My mother, Verna Dennis, was brutally murdered in August of 1997. My mother received 23 blows to the head with a pry bar before the killer cut her throat with a butcher knife from her own kitchen. Twelve years after the fact, my family and I are still in agony over her death and we are no closer to knowing who killed our mother.
We do know that: police arrested Michael Puryear in 2005 and charged him with capital murder; the charges were based, in large part, on a supposed confession reported to police by Brian Burroughs; Burroughs was facing felony DWI charges; despite our own reservations, for a period of three years the investigating officer and the DA’s office assured us they had the right guy; Michael Puryear spent more than a year in jail; the case was set to go to trial on June 15, 2009; on Monday, June 1, 2009, the prosecutor suddenly and for unknown reasons, decided to polygraph Brian Burroughs; and upon doing so, the DA’s office immediately dropped all the charges against Michael Puryear (after the statute of limitations had run on the original DWI charge leveled by Mr. Burroughs). My family and I are baffled and outraged. We believe the entire Fort Worth community should be outraged too.
At the time my mother died, she was involved in some risky activities. She had a big heart, especially for those no one else seemed to care about. After my father died, my mother began visiting the men’s maximum security prison in Huntsville as a part of a prison ministry. She became engaged to an inmate in the Wynne Unit. She died moments after returning from a visit with this man. As far as we know, police immediately dismissed the possibility that her involvement with the prison system put her in contact with her killer. They showed little or no interest in getting a description of the jewelry stolen from her house. They did, however, accuse my brothers and me of the crime. They moved on to other suspects only after we turned over the results of polygraph exams. The next person to become a suspect was my mother’s business partner. The chief reason? She refused to take a polygraph test. For years, the police assured us that my mother’s partner was responsible for her death, until, she relented and took a polygraph test.
Despite the fact that polygraph tests are known to be unreliable, they seem to be the gold standard of truthfulness set by the Fort Worth Police Department. So, why didn’t the police or the DA’s office polygraph their witness before forcing our family to relive this ordeal again; before imprisoning Michael Puryear for more than a year; and before the statute of limitations expired on the charges originally leveled at their own informant? Will Brian Burroughs ever be held accountable for the damage he (seemingly) has caused or for the DWI? Will the police ever fully investigate the connection between my mother’s involvement with the prison system, and her tragic death? Beyond all of that, why is the polygraph test seemingly the chief investigative tool used by the Fort Worth Police Department in the first place?
On June 5, 2009, someone calling themselves “walkinthelight” posted the following information on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram message board:
The answer to who murdered Verna Dennis can be found at the Wynne Unit in Huntsville. This is the unit Ms. Dennis left the day she was murdered after visiting her inmate boyfriend/fiancee. Inmates on the inside arranged for a small woman to get a ride with Ms. Dennis and murder her. This is well-known among the old-time inmates at Wynne and some of the guards. The police did not look seriously at this possibility, because they had their mind set as to who the murderers were.
For the first time in 12 years, someone has finally said something that makes sense to my family and to me. Will police listen?
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