Interview: Convicted Serial Killer David L. Wood Claims Innocence

Back in 1987, several young women between the ages of 14 through 24 were missing from El Paso Texas. The police and officials in El Paso were baffled as to who the killer was, but they felt they were dealing with a serial killer. Bodies of six women were soon found in shallow graves in the desert in El Paso, and the murders became known as The Northeast Desert Murders.

David L. Wood wrote to me and sent paper work about his case. Here is his story, about his case, followed by my interview with David. He alleges that in January of 1987 he was paroled to El Paso from a prison term of 2-20 years for a sexual offense. He says he was picked up by police 4 times in a 3 month period and accused of crimes he didn't commit.

David alleges that when the young women began disappearing he became a prime suspect when one of the missing women, Cheryl Vasquez was said to have been seen with David last, but later reports show Vasquez was at a party after she was seen with Wood. Vasquez was never found. Wood claims because of the high media attention this case was receiving he was under constance surveillance. He was routinely questioned and photographed, including photos of his tattoos. Wood says he cooperated with police and that his truck was broken into and clothes belonging to him were taken, but nothing else. Wood claims he was constantly harassed by police at that time.

David claims that on September 4, 1987, two of the missing girls bodies were found, Maria Casio, and Karen Baker. The following month another search located the bodies of Dawn Smith and Desiree Wheatly. The following month an even larger search of the area produced the body of Angie Frausto.Wood claims the last search "was massive in size" with over 350 people helping out and with search dogs from the police department and Texas's prison system, resulting in no finds. He alleges that police made this fact clear on the news that "there were no more bodies."

Wood alleges that only three days after the last girl was found he was arrested on October 23, 1987, on unrelated charges. He claims he wasn't aware of what he was being arrested for, for almost sixteen hours. He claims he soon found out he was being arrested for 2 warrants which Woods called holdout warrants that police had on him for 2 months. He says the first was for aggravated sexual assault of a women named Judith Brown Kelling. Wood alleges that Kelling was a prostitute with a heroin habit, and a self admitted police informant with a long arrest history.

Wood claims that Kelling gave the date of the alleged crime as "sometime between July and August", Wood claims the statement backfired when it was learned the alleged truck was in a wrecking yard during that time, because it had been in an accident by Wood's brother. Wood's also claims it was then that the date on the indictment was changed to the day before.the accident.

Wood alleges the second warrant was for the alleged attempted kidnapping of Gina Gallegos. Wood says she was also a prostitute. He claims that his trial for the Kelling case was to begin on March, 15, 1988, and that he was going to be tried as a habitual offender, and that if he was convicted he would face a life sentence. Wood claims the day before his trial another body, Ivy Williams, was found in the same area as the "massive search" that had previously taken place.He claims this story made headline news the day before his trial. Wood wondered, "How could they have missed this body?" He says it's "No Way" they could have missed this body then find it the day before his trial. He claims the pathologist said this girl could have been out in the desert for more than a year, and Wood says, that was before he had been paroled from prison.

Wood claims about three weeks before the trial was to begin his attorney informed him that he was going to be charged with the rape of a sixteen year old girl who lived in his area. He claims this was one of the cases he was picked up and questioned about right after he was paroled. Wood claims the headlines read "Rape victim identifies desert suspect through voice lineup." Wood claims their was much publicity about this case, and samples had been taken from him and sent to the DPS lab for comparison with a rape kit taken from the victim. Wood claims when the test came back about a week later, he was cleared 100%. Wood alleges that district attorney Richard Jukes told the judge that he was completely cleared but he asked the judge to order that the results be kept out of the media. Wood says they did not want the media to know that he was cleared, and called this "an example of dirty politics." Wood was sentenced to 50 years for "non-aggraved " and claims after his conviction the charges with the Gallegos case were dropped, and feels that she was just backup if they needed it. Woods claims that Kelling's pending charges were dropped.

Wood claims while in prison serving the 50 year term, Steve Simmons the head DA tried to get him indicted on the Northeast Murders, but was twice denied by the grand jury. Woods states that he had given 6 vials of blood, head and pubic hair, fingernail clippings, skin scrapings, and saliva, all before he was even charged with these murders. He alleges that every scientific test known in 1987 had been done to him, his truck, (taking dirt and rocks from his tires), to compare to samples taken from the crime scenes. Woods claims he has FBI and DPS lab reports of tests that had been conducted and that in his words "Could not find one single match of evidence from me and the evidence found with any of the six victims."

