Three years of secrets

The police could not reveal the brutal murder of a schoolgirl for a long time - until the accomplice was born about him in the hostel

American teenagers David Graham and Diane Zamora back in school decided that they were sure to get married. But, having entered various military academies, they could not maintain relations at a distance for a long time and soon parted. And then both joined in prison - for a life sentence. It turned out that at school they killed a girl with whom Graham changed Khobra.

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In the early morning of December 4, 1995, the Texas farmer passing along the country road saw the girl’s body on the side of the road. She was wearing flannel shorts and a gray T -shirt from student run competitions, and her face was disfigured beyond recognition. Nevertheless, a few hours later the police managed to establish the identity of the murdered: it turned out to be Edrien Jones, a high school student from a neighboring town called Mansfield.

According to the report of the forensic experts, Jones had injuries on the neck and chest, two bullet wounds on his face, a fracture of the index finger on his left hand, several abrasions and scratches, and her skull was broken.

The disappearance of Edrien

At the time of the death of Edrien, it was 16 years old. She grew up with two younger brothers, and her parents Bill and Linda had their own equipment repair business .

Edrien was popular. The school described her as a sociable cheerful girl who laughs contagiously. Edrienne was an excellent student, played a lot of sports and was interested in psychology. In her free time, she worked as a waitress in the Golden Fried Chuckkin snack.

On the evening of December 3, 1995, Edrien returned home from work. At about 10 o’clock in the evening they called her. She spoke for a long time on the phone and after the conversation looked a wary. Her mother was worried and asked who the call was from. Edrienne replied that it was David from the school team by running: "He was upset."

In the evening, Edrien's mother saw that her daughter put her sneakers in the washing machine, and decided that she would not go for a run the next day. In the morning, in the bedroom, Edrien raised the alarm clock. Her mother went into the room and saw that she was not there. She called the police. By that time, the police had already found the body of a young girl without documents.

The news of the brutal murder, Edrien, shocked the inhabitants of Mansfield. Among the school students, rumors quickly spread. “Many of us had a strange feeling that the killer was walking along the corridors with us,” recalled April Grossman, a friend Edrien.

Investigation

The investigation of the case was entrusted to the detectives of the city police department Dennis Clay and Dennis Meyer and their chief Brad Giri. The first suspect was the girl from the school of Edrien, who already had problems with the law: a year earlier she attacked his friend Edrienne. But after passing the polygraph she was released: the police made sure that she was innocent.

Parents Edrien Bill and Linda Jones suspected Tracy Smith, guy Edrien. He also went through a lie detector and gave a new clue to the police. According to him, Jones informed him that that night a man named Brian called her. At the same time, he said that he could not hear the name, because he was in a hurry: his parents cursed at him for being chatting on the phone so late.

The detectives found that 17-year-old Brian Macmillen worked at the Eckerd's institution, where Edrienne worked. According to the girl’s acquaintances, Brian was in love with Edrien. He told the police that on the nightof the murder of Edrienne, he was drunk and did not remember what happened. He also said that Edrienne could go to the house, but did not remember that.

Brian's friends assured the police that on the evening of December 3 he was with them. Parents said that he spent the night at home. On December 15, 1995, Brian was arrested. He spent Christmas and New Year in prison. Only after the holidays, the investigators organized him a test on a lie detector, which confirmed Macmillen's innocence, and he was released . The investigation has come to a standstill.

Colonel Graham

David Graham studied in the graduation class and was two years older than Edrien. He lived with his father: his parents - the former director of primary school and the teacher - did not live together.

From the age of seven, David dreamed of becoming an Air Force pilot and, after studying at the school, was going to enter the Military Academy. Sometimes classmates jokingly called him "Colonel Graham." David had many friends and fans. “He was one of the last cool guys on earth,” David's classmate recalled.

David had a girl-17-year-old Diane Zamora. She studied at the high school of the neighboring city of Crowley. Like David, she received good grades, she was in student clubs and school teams and also intended to enter one of the US military academies.

For the first time, Diane and Graham met in 1991, when both of them came to a small airfield, where the classes of a civilian air patrol took place - an auxiliary organization of the Air Force, which taught children the basics of army life.

Diane was 13, she was the eldest of four children and lived in a poor religious family. Her father Carlos worked as an electrician, and the mother of Gloria - a nurse. Sometimes, due to unpaid accounts, the light was turned off in their house, and then the girl had to do a candlelight lessons. Soon Carlos began to change his wife and left his family.

