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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."
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