Serial-killer claims prompt new look at 1970s cases

The Chron:

By LISE OLSEN, HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Updated 01:21 a.m., Wednesday, September 28, 2011Guns, a bra, a bullet, fingernail scrapings and a missing confession letter.

Police investigators and prosecutors in three counties said Tuesday they will attempt to unearth these and other long forgotten evidence as they review claims reported by the Houston Chronicle from convicted murderer Edward Harold Bell who says he stalked and killed as many as 11 young girls in the 1970s.

In a story published Sunday, Bell described a string of mostly unsolved murders in Galveston, Webster, Houston, Alvin and Dickinson from 1971 to 1976. Bell named four victims and blamed the crimes on a persuasive brainwashing "program." (See photos and his letters).

Read the rest of the story at THE CHRON

Bell, 72, is serving a 70-year sentence for killing a Pasadena Marine veteran in 1978 and says he will provide proof only if granted immunity.

"We will continue to review anything credible on these cold cases. The investigation is on-going, however, so we won't be discussing any details," said Donna Cameron, first assistant Galveston County district attorney.

A dizzying array of local law enforcement agencies share records and responsibility for the 11 girls' homicides. Officials at six different departments - the Harris County Sheriff's Office, the Pasadena Police Department, the Galveston Police Department, the Galveston County Sheriff's Office, the Brazoria County Sheriff's Office and the Harris County District Attorney - said they plan to review files to determine if evidence could be retested or used to corroborate or disprove Bell's newly published admissions.

"I believe that Ed Bell is a serial killer. I believe the truth needs to come out and someone has to go the extra distance to make sure these evil deeds are clearly revealed," said Jason Chide, a retired Galveston Police detective who has investigated Bell.

Budgetary constraints

But time to work on Bell or any cold case is limited, said Galveston Police Capt. Jeff Heyse.

"Do we value closure for the victims' families? Absolutely," he said "It's sad it comes down to monetary reasons."

In 1978 Bell was arrested for murdering Larry Dickens, shot dead for trying to stop Bell as he masturbated in front of a group of girls. Bell spent the summer cruising around Pasadena repeatedly exposing himself, records show. He carried a 32 AA bra, a pair of guns and porn magazines in his 1977 GMC pickup, according to police records.

Of special interest to investigators seeking evidence are Bell's white 1971 Ford Van, which Bell repainted and later burned, and an unusual Semaphore red travel trailer designed to look like a caboose. Bell kept the "caboose" parked on land not far from where girls disappeared and bodies were dumped. It was later sold and last seen at a hunting camp in West Texas, the Chronicle found.

Both Galveston and Harris County prosecutors received letters of confession from Bell in 1998. But Galveston County prosecutors declined to attempt to indict Bell, based on the letters and other evidence uncovered by Galveston police officer Alfred Paige, who worked the cases from 2005 to 2010.

Harris County prosecutors lost copies of Bell's confession, though retired DA's investigator Larry Boucher believed his claims. James Leitner, first assistant Harris County district attorney, said the office will try to recover the old letters.

Matching names, faces

The 11 homicide cases Bell described to the Chronicle in prison interviews involved girls 12 to 19, snatched from towns, rural roads and quiet neighborhoods in Brazoria, Harris or Galveston counties.

He named four victims: Debbie Ackerman and Maria Johnson, 15, of Galveston; Colette Wilson, 13, of Alvin and Kimberly Rae Pitchford, 16, of Houston. He described two other sets of girls killed in pairs. Based on his descriptions, those girls could be Rhonda Renee Johnson and Sharon Shaw, 15 of Webster; and Georgia Geer, 12 and Brooks Bracewell, 14, of Dickinson. He gave incomplete information on three others.

Capt. Chris Kincheloe of the Brazoria County Sheriff's Office said an investigator visited Bell in prison in 2007 to ask about the murders of Geer and Bracewell. After being shown their photos, Bell said he "didn't know those girls," and refused to say more.