that he got away for 3 1/2 months
with the murder of Sandra, does NOT necessarily mean he ever killed anyone
else, but it raised the spector that he MIGHT have. He was a SUSPECT in this
murder early on, and FAILED a lie-detector test that vhe should NEVER have
agreed to take, but prosecutors STILL didn't have enough evidence to CHARGE or
INDICT him.
Sometimes people just can't COPE with the REALITY of their own actions. I
wonder whether Robert simply couldn't DEAL with the fact that he had harvested
a human being, and so slowely descended into erratic & unstable behavior, that
culminated in this car wash massacre?? Societal victims need to ANALYZE
THEMSELVES, they need to understand what their limitations are, character-wise,
and ALWAYS love and respect THEMSELVES, unconditionally. Not an EASY thing to
do, but a valuable thing.
I wish Robert all the best, but it's almost certain that prosecutors in the
state led by the most prolific legal serial killer in amerikkka, George W.
Bush, will aggresively seek to murder Robert, and his "innocent" defense looks
to ALREADY be SEVERELY compromised, leaving him with few options beyond an
insanity defense. If the SIXTH person shot inside the car wash, the LONE
survivor, who is still in critical condition, manages to pull through and
IDENTIFIES Robert as the shooter, that would be the final nail in the coffin of
any sort of an innocent plea. There is also an EYEWITNESS who apparently just
came across the scene, and SAW Robert standing over the bodies of three of his
victims, JUST after the shootings. He'll no doubt be ordered to testify for the
prosecution. Jusst a BAD situation all the way around for Robert, as far as his
defense case goes. But at least he can claim credit for being a MASS murderer
of SIX humans. That's a rare feat.
You can view a somewhat small side angle photo of Robert, as he looked while
being LED to court for his arraignment just 12-24 hours ago, over at:
http://www.wfaa.com/wfaa/articledisplay/1,1014,6054,00.html
Stay Strong, Robert!
Take care, JOE
The following appears courtesy of today's Associated Press news wire:
Body Linked To Carwash Suspect
By SUSAN PARROTT
IRVING, Texas (AP) - A body that might be that of a woman who vanished in
November was found Wednesday after police questioned the man suspected of
killing five car wash employees this week.
The body was found in a grass-covered ditch near Lone Star Park in Irving, a
Dallas suburb, said David Tull, a spokesman for the Irving Police Department.
Robert Wayne Harris has been arraigned on a capital murder charge in connection
with the deaths of five Mi-T-Fine Car Wash employees early Monday morning. A
sixth victim remains in critical condition at Parkland Memorial Hospital in
Dallas.
Harris was fired from the car wash just days before the shootings.
Information from Harris helped to lead detectives to the body found Wednesday,
Tull said.
Sandra Gaye Scott was reported missing Nov. 29 and her pickup was found Dec. 3.
Harris was linked to her disappearance because his phone number was the last
number on her pager, police said. He was questioned after she vanished but at
the time there was not enough evidence against him, police have said.
Tull said police have not made a positive identification on the body because of
the advanced state of decomposition. But members of Scott's family were at the
Irving Police Department and at the scene where the body was found.
Harris, 28, remained in custody Wednesday. His brother, William Harris, told
The Dallas Morning News in today's editions that the suspect broke into tears
as he admitted to the car wash slayings.
``They got into an argument about the job and one of the employees grabbed his
arm and someone hit him in the back of the head,'' William Harris told the
newspaper. ``He said he lost it. He felt sorry for doing what he did.''
Harris was fired from the car wash Friday after being arrested for allegedly
exposing himself to two women at the business. He had been freed Sunday on $500
bail.
AP-NY-03-22-00
-----------------------------------------
The following three news articles all appear courtesy of the 3/22/00 online
edition of The Dallas Morning News newspaper:
Carwash suspect helps police find another body, police say
03/22/2000
By Dave Michaels / The Dallas Morning News
IRVING - The man suspected of killing five people and critically wounding a
sixth at an Irving carwash has helped police find a body that might be that of
a woman missing since November, police said today.
