Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: Capital Murder Trial Underway for Clayton Bernard Foreman in 1995 TX Murder of Mary Catherine Edwards

  1. #1
    Senior Member CnCP Legend
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Posts
    2,243

    Capital Murder Trial Underway for Clayton Bernard Foreman in 1995 TX Murder of Mary Catherine Edwards



    DNA links Ohio man to 1995 murder of bridesmaid in his wedding

    By Mark Lungariello
    New York Post

    Police arrested an Ohio man for the 1995 sexual assault and murder of a teacher they said was a bridesmaid in his wedding.

    Clayton Bernard Foreman, 61, was linked to the Texas cold case of school teacher Mary Catherine Edwards through DNA and a genealogy website that had investigators eyeing the accused killer’s family tree.

    “We could track it to a family, but we couldn’t track it to an individual,” District Attorney Bob Wortham told 12NewsNow.

    Police were able to extract DNA from trash that Foreman left at the curb outside his home in Ohio and took him into custody last week, according to reports. His DNA was a match to DNA from semen found in Edwards’ home after her murder.

    Edwards was found dead in the bathroom of her Beaumont, Texas home on Jan. 14, 1995, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety website. She had been drowned with her hands cuffed behind her back and her head in water in the bathtub, KJAS.com reported.

    Authorities focused their attention on Foreman and found he had a previous conviction for raping a classmate in the 1980s. In that case, the victim reportedly also had her hands bound behind her back.

    Edwards, who was 31 when she was killed, had been a high school classmate of Foreman’s and a bridesmaid in his 1982 wedding, the report said. He and his wife divorced two years before Edward’s murder and his ex was said to have attended Edwards’ funeral.

    She lived alone in her townhouse, according to KJAS, and when she didn’t answer calls her father went to the house and found her dead.

    https://nypost.com/2021/05/06/dna-li...es-bridesmaid/

  2. #2
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    7,316
    Jefferson Co. DA weighing death penalty in capital murder case

    Meagan Ellsworth, Staff Writer

    An Ohio man accused of slaying a Beaumont teacher in a 1995 cold case has been indicted for capital murder.

    The Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office, Beaumont Police Department, Texas Rangers, genealogists and others gathered Wednesday afternoon for a news conference regarding the case shortly following announcement of a grand jury’s decision to indict Clayton Bernard Foreman, 61, for a crime committed more than two decades ago.

    “This is a great day for Southeast Texas law enforcement and a great day for the family,” Beaumont Police Chief Jimmy Singletary said at the department’s training center. “We are not going to give up (on a case no matter how old it is). We don’t care what victim it is. We are going to keep working on a regular basis.”

    Using technological advances and following an intensive investigation by local, state and federal agencies, Foreman has been connected to the crime scene where the late Mary Catherine Edwards was found dead.

    Edwards, a high school classmate and acquaintance of Foreman, was a well-loved teacher who lived alone in a Beaumont townhouse. According to Enterprise coverage at the time, the 31-year-old was last seen on the evening of Jan. 13, 1995. The next day, when she didn’t respond to phone calls, her parents went to her house on Park Meadow Street to check on her, The Enterprise previously reported.

    “When they arrived, they found Edwards drowned in her bathroom,” a Department of Public Safety Release previously said. “She had been sexually assaulted and killed.”

    Ultimately, officials used DNA evidence from the scene to create a family tree and traced the crime back to Foreman, who was living in Ohio at the time of his arrest. He has since been transferred to Jefferson County to face trial.

    Jefferson County District Attorney Bob Wortham noted that the contributions made by the original investigators — chiefly preserving the DNA evidence at the scene — was key to this discovery.

    “Without that DNA evidence put in the freezer, we wouldn’t be where we are today because it wouldn’t have been valid,” he said. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate everything the Beaumont Police Department has done. They have jumped through hoops — forever.”

    Wortham said the day he was sworn in as district attorney, in January 2015, he met and spoke with Singletary and asked him to put his best agents on the Edwards case.

    “I really want to make that case,” Wortham recalled telling Singletary. “And here we are today, we have indicted it, and we are ready to roll.”

    The case will be led by First Assistant District Attorney Pat Knauth.

    https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/n...r-16479979.php
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

  3. #3
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    7,316
    Beaumont capital murder cold case set for review

    Meagan Ellsworth, Staff writer

    The trial of a man accused of killing a Beaumont school teacher in 1995 is still pending as his defense lawyer begins to review the "very long case."