There was questions about what police described as orange fiber, that Wood's claims he can explain. Woods claims the orange fiber in question came from the Wheatly crime scene. Woods claims that when Wheatly was found buried, the detectives set up around the crime scene, did a preliminary search, exhumed the body, and left. He claims the police work was incompetent, and that the grave site was left open to the public for 8 days before they returned to look for evidence. He claims one of the four that went to look for evidence was from the bomb squad, one was an ID sergeant, and none were the detectives that were working on the case.

Woods claims that 3 days after Wheatly was found and he was arrested they impounded his truck and totally dismantled it, including taking the seat out of the truck and placing it in the evidence room. Five days later Woods claims that when 4 police sergeants returned to the Wheatly crime scene to look for evidence they found a clump of fibers, and found another clump of fibers the following day. Woods also claims that during his murder trial the states own expert witness testified that it is unusual to find that amount of fibers at a crime scene. He says this is in his trial records. Woods alleges that they made a link between the orange fibers and himself, and claims they said the alleged fibers came from underneath his car seat. He says it did not come from the wall to wall shag carpet, the seat covers, or the numerous other fibers througout his truck. He claims this orange fiber was only found at the Wheatly crime scene. Because they had no warrant to cover it in the search of his truck, Wood's said the fibers could not be used as evidence, and he alleges they came up with another plan.

Wood's alleges that on November 28, Detective Guerrero got a warrant to search the garage where he had been living with his girlfriend. He found several items and left. A couple of days later the land lady called him to tell him about a Hoover vacuum she had found in the garage. Wood claims the detective got another warrant, returned to the garage and took only the vacuum cleaner bag. Wood's claims there were no fingerprints taken to determine if the vacuum cleaner belonged to him. Woods said "Well, magic, as only cops can do, the orange fiber miraculously turned up in the vacuum cleaner bag." He goes on to say that the "really odd thing about this is that this was a full sized stand up vacuum cleaner," He states that none can explain how one kind of fiber got from underneath his truck seat, and into a full size, stand up vacuum cleaner.

Wood's states that three years later a reward was being offered to find the murderer of these girls. Wood's states the total reward money was $26,000. Wood's alleges that this was when jail house informers came into the picture. Wood's claims that James Carl Sweeny and Randy Lee Wells both ex-cons, and both were cell mates of his while he was serving the 50 year sentence. Wood's alleges that Sweeny was doing a 69 year sentence for drug possession and forgery. Woods states that Sweeny was a self proclaimed jail house lawyer who did legal work for inmates, and offered to do legal work about his case, and file a civil rights lawsuit for him. Wood's alleges that Sweeny wanted all his information, and also said he had to pay him. Wood's alleges that he found out Sweeny had contacted a DA in Dallas about another inmates case he was working on. He alleges that Sweeny tried to get help on his own prison sentence but the DA didn't want to be bothered.Woods claims that one day in the cell Sweeny was reading about the $26,000 reward on the Northeast desert Murder cases, and allegedly said "Well, your screwed now because there's going to be a witness against you." Woods claims the very next day when Sweeny went to work and the warden was called. He states the warden then called the detectives. Wood's claims that after Sweeny talked to detectives, they started looking up all the "cellies" he had, and that is when they found Randy Lee Wells.

Wood's claims Wells was a habitual offender with a long record. Wood's alleges Wells was told he would get his charges dropped to a lesser crime, the $26,000 reward money, and the rights to any book or movie deal that may come out of his testimony against him. Wood's stated that he feels the last promise was laughable but that it can be verified in trial transcripts. Woods claims that Sweeny and Wells were moved into a protective cell together for 5 days. Wood's claims they were both taken to the crime scene, both visited detectives together, and all before they went before the Grand jury. Wood's said "They were practically handed a script to read from." It was at this point that Wood's was finally indicted for the Northeast Desert Murders. He was found guilty and is now residing on Texas 's death row, Polunsky Unit. David has an enormous amount of paper work concerning his case, and documents to prove what he has said. He proclaims his innocence.

The following is my interview with David. l. Wood. Some of his answers have already been answered in the above summary of his case, but I wanted to show the complete interview

What were you convicted for and what is your sentence?

I was convicted for (6) six murders in El Paso Texas and I was given the death penalty.