Robert Wayne Harris, 28, has confessed to Monday's shooting at the Mi-T-Fine
carwash at 600 N. MacArthur Blvd., his brother told The Dallas Morning News
Tuesday. Mr. Harris also was a suspect in the disappearance of Sandra Gaye
Scott. Today, Irving police spokesman David Tull said investigators had found a
body in southwest Irving, near Lone Star Park.
``At this time, we have not made an identification due to the decomposition of
the body,'' Officer Tull said. He said ``it was from interviewing the suspect''
that investigators found the body and added that police have notified Ms.
Scott's family of the development.
Ms. Scott, who lived near the Mi-T-Fine carwash where the employees were shot
early Monday, disappeared Nov. 29. She was reported missing Dec. 1, and her
abandoned pickup was found in the area two days later.
Police interviewed Mr. Harris at the time and said in a search warrant
affidavit that he failed three key questions in a lie-detector test.
Officer Tull refused to answer further questions about the investigation,
including whether Mr. Harris might be a suspect in any other missing persons
cases.
Mr. Harris was arraigned early today on a capital murder charge in connection
with the Mi-T-Fine shooting. His brother told The News late Tuesday that Robert
Harris gave a tearful confession to him and police and said he was ``sorry for
what he did.''
One man remains in critical condition from the attack.
--------------------------------------------
Man admits killing 5, brother says
Former employee at Irving carwash says argument led to shootings
03/22/2000
By Dave Michaels and Brooks Egerton / The Dallas Morning News
IRVING - Robert Wayne Harris admitted to police and his brother Tuesday night
that he killed five people the day before at an Irving carwash and was "sorry
for what he did," the brother said.
William Harris said that his brother, 28, broke into tears while telling him
and police detectives he had committed the mass killings at Mi-T-Fine carwash
Monday morning.
Robert Harris, fired last week for allegedly exposing himself to customers,
said he went back to the carwash and argued with former co-workers, his brother
said at Irving police headquarters.
"They got into an argument about the job, and one of the employees grabbed his
arm and someone hit him in the back of the head," William Harris said. "He said
he lost it."
The suspect's brother said, "He felt sorry for doing what he did."
He said he told Robert Harris "to get with God and confess with his own mouth
and believe of his heart and the Lord will forgive him for this terrible deed."
William Harris also expressed regrets for the families who lost loved ones in
the attack.
"All we can do is have trust in the Lord, and one day the world will be a
better place because He will be back," he said.
Killed Monday were assistant manager Dennis Lee, 48, of Irving and employees
Rhoda Wheeler, 46, of Irving; Agustin Villaseñor, 36, of Arlington; Benjamin
Villaseñor, 32, Agustin's brother; and Roberto Jimenez Jr., 15.
A sixth employee, 36-year-old Octavio Ramos of Irving, remained in critical
condition late Tuesday at Parkland Memorial Hospital.
Court documents obtained Tuesday showed that Robert Harris apparently was
interrupted in his attempt to flee the attack as a witness walked in and found
him standing over three bloody bodies.
Jason Shields told investigators that he saw three employees who he had watched
walk across a parking lot just minutes before lying in blood.
Mr. Harris was inside and told him, "There's three more back here in the
office," according to an affidavit by Detective R.E. Johnson says.
Mr. Shields, 21, whom police advised to stay away from his home until they
arrested Mr. Harris, went behind a counter and saw three victims on the floor.
He then left the carwash and called 911 from an adjacent parking lot.
Mr. Shields declined on Tuesday to discuss the discovery he made at the
Mi-T-Fine carwash, and police refused to discuss details of the killings. The
crime is the worst in Irving since a gunman killed three men and a pregnant
woman at a Taco Bell in January 1991.
Investigators captured Robert Harris in a house in the 10400 block of Andover
Drive in Far East Dallas about 10:45 a.m. Tuesday, Irving police Detective Carl
Bates said.
Suspect found in home
Mr. Harris was arrested after spending the night with Marie Noble, identified
as a former girlfriend or acquaintance. Police monitored the house throughout
the night after tracing a phone call made from or to the property, Detective
Bates said.
