Crime Solvers Central
Crime Solvers Central
302 Cases Solved. Advancing justice for missing persons, unsolved homicides, unidentified and unclaimed remains.

Forum Posts for Mary Tyler:
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Mary Tyler, 37, was one of five people executed after an armed robbery at a Kilgore, Texas, KFC on September 23, 1983. The five people present—three employees and two friends—were abducted from the restaurant just before closing, taken to a nearby field, and shot in the back of the head. Victims named in the case are Mary Tyler, Opie Ann Hughes, Joey Johnson, David Maxwell, and Monty Landers.

The case went unsolved for many years. Early arrests, including James Earl Mankins Jr., did not result in convictions after DNA testing. In 2001 DNA linked cousins Darnell Hartsfield and Romeo Pinkerton to the crime; both were already in prison on unrelated offenses. In 2007 Romeo Pinkerton pleaded guilty and received five concurrent life sentences. Darnell Hartsfield was convicted in 2008 and received five consecutive life sentences. DNA evidence also showed one victim, Opie Ann Hughes, had been sexually assaulted, and investigators have discussed the possibility of a third perpetrator.

Mary Tyler had worked at the KFC for years and left behind a husband and four children. Does anyone have additional information about the victims or leads on a possible third suspect?