Jodi Ruth Hummel, 5
Joy Keziyah Hummel
Clyde Bedford
John William Hummel
Taped statements reveal details of three Kennedale deaths
FORT WORTH -- On the morning that John Hummel's pregnant wife, daughter and father-in-law were found dead in the burned debris of their Kennedale home, Hummel told police he knew nothing about the deaths or what caused the fire.
Only two days later, Hummel gave a different account to officers who had flown to San Diego to arrest him -- a story involving rat poison, a baseball bat and samurai swords.
"I killed my family and set the house on fire" was Hummel's opening line in a two-hour statement that was videotaped Dec. 20-21, 2009, in the San Diego County Jail.
In February, a Tarrant County grand jury indicted Hummel, now 35, on three capital murder charges. Prosecutors have chosen one charge to try him on -- that he killed his wife, Joy Hummel, and her father, Clyde Bedford, during the same "criminal episode." They are seeking the death penalty.
The videotaped statement was played this week at a pre-trial hearing, revealing publicly some details of the Dec. 17, 2009, slayings -- and possibly the motive behind them.
Defense attorneys Fred Cummings and Larry Moore, are asking state District Judge Ruben Gonzales to rule that Hummel's statement to officers and other evidence should not heard by the jury at his trial.
Prosecutors Miles Brissette and Bob Gill have called eight witnesses to try to show that the statements were properly obtained and should be admissible.
A quick confession
Kennedale police questioned Hummel not long after firefighters found the bodies of Joy Hummel, 34, their 5-year-old daughter, Jodi, and Clyde Bedford. But they had no reason to hold him.
Hummel drove to California, where he checked into a San Diego motel before walking across the border into Mexico to buy drugs.
As Hummel came back across the border, his lack of proper identification -- he had only his Texas driver's license -- led border agents to check a national database, which showed he was being sought in Texas. Agents took him into custody.
When two Kennedale police officers and an investigator for the Tarrant County district attorney's office arrived, Hummel wasted little time confessing to the killings, the officers testified this week.
Hummel told them that his plan to kill his family began about two months earlier, when he became involved with another woman and wanted to be single again.
He first tried to kill them, he said, by putting rat poison into ground turkey, which he then mixed into spaghetti sauce. He left the meal for his family while he went to work.
His wife told him later that she threw it out because it tasted strange. Hummel said he quickly came up with another plan.
The next night, Hummel said, he dressed in his security guard uniform and left as though he were going to work. After visiting his girlfriend and putting gas in his van, he returned home and parked the van where it could not be seen.
Hummel said he first stabbed his wife with a kitchen knife. When she awoke and began screaming and struggling, he said, the knife broke.
He then grabbed a baseball bat and struck her on the head until she was unconscious. He then used what he described as samurai swords and daggers to continue stabbing her -- he didn't know how many times.
'A horrible, horrible thing'
Hummel said he used the bat to kill his daughter and father-in-law before he set the house on fire by lighting rolls of toilet paper and putting them in piles of clothing.
He insisted that he did not use gasoline to set the fire.
In testimony Thursday, arson investigator Lt. Joey Lankford said a trained arson dog "hit" on four areas with accelerants. But a chemist with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives did not detect accelerants in the samples, he said.
On the videotape, Hummel said he dumped his weapons behind an Arlington auto parts store, then tried to establish an alibi by entering several stores so that he would appear on the stores' security videotapes.
He said he returned to the house about 5 a.m. so that he could appear to be shocked by the fire.
While talking with Kennedale police and an ATF agent that morning, Hummel handed over receipts from the stores and some clothing.
Later, Hummel said, he realized that there was blood on his pants and socks. That's why he fled to California, he said.
On the tape, Hummel told the investigators that he was glad he had been arrested. He signed several documents waiving his Miranda rights and allowing police to search his van. He then asked how fast he could be returned to Texas.
"I did a horrible, horrible thing," he said. "I know I'll spend the rest of my life in jail -- or put to death. I accept it. I deserve it."
Gonzales will rule on the defense motions to suppress the evidence sometime after the hearing ends. It is scheduled to continue today.
http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/01...#ixzz1BfiVO7Ol
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