Ms. Noble "told me he had killed those people at the carwash," said her friend,
Goldeana Thorn, as she waited outside Ms. Noble's home.
He also tried to arrange a meeting with Ms. Thorn's sister, Erica Thorn, hours
after the carwash killings. The 23-year-old Oak Cliff woman said Mr. Harris
used a fake name when he called after 5 p.m., shortly after news of allegations
against him were broadcast on television.
"I locked up and loaded the gun," said Shirley Stiggert, Erica Thorn's mother,
who lives with her. "I don't want to die."
Before he heard the confession Tuesday night, William Harris had said he
believed that his brother - a convicted burglar - simply walked in on a
horrific crime scene and left in a panic.
He said he never knew his brother to have a gun or be violent.
If Robert Harris was robbing the carwash and had killed his former co-workers
because they recognized him, William Harris said, he also would have shot Mr.
Shields.
Police initially said the attack was a botched robbery but declined to detail
any missing property. Former managers said several thousand dollars probably
would have been in the safe after a busy weekend.
An affidavit states that investigators found the safe open and empty,
"including paperwork and U.S. currency." Court documents also indicated that
they seized clothing and paperwork at Mr. Harris' residence.
Mr. Harris was taken from Ms. Noble's house to Irving police headquarters,
where he arrived shortly before 11:30 a.m.
Ties to missing woman
News of his arrest drew immediate relief from Sandra Gaye Scott's family and
friends, who contend that Mr. Harris is the primary suspect in her
disappearance.
Mr. Harris failed three key lie-detector test questions in connection with Ms.
Scott's November 1999 disappearance, according to a search-warrant affidavit.
Police say they think Mr. Harris was the last person to see Ms. Scott - telling
authorities she tried to sell him a bag of marijuana - but investigators say
they never developed enough information to arrest Mr. Harris for the offense.
A judge granted a search warrant for Mr. Harris' property, but no evidence of
foul play related to the Scott disappearance turned up, according to records.
Ms. Scott's pickup was found Dec. 3 near Rock Island and Rogers roads, a few
blocks from her home and Mr. Harris' apartment. The keys were missing, but much
of her property remained, including her purse, pager, ATM card and prescription
medicine.
"Our heart goes out to them. We know what they are going through," said Barbara
Bonome, Ms. Scott's best friend. "We hope . . . [police] can link all this
together and put an end to it."
Some outside Irving police headquarters Tuesday had made up their minds and
were less forgiving.
"I just feel sorry for him. He is going to get what is coming to him here and
out there," said Michael Wright, the father of Ms. Scott's son. Mr. Harris
deserves "death, and that is a sad thing to say."
Other mourners gathered at the Mi-T-Fine, where well-wishers huddled in the
rain. Fellow employees - even those with no connection to the tragedy - stopped
their cars and laid more than two dozen bouquets outside the business.
"I didn't go to work today. I couldn't," said a tearful Gladys Arnaud, a
cashier at the Mi-T-Fine carwash on Belt Line Road in Irving, who knew Rhoda
Wheeler and Dennis Lee. "It didn't take long to get to know her. She was so
sweet.
Christina Rosas, an Irving resident who also dropped off flowers, said initial
news reports made her worry that the killings had taken place at another Irving
carwash where her father-in-law works.
"I know what it's like to lose somebody. It is just so hard," said Ms. Rosas,
23. "I just came to let them know there are people out there thinking about
them."
--------------------------------------
No time for goodbyes
'It's something you never expect, to go to work and never come home'
03/22/2000
By Mark Wrolstad and Brenda Rodriguez / The Dallas Morning News
It must have seemed an ordinary Monday morning, the start of just another
workweek, as the handful of employees arrived at Mi-T-Fine carwash on bustling
MacArthur Boulevard in Irving.
One man had worked there for about 11 years, another for nine.
A couple of the workers were moving into middle age. The youngest, barely old
enough to hold a job, was at an age when life can appear endless.
Another had already faced her own mortality - she had just come through a
cancer scare.