In 1995, Diane and Graham began dating and spending almost all their free time together. In the graduation class, they announced the engagement and planned to celebrate the wedding immediately after the end of the military academy. They even wrote about their relationship in a local newspaper.

Everything changed at the end of November 1995, when David went to the run in the city of Labbok. Among the members of the Mansfield team was Edrien Jones.

Edrien was not at all like Diane - more sociable and energetic, she attracted attention. Graham later said that on the way back, Edrienne asked David to give her home and he agreed. Along the way, she insisted that they turn off the route. Graham stopped the car behind the primary school building, and they had sex. Then, giving testimony, Graham called this case “meaningless and painful”. He experienced guilt and soon spoke about the incident Diane. She was stunned and said that the only chance to save their relationship was to kill Edrien.

"We should not have done this, David"

On December 3, 1995, David called Edrien Jones and invited her to meet. Around midnight, he drove up to her house by car of Dyan’s parents, the green “Mazda Protege”. When Jones got into Graham’s car, he took her to Lake Joe Poole. All this time, Diane was hiding in the trunk.

When the car stopped, Diane got out of the trunk and began to ask Edrien about her relationship with David. She later said that after that, Edrienne struck the head from the bar several times.

Despite the blows, Edrienne was able to get out of the car through the window and tried to run. Graham jumped out of the car after her, taking a gun with him. Edrien could not escape far. According to Diane, even before Graham caught up with Edrien, she fell to the ground and no longer rose. David checked the body and returned to the car, telling Diane that Edrienne was dead, but she did not believe him. Then he returned to the body and twice shot Edrien in the face. When he returned to the car, Diane said : "We should not have done this, David."

After that, Graham and Dyan went to his friend to the neighboring town of Berlson to lend clean shorts for David. The clothes on which there were traces of blood, they threw it into the garbage container near Diane's house. In the morning, David hid a pistol and a bar in the house of his parents.

Confession

In the summer of 1996, David Graham and Dyan Zamora graduated from school and entered various military academies: Graham became a cadet of the US Air Force Academy and left for Colorado, and Khokora became a midshipman at the Naval Academy in Annapolis.

David and Diane could not maintain relations at the distance for a long time. At the Academy, Dyan closely made friends with the commander of the detachment Jay Gild. According to Jay’s stories , Diane often remembered David and missed him, but gradually began to think about parting. She sent David a letter in which she said that Jay kissed her.

When David found out about this, he tried to contact representatives of the Navy and inform them that Jay sexually harassed Diane, and then began to threaten Jay.

According to Jay’s memoirs in court, once Diane told him that David had killed the girl at her request. At the end of August 1997, Diane repeated this story to her room neighbors, Mandy Gatch and Jennifer McKirni. At first, they were skeptical of her story, but the next day they transferred the information of the Academy administration.

The administration of the Academy called the police department in the Dallas-Fort-Urta area to ask if they have an unsolved murder of a teenage girl. When the information was confirmed, the representative office of the Navy removed Dyan to the frost from the service.

During the investigation, Diane was supposed to stay at home in Texas, but, having stayed there for only a few days, flew to Colorado to visit David. Years later, Diane claimed that she suggested David to shift part of the guilt to her: at the time of the murder, Diane was 17 years old, and she was sure that she would receive a milder punishment.

Arrest and court

Soon, investigators arrested David Graham. Initially, he denied guilt and said that he knew nothing about the murder, but when he demanded to pass the test on the polygraph, David decided to admit and described in detail the murder. During the search in the Graham house, the police found a pistol and a bar in the attic.

Earlier, the police detained Dyan Free. She also testified, telling the story, which David then repeated in his testimony. At the trial, Diane stated that she had lied in her testimony, but the jury did not believe her. The police investigated this case for nine months. According to one version , David completely invented that he had sex with Jones to take on part of the guilt for the murder that Diane planned and committed. David’s defense found a witness who claimed that Edrien was brought on the same day when they allegedly slept with Graham. However, soon Graham stopped supporting this version.

Later, Diane also abandoned her testimony. A few years later, in a large interview, she explained to reporters that she was not to blame and that night she only discouraged Graham, who alone committed the murder, and then did not even help her wash the car from the blood.

The trial of Diane took place in February 1998. Linda Jones, Mother Edrien, asked the court to exclude the death penalty in both processes. The jury sentenced Dyan to the frost to life imprisonment with the right to parole after 40 years. David Graham was sentenced on July 24, 1998. He, like Diane, received lifelong with the right to a parole in 40 years.