    Clayton Bernard Foreman, 61, was indicted on a capital murder charge in June 2021 in connection with the killing of Mary Catherine Edwards. He was living in Ohio at the time of his arrest and has since been transferred to Jefferson County to face trial.

    He is being represented by defense lawyer Thomas Burbank, who earlier this week was granted by a reset for review in 60 days Jefferson County's Criminal District Court Juddge John Stevens Jr.

    "We are in the process of going through discovery, I am just at the beginning of DNA, and I have to get with the prosecutor. So, we ask for a reset," Burbank said. "I know that Mr. Foreman is anxious, but there is I don't know how many years of investigative reports and things that we have to go through."

    Using technological advances and following an intensive investigation by local, state and federal agencies, Foreman was connected to the crime scene where Edwards was found dead.

    She was a high school classmate and acquaintance of Foreman, as well as a well-loved teacher who lived alone in a Beaumont townhouse. The 31-year-old was last seen on the evening of Jan. 13, 1995. The next day, when she didn’t respond to phone calls, her parents went to her house on Park Meadow Street to check on her.

    “When they arrived, they found Edwards drowned in her bathroom,” a Department of Public Safety Release previously said. “She had been sexually assaulted and killed.”

    Ultimately, officials used DNA evidence from the scene to create a family tree and traced the crime back to Foreman. The Jefferson County District Attorney's Office said at the time of the indictment that it was weighing the death penalty in this case, which is atypical for the office.

    In a previous quadruple homicide case for Lively James Stratton, Jr. who in April was convicted of capital murder, the Office did not seek the death penalty.

    Stratton Jr. was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. After the verdict was reached, Jefferson County District Attorney Bob Wortham spoke to The Enterprise about the decision not to pursue the death penalty in Stratton's case.

    “We think a life sentence without the opportunity of parole is a much more severe punishment," Wortham said. "That man has to live and think about every single event that has occurred in his life. That is going to be on his mind until the day he dies. That is a much greater punishment than to be just put to sleep and never having a traumatic moment about it.”

    https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/n...w-17268557.php
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

  4. #4
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    7,316
    Testimony begins Tuesday after jury picked in Clayton Foreman capital murder trial

    by Jade Moreau/Scott Lawrence

    JEFFERSON COUNTY —
    Attorneys picked a jury just minutes before 6 p.m. Monday in one of the highest profile trials in Jefferson County history.

    Clayton Foreman is charged with capital murder in the 1995 rape and strangulation of Beaumont teacher Mary Catherine Edwards.

    Prosecutors with the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office and defense attorney Tom Burbank spent all day Monday questioning the 100 or so potential jurors before picking the jury late in the afternoon.

    Testimony begins Tuesday morning in Judge John Stevens' courtroom. The trial is expected to last the entire week and a couple of days next week.

    Judge Stevens allowed us to get video of Foreman during a lunch break Monday. Clayton Foreman was sitting next to his attorney.

    The state isn't seeking the death penalty. If convicted, the 63-year-old defendant would face a life sentence.

    The family of Mary Catherine Edwards is hoping for justice nearly 30 years after her murder.

    This was a cold case until about three years ago, when Clayton Foreman was arrested and charged with the murder of Edwards in May of 2021 at his home in Ohio.

    Investigators say through relentless police work and DNA technology, they were able to pinpoint a suspect, Clayton Foreman, and make an arrest.

    At the time of the murder, Edwards was a Beaumont teacher. When Edwards didn’t respond to her parents' phone calls, they became worried and went to her townhome on Park Meadow off Major Drive. They discovered she had been murdered.

    Investigators used DNA found on Edwards’ body and evidence in her home to upload in online databases.

    In 2020, investigators began using genetic genealogy. They were able to identify second cousins and then obtained more than 30 samples from distant family members – which ultimately led them to Foreman.

    When they dug deeper into Foreman’s past, they found a rape charge in 1981 – with very similar circumstances to Edwards' murder.

    In 2021, investigators used DNA from Foreman’s trash for comparison to DNA found in Edward's townhome. From there, they were able to charge Foreman with the crime.

    The trial is expected to take all of this week and a couple of days next week.

    KFDM/Fox4's Jade Moreau is covering the trial.