Still another left a special living legacy: His wife is pregnant with their
third child.
But the simple duty of going to work - where their paths apparently crossed a
final time with a fired employee who police say was bent on robbery - cost five
working-class people their lives.
A sixth victim remains in critical condition.
Family members and friends said they haven't yet grasped the finality forced
upon them in the chill of that early morning.
For them, devastation and despair echoed in each flash of a gun, emotions that
will linger as long as there is someone to remember the individuals and the
ways they lived.
"It's something you never expect," said Ronda Donaghey, a relative of one of
the victims, "to go to work and never come home."
Rhoda G. Wheeler
Rhoda Wheeler's life was divided between city and country - and devoted to
family.
At 47, she had raised a son and a daughter and, during her 20-year-marriage to
husband David, had helped raise his son and daughter.
On weekdays, Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler lived in Irving, where they worked and kept
an apartment. At the end of the week, they drove 80 miles west to Lipan, the
small town where he was born and reared and where she attended Calvary Baptist
Church.
Weekends were their favorite time, said Mr. Wheeler, 53, a computer software
technician. She had worked part time at the carwash for about 18 months "just
to have something to do after the kids got grown," he said.
She recently learned that she might have cancer, but further testing showed she
was out of danger. "We beat that, but we couldn't beat this," Mr. Wheeler said.
Mrs. Wheeler was born in Lubbock and grew up in Antelope in the Wichita Falls
area. She was a nurse at a Dallas doctor's office when they met, Mr. Wheeler
recalled.
"She was a wonderful person, outgoing," he said. "She spoke what was on her
mind. She told the truth."
Rhonda Bowman, a manager at the River Oaks Apartments where the Wheelers lived
for six years, was close to Mrs. Wheeler. She remembered her friend as a
beautiful woman with "a love of life." "She was an incredible lady, very
upbeat, full of life," Ms. Bowman said. "Even if things were a mess, she was
happy. I never saw her depressed, ever."
Mrs. Wheeler arranged Ms. Bowman's wedding flowers, the apartment manager said,
and was an inspiration - supporting Ms. Bowman during a child-custody dispute
and never giving up hope when Ms. Bowman's dog was lost for months.
The dog was found just two weeks ago and Ms. Bowman recalled the homecoming.
"Rhoda cried and held my dog and told her how much she had been missed," she
said. "It was a pretty tearful moment."
Lance Turner, a former manager at the carwash, said Mrs. Wheeler was "one of
the nicest ladies you'd ever want to know."
"You could just sit and talk to her about anything," Mr. Turner said. "I
believe she just really loved to work there because she got to meet and talk to
people."
Benjamin Villaseñor, 32, came to North Texas from Mexico. His older brother,
Agustin, gave him his first job.
And when the younger Mr. Villaseñor needed a place to stay, his 35-year-old
brother welcomed him into his Arlington home.
The Villaseñor brothers lived, worked and died together.
"They were very close," said Adalia Villaseñor, Agustin Villaseñor's wife,
sitting on a sofa in the couple's home Tuesday.
Her husband had worked at the Irving carwash for about 11 years, and his
brother for about seven years, she said. The younger brother, who was single,
later moved in with friends in Irving.
On Monday morning, Mrs. Villaseñor's husband, whom she said was popular among
customers, left for work about 7 a.m. "He gave me a kiss and he said, 'I'll see
you later,' " she said.
It was the last time she spoke to him. She said her husband never mentioned
Robert Wayne Harris, who was arrested Tuesday in Far East Dallas in connection
with the shootings.
Relatives and friends are helping Mrs. Villaseñor cope with the loss of her
husband, she said. Meanwhile, she is left with a special gift from the husband
she has lost: Mrs. Villaseñor is about six weeks pregnant with the couple's
third child.
Mr. Villaseñor's death leaves two young children and two stepdaughters. About
three weeks ago, he found out he was going to be a father again, his wife said.
"At first we were both like in shock," Mrs. Villaseñor said. "As a matter of
fact, we thought we were never going to have any more."