Did you have any prior record, and what what it for?

I have two prior prison sentences both for sexual offenses. (Actually it was three/ but one of those was the Kelling case which in tied with this case.)

Could you tell us a little about the case?

The bio included with this letter will explain the circumstances
involved with this case and no one knows what actually happened to the victimes including the police. There was only one that they suspected was stabbed. In one of the cases the body 'and all her cloths were destroyed 'before' evidence could be taken from them.

Are you innocent?

Am I innocent? Damn right! But let my case speak for itself! If people will only listen to what is actually involved they'll see the case for what it really is. A 'built" case from nothing! As for proof there is NO proof in a 'circumstantial case. Either against the defendant or the defendant trying to clear himself. That is 'why' it is so easy to get a conviction and given the death penalty. Again if ALL of the facts are included and listened too then 'that' should be enough to 'presume' innocence.

Do you have any thoughts on who might have done this crime and why?

"I" have no thoughts as to who may have been involved or no idea of why they were done.

How did they get the conviction and the death penalty?

I was tried convicted and sentenced to death on the testimony of (3) informants working for the state prosecutors for favoritism in their own legal situations. Also I was tried for ALL six cases in the same trial it is a part of my trial transcripts that the head DA Steve Simmons quoted in a memo to the D.A.'s over my case "There is only one way to get any convictions on Wood we need to try all the cases at once in .the same trial for the prejudice (or prejudicial) factor and we also need to do it with 'inmate testimony, (known as jail house snitches) Also I had two court appointed attorneys who were more worried about 'offending' the people they work with then defending me and there is some proof to that issue. Also my case was moved to Dallas Texas highly against my wishes because at the time Dallas was the leading city in the country for handing out the death penalty. I even refused to participate in my trial because of this move.

What has it been like on death row all these years?

Being on death row has been one of the hardest experiences I've ever known not only for the factor that I did NOT kill these people/ and I have been turned down at every turn for justice from the courts but the conditions, here are the worst that I have ever seen in the prison system. I've been told that I had aged twenty years in eight years and there are many here who have become the same way. I have been on death row since early 1993 but we have been here on the Polunsky lock down segregation unit going on nine years now.

At what point is your appeals at?

MY appeals are at the Supreme court level, and this is my last shot at hope before they execute me. Every court before them have all turned me down NOT on evidence but false testimony given by criminals. 90% of the people involved in this case had some type of criminal record. Also the courts have stated"That even though they agree that inmate testimony tainted it is still evidence in the court of law, and it is the burden of the defendant to 'prove that said testimony is false." This in itself is an almost impossible act to achieve if the snitch) is protected by the state and he won't admit his testimony is a lie how can the defendant prove it is?

How can the public help you?

Wow this is the question isn't it? They say that once you get to the supreme court on your case thats pretty much it if they don't want to help you. I would like to think and hope that is not the case. Before I am executed for this crime I would at least like to have to chance to have all the facts an issues heard. About how it got started how it progressed how I was arrested. tried, and convicted. The rules of Police conduct and rules of law did not come into effect in this case. This is a border town that is used to doing things their own way without any outside help. In fact in this case they 'refused outside help from other agencies including the FBI. I would like enough attention on my case that it would bring enough pressure to my lawyers to do their job the way their suppose too also enough attention needs to be brought against El Paso in this case and have it investigated for the police corruption and corrupted coercion tactics they used to get statements, and people involved. They should at least be investigated for their illegal and lack of use of proper police procedures. I might not be liked because of my past crimes but 'if' I did not commit these murders then the state should not be allowed to so easily pass out the death penalty. This is the final punishment if later it was found out that someone was innocent theres no correcting it. its to late for that.

David ended his letter with these words "Thats about all I can give you for now if you have any questions and I mean anything don't hesitate to ask. because I'm suppose to be a professional liar and con I don't expect you to just 'believe' what I have to say so what ever you ask and will send whatever 'proof' that I can with that answer. I do have police reports supplements, DNA reports at least everything 'they' wanted us to have. Again thank you, and take care.

David can produce documents, newspaper clippings, paperwork, etc. for all he has said, and can be reached at this address:

David Wood #999051

Polunsky Unit Death row

3872 FM 350 South

Livingston

Texas, 77351

Source:

Letters from David Wood, Documents and legal paperwork, with written permission from Wood to use.