    Investigators reveal DNA evidence, similarities to the rape of a former high school classmate in Beaumont in 1981, and relentless police work, led to the arrest of a man in Ohio now charged with the 1995 murder of his former classmate, Beaumont teacher Mary Catherine Edwards.

    District Attorney Bob Wortham tells KFDM/Fox 4 Edwards was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Clayton Bernard Foreman and his first wife.

    Former classmates tell KFDM Foreman helped organize the Forest Park High School reunions and attended the last one in 2018. They tell us he was in charge of the reunion tributes to former classmates who died.

    They tell he was a thoughtful person and no one would have expected that he'd be charged with Edwards' murder.

    Jail records indicate he was taken into custody April 29.

    Beaumont Police and prosecutors are working to extradite him to Texas.

    "I give credit to the Beaumont Police Department and I'm so proud of Chief Jim Singletary and his department for the breakthrough in this cold case," said District Attorney Bob Wortham.

    The DPS increased the reward last year for information to help solve the cold case, but investigators say it was relentless work by police and investigators, and DNA, that provided a break in the case.

    Edwards, 31, was a beloved teacher who lived alone in Beaumont. She was last seen on the evening of Friday, Jan. 13, 1995. The following day, she didn't respond to phone calls, so her parents went to her west Beaumont townhome on Park Meadow Street to check on her. When they arrived, they found Edwards in her bathroom, with her hands handcuffed behind her back and her head in water in the bathtub. She had been sexually assaulted and killed.

    Police traveled to Franklin County, Ohio last week and arrested Foreman.

    The Probable Cause Affidavit for his arrest indicates DNA evidence taken from Mary Catherine Edwards and items in her townhome led to Foreman.

    The break began developing in April of 2020, when investigators used genetic genealogy to help find a suspect, and it eventually led to Foreman.

    In April of 2021, investigators in Ohio collected trash from Foreman's home, and they say DNA on those items matched DNA taken from Edwards and items in her home.

    The PC indicates there were no signs of forced entry, which suggests Edwards knew or trusted her attacker.

    Lab tests revealed DNA evidence taken from her body matched DNA evidence in the townhome. Police say they began an exhaustive investigation which resulted in numerous interviews and DNA samples taken from a number of males. They also entered the DNA profile into the CODIS and none of the samples produced any leads.

    In April of 2020, investigators began using genetic genealogy to help ID the unknown suspect. The DNA was entered into a Gedmatch public database as a research kit, not viewable to the public.

    Second cousins were identified and detectives worked a family tree. Detectives obtained further DNA samples from additional distant family members. More than 30 DNA files were voluntarily submitted to detectives by distant family members. Detectives identified DNA connections on both the paternal and maternal sides of Clayton Bernard Foreman.

    Research into Clayton Foreman revealed a rape charge in 1981 in Jefferson County. He pled guilty to raping a fellow Forest Park High School classmate and received three years probation. They had both graduated at the time of the rape. In the July 1981 case, police say he came across a stranded woman at a gas station. It was raining and her car was stuck. He offered the victim a ride home. The PC indicates in an effort to make her feel safe with him, he lied and told her he was a police officer willing to give her a ride home. Once in the car, they drove away. He stopped the car, bound her hands behind her back with a belt, and held a knife to her throat and then sexually assaulted her.

    The PC indicates there are numerous similarities between that case and the Edwards' murder. Edwards and the first rape victim both went to high school with Foreman. In each case, their hands were bound behind their back. Police say in the first case, Foreman claimed to be a police officer, and in Edwards' murder, police say the suspect utilized police tools of the trade.

    The PC indicates on April 15, 2021, with assistance from the FBI office in Cincinnati and the Reynoldsburg Ohio Police Department, a trash pull was conducted on Foreman's residence. They selected several items for their DNA potential and shipped to the FBI in Beaumont. The items were submitted for DNA collection and comparison to DNA taken from Edwards and her apartment. The PC indicates on April 28, 2021, detectives were notified by the DPS Crime Lab that DNA collected from the trash run of Foreman's residence in Ohio is a match to the DNA taken from Edwards in 1985.

    "These lab results confirmed Foreman is the suspect that entered Edwards' residence, bound her hand behind her back, sexually assaulted her, and subsequently murdered her," according to the P.C.

    https://fox4beaumont.com/amp/news/te...l-murder-trial
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •