| Homepage | Andrea Jackson | Antoinette Frank | Carolyn King | Carlette Parker | Catherine Thompson | Celeste Carrington | Donetta Hill | Dora Wright | Frances Newton | Kenisha Berry | Lagayle Kimberly McCarthy | Latasha Pulliam | Linda Carty | Patricia Blackmon |
|
| Kimberly Lagayle McCarthy, 37 years old, 5/11/61
Arrived: 11/98 Occupation: Occupational-nursing home therapist 
Crime: Sentenced to die 11/25/98 in July 1997 stabbing death of Dr. Dorothy Booth of Lancaster (also tied
to similar stabbing deaths of two other elderly women) who was also beaten in what prosecutors say was
robbery (her wedding ring was stolen and later pawned) to pay for crack. Court of Criminal Appeals grants new trial 12/2001. Re-convicted 10/29/02. Death sentence 11/01/02. Dallas County prosecutors have decided to seek the death penalty against a 37-year-old woman charged with killing three elderly women in the Dallas area during the last decade. Kimberly Lagayle McCarthy is the second woman - after convicted child killer Darlie Lynn Routier - to face a possible death sentence in Dallas County. Grand juries have returned capital murder indictments against Ms. McCarthy in the July 1997 stabbing death of Dr. Dorothy Booth, 71, of Lancaster and the December 1988 beating and stabbing death of Jettie Lucas, 85, of Dallas. Earlier this summer, Dallas police charged Ms. McCarthy with capital murder in a third case - the December 1988 stabbing and beating death of Maggie Harding, 85, of Dallas. A grand jury is expected to review that charge later this month. Each of the killings is a capital crime under Texas law, prosecutors say, because each took place during a robbery. Ms. McCarthy's attorney, Doug Parks, said his client plans to plead not guilty. "I really can't comment on her feelings or thoughts about it," he said. "It will be totally based on forensic evidence. There is no direct evidence whatsoever." Ms. McCarthy, who remains jailed at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center with bail set at $1.5 million, did not respond to a written request for an interview. Her stepfather, who is a Dallas police officer, declined to talk to a reporter, said Sgt. Jerry King, who heads the department's cold-case squad. According to police and prosecutors, Ms. McCarthy knew each of her victims and targeted them because their age made them vulnerable to robbery. The motive, authorities say, is Ms. McCarthy's quest for money to fuel her drug habit. "Each of these people died a horrible death," said Assistant District Attorney Rick Jordan. He said each of these murders alone could merit the death penalty; together, he said, they beg for it. "When you have a person who has gone and killed a person in a robbery, yeah, that's bad," he said. "Then you find out they've done this in two other instances, that makes it a lot worse." Investigators are continuing to examine unsolved cases to determine whether Ms. McCarthy should be charged with any other murders, Sgt. King said. He say he could not comment on the likelihood of further charges. "I hate to label anybody a serial murderer," Sgt. King said. "But she was obviously not your typical run-of-the-mill murderer. She obviously did more than one." |
|