Surrounded by relatives, she described her husband as a gentle, friendly,
hard-working man who also liked to shoot pool with friends. She said he
sometimes worked seven days a week at the carwash, where he was an assistant
manager.
"He just loved to work," she said. "He always tried to do better things for us.
He was in the process of remodeling our home."
The couple met at the carwash about 10 years ago when she stopped by to give
money to her brother, who worked there at the time. The Villaseñors were
married about five years later.
"I liked his ways, just the way he would handle certain different situations,"
she said.
She said her husband came to Texas 15 or 16 years ago to "make a better life
for himself." He has more than 10 siblings, many of whom live in Texas. His
parents, whom he was "always watching out for" are deceased, she said.
Mrs. Villaseñor's mother, Amelia Lopez, said her son-in-law will be remembered
for his devotion to his children and his family.
"He was always wanting to do the best for his children. He was always loving to
them," Ms. Lopez said. "He always said he wanted them to have everything he
didn't get to have when he was little.
"I guess that's why he worked so hard."
Dennis D. Lee
Dennis Lee, 48, was working hard to manage the carwash and to help raise two
grandchildren.
Mr. Lee sometimes put in 80-hour weeks at the carwash, said his
daughter-in-law, Ronda Donaghey of Irving. "He opened and closed that place
seven days a week," she said.
Born in Omaha, Neb., Mr. Lee lived in Irving and had been a Mi-T-Fine carwash
employee for nine years. Previously, he had worked a number of odd jobs after
serving in the Army during the Vietnam War, she said.
"He survived that, but he couldn't survive this," Ms. Donaghey said.
Lance Turner, a former manager at the carwash, described Mr. Lee as
exceptionally hard-working. "For a guy his age to be out there in the hot sun
all day long takes someone special," Mr. Turner said. "He was doing an
incredible job."
Mr. Lee had 10 grandchildren and was helping raise two of them. "He was very
good to his girls," Ms. Donaghey said of the grandkids. "Every one of us loved
him."
Mr. Lee enjoyed spending his free time at his personal computer, she said.
"You'd walk in his house and he'd be at his computer," Ms. Donaghey said. "He
just had an outgoing personality. You just remember him laughing."
Roberto Jimenez Jr.
Roberto Jimenez Sr. immigrated illegally to the United States a month ago with
his 15-year-old son and a plan to work hard for a better life.
Instead, he must return to Mexico to bury his son and those plans for a new
life.
He will never, he said, return to the United States.
"I thought he would accomplish things I couldn't do," Mr. Jimenez said of his
son, Roberto Jr. "But by killing him, they've killed me. I'm not returning to
the United States once I take my son back.
"I don't know what I'm going to tell his mother."
Mr. Jimenez spoke inside a cramped, two-bedroom apartment near the carwash
where the Jimenezes and six other immigrants lived.
Two other men who lived there also were shot in the carwash attack. Benjamin
Villaseñor was killed and Octavio Ramos, 36, was in critical condition Tuesday.
A large tapestry of the Virgin Mary hung on the wall. At her feet, six candles
burned in honor of the shooting victims.
Mr. Jimenez was consoled by his fellow countrymen amid a clutter of clothes and
boxes.
He said he was willing to talk about his undocumented status in order to tell
his son's story.
Last month, the two left the city of Puebla, about 80 miles from Mexico City,
intending to earn enough money in the United States to expand his printing
shop. Mr. Jimenez's wife and 12-year-old daughter stayed behind.
Father and son both worked at the carwash for a while, but the elder Jimenez
quit last Friday to take a job as a maintenance worker at a Cost Plus store.
He said he had been looking forward to Tuesday because he expected his son to
be hired at the same store - a step up from the carwash.
"We weren't very happy at the carwash because the work wasn't steady," he said.
"My son was a very happy boy. He was a good worker. He loved basketball.
"Why did he do this?" Mr. Jimenez asked of the man charged with the killings.
"Why did he hurt so many people? Why did he hurt my son?"
Staff writers Frank Trejo, Joe Simnacher and The Associated Press contributed
to this story.
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