Kimberly, 16, disappeared from driving school in Pasadena, Texas on January 3, 1973. Her body was later found in a ditch in Angleton, Texas on January 5, 1973; she was found strangled. Although Mrs. Pitchford has since passed away, her family still maintains total confidence that the Brazoria County Sheriff's Office, the oldest law enforcement agency in Texas, will solve their daughter's case.
The Brazosport Facts
Sunday, January 7, 1973
LAWMEN SEEK CLUE IN MURDER
The Brazoria County Sheriff's Department has launched a massive investigation into the strangulation death of a 16-year-old Houston girl whose body was discovered around noon Friday on County Road 65 in Brazoria County.
Found murdered in a big drainage ditch was Kimberly Raye Pitchford of 8514 Wynlea in Houston. Sheriff Robert Gladney said the young girl's partially clad body was discovered by two teenaged boys, who then notified Law Enforcement authorities.
The Angleton teenagers who found the body told Sheriff Gladney they had seen a girl's coat hanging on a fence Thursday night but didn't stop to investigate it.
On Friday, they saw the coat again and then found the girl's body.
She was clad in a blue dress, but her watch and shoes were missing. The body was some eight miles from Darrington Prison Farm, the Sheriff said.
The girl's parents, Mr. and Mrs. E. L. Pitchford reported her missing when she failed to return home Wednesday evening after taking her first day of a driver's education class.
A 10th grader at Dobie High School in Pasadena, she was last seen alive around 6 p.m. Wednesday at the high school. Her father described her as "a shy little girl who wasn't involved in many activities."
He said Wednesday was when "she took her first day behind the wheel at driver's education class. She got out of the car with other students and was to have called us to pick her up. She was always good about calling us anytime she went anywhere. We could always depend on her call," the distraught father said.
The Pitchfords live approximately three miles from the high school. Her body was found one mile north of Iowa Colony near the Community House, some 30 minutes by car, away from her home.
An autopsy performed late Friday at Ben Taub Hospital by medical examiner Dr. Sheldon Green revealed the young girl had been strangled to death. Dr. Green said the murder weapon "probably was a rope," but did not say if such had been found at the scene where the body was found.
Sheriff Gladney said there was no visual signs that the girl had been sexually assaulted, but said she was only partially clad.
However, Dr. Green said chemical tests are still being run to see if she had been attacked. Results of the test will not be known until the middle of the week, he said.
Miss Pitchford's death marks the first murder of 1973 in Brazoria County and the sheriff's office immediately stepped up it's investigation into the case. Chief Deputy Jacque Woods, along with Gladney, is heading the investigation. He is head of the investigation section at the sheriff's office.
The body was taken to Forest Park Funeral Home where services are scheduled at 3:30 p.m. Monday at the chapel at 6900 Lawndale, with burial there.
Besides the parents, survivors include a grandmother, Mrs. B.D. Pitchford of South Houston; two sisters, Cheryl Ann Trojanoski and Candace Lee Pitchford, both of Houston.
Miss Pitchford was born April 9, 1956, in Houston. Sheriff Gladney said the autopsy showed she had been dead more than 48 hours at the time the autopsy was performed.
The sheriff said the girl had been taken to school that morning by car and "was to have called her mother after the driver's education class, but the call never came."
Except for issuing basic information on the murder, the sheriff's office remained tight-lipped about any possible leads in the case. A tight ring of security on information is being maintained with only Sheriff Gladney disseminating comments to the news media.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/09/29/elderly-inmate-claims-to-have-committed-nearly-dozen-murders/
http://thepolicenews.net/screenprint.aspx?newsletterid=18961&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
http://www.chron.com/news/interactives/bell/
Father: Elmer L Pitchford
Grandparents:
Bethel D Pitchford #71172584
Ida Mae Holder #73451293
G-Grandparents:
William Augustus Pitchford #15438421
Lucy Nancy Stevens #15438430
GG-Grandparents:
Washington Pitchford m. Carolina E Reynolds
GGG-Grandparents:
Augustus Pitchford #46927945
Mary Scott Causey #46927977
GGGG-Grandparents:
Samuel Pitchford 1780-1850
Nancy Wright 1787-1850
GGGGG-Grandparents:
William Thomas Pitchford 1733-1812
Sarah Stiles 1740-1778
The Brazosport Facts
Sunday, January 7, 1973
LAWMEN SEEK CLUE IN MURDER
The Brazoria County Sheriff's Department has launched a massive investigation into the strangulation death of a 16-year-old Houston girl whose body was discovered around noon Friday on County Road 65 in Brazoria County.
Found murdered in a big drainage ditch was Kimberly Raye Pitchford of 8514 Wynlea in Houston. Sheriff Robert Gladney said the young girl's partially clad body was discovered by two teenaged boys, who then notified Law Enforcement authorities.
The Angleton teenagers who found the body told Sheriff Gladney they had seen a girl's coat hanging on a fence Thursday night but didn't stop to investigate it.
On Friday, they saw the coat again and then found the girl's body.
She was clad in a blue dress, but her watch and shoes were missing. The body was some eight miles from Darrington Prison Farm, the Sheriff said.
The girl's parents, Mr. and Mrs. E. L. Pitchford reported her missing when she failed to return home Wednesday evening after taking her first day of a driver's education class.
A 10th grader at Dobie High School in Pasadena, she was last seen alive around 6 p.m. Wednesday at the high school. Her father described her as "a shy little girl who wasn't involved in many activities."
He said Wednesday was when "she took her first day behind the wheel at driver's education class. She got out of the car with other students and was to have called us to pick her up. She was always good about calling us anytime she went anywhere. We could always depend on her call," the distraught father said.
The Pitchfords live approximately three miles from the high school. Her body was found one mile north of Iowa Colony near the Community House, some 30 minutes by car, away from her home.
An autopsy performed late Friday at Ben Taub Hospital by medical examiner Dr. Sheldon Green revealed the young girl had been strangled to death. Dr. Green said the murder weapon "probably was a rope," but did not say if such had been found at the scene where the body was found.
Sheriff Gladney said there was no visual signs that the girl had been sexually assaulted, but said she was only partially clad.
However, Dr. Green said chemical tests are still being run to see if she had been attacked. Results of the test will not be known until the middle of the week, he said.
Miss Pitchford's death marks the first murder of 1973 in Brazoria County and the sheriff's office immediately stepped up it's investigation into the case. Chief Deputy Jacque Woods, along with Gladney, is heading the investigation. He is head of the investigation section at the sheriff's office.
The body was taken to Forest Park Funeral Home where services are scheduled at 3:30 p.m. Monday at the chapel at 6900 Lawndale, with burial there.
Besides the parents, survivors include a grandmother, Mrs. B.D. Pitchford of South Houston; two sisters, Cheryl Ann Trojanoski and Candace Lee Pitchford, both of Houston.
Miss Pitchford was born April 9, 1956, in Houston. Sheriff Gladney said the autopsy showed she had been dead more than 48 hours at the time the autopsy was performed.
The sheriff said the girl had been taken to school that morning by car and "was to have called her mother after the driver's education class, but the call never came."
Except for issuing basic information on the murder, the sheriff's office remained tight-lipped about any possible leads in the case. A tight ring of security on information is being maintained with only Sheriff Gladney disseminating comments to the news media.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/09/29/elderly-inmate-claims-to-have-committed-nearly-dozen-murders/
http://thepolicenews.net/screenprint.aspx?newsletterid=18961&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
http://www.chron.com/news/interactives/bell/
Father: Elmer L Pitchford
Grandparents:
Bethel D Pitchford #71172584
Ida Mae Holder #73451293
G-Grandparents:
William Augustus Pitchford #15438421
Lucy Nancy Stevens #15438430
GG-Grandparents:
Washington Pitchford m. Carolina E Reynolds
GGG-Grandparents:
Augustus Pitchford #46927945
Mary Scott Causey #46927977
GGGG-Grandparents:
Samuel Pitchford 1780-1850
Nancy Wright 1787-1850
GGGGG-Grandparents:
William Thomas Pitchford 1733-1812
Sarah Stiles 1740-1778
Kimberly, 16, disappeared from driving school in Pasadena, Texas on January 3, 1973. Her body was later found in a ditch in Angleton, Texas on January 5, 1973; she was found strangled. Although Mrs. Pitchford has since passed away, her family still maintains total confidence that the Brazoria County Sheriff's Office, the oldest law enforcement agency in Texas, will solve their daughter's case.
The Brazosport Facts
Sunday, January 7, 1973
LAWMEN SEEK CLUE IN MURDER
The Brazoria County Sheriff's Department has launched a massive investigation into the strangulation death of a 16-year-old Houston girl whose body was discovered around noon Friday on County Road 65 in Brazoria County.
Found murdered in a big drainage ditch was Kimberly Raye Pitchford of 8514 Wynlea in Houston. Sheriff Robert Gladney said the young girl's partially clad body was discovered by two teenaged boys, who then notified Law Enforcement authorities.
The Angleton teenagers who found the body told Sheriff Gladney they had seen a girl's coat hanging on a fence Thursday night but didn't stop to investigate it.
On Friday, they saw the coat again and then found the girl's body.
She was clad in a blue dress, but her watch and shoes were missing. The body was some eight miles from Darrington Prison Farm, the Sheriff said.
The girl's parents, Mr. and Mrs. E. L. Pitchford reported her missing when she failed to return home Wednesday evening after taking her first day of a driver's education class.
A 10th grader at Dobie High School in Pasadena, she was last seen alive around 6 p.m. Wednesday at the high school. Her father described her as "a shy little girl who wasn't involved in many activities."
He said Wednesday was when "she took her first day behind the wheel at driver's education class. She got out of the car with other students and was to have called us to pick her up. She was always good about calling us anytime she went anywhere. We could always depend on her call," the distraught father said.
The Pitchfords live approximately three miles from the high school. Her body was found one mile north of Iowa Colony near the Community House, some 30 minutes by car, away from her home.
An autopsy performed late Friday at Ben Taub Hospital by medical examiner Dr. Sheldon Green revealed the young girl had been strangled to death. Dr. Green said the murder weapon "probably was a rope," but did not say if such had been found at the scene where the body was found.
Sheriff Gladney said there was no visual signs that the girl had been sexually assaulted, but said she was only partially clad.
However, Dr. Green said chemical tests are still being run to see if she had been attacked. Results of the test will not be known until the middle of the week, he said.
Miss Pitchford's death marks the first murder of 1973 in Brazoria County and the sheriff's office immediately stepped up it's investigation into the case. Chief Deputy Jacque Woods, along with Gladney, is heading the investigation. He is head of the investigation section at the sheriff's office.
The body was taken to Forest Park Funeral Home where services are scheduled at 3:30 p.m. Monday at the chapel at 6900 Lawndale, with burial there.
Besides the parents, survivors include a grandmother, Mrs. B.D. Pitchford of South Houston; two sisters, Cheryl Ann Trojanoski and Candace Lee Pitchford, both of Houston.
Miss Pitchford was born April 9, 1956, in Houston. Sheriff Gladney said the autopsy showed she had been dead more than 48 hours at the time the autopsy was performed.
The sheriff said the girl had been taken to school that morning by car and "was to have called her mother after the driver's education class, but the call never came."
Except for issuing basic information on the murder, the sheriff's office remained tight-lipped about any possible leads in the case. A tight ring of security on information is being maintained with only Sheriff Gladney disseminating comments to the news media.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/09/29/elderly-inmate-claims-to-have-committed-nearly-dozen-murders/
http://thepolicenews.net/screenprint.aspx?newsletterid=18961&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
http://www.chron.com/news/interactives/bell/
Father: Elmer L Pitchford
Grandparents:
Bethel D Pitchford #71172584
Ida Mae Holder #73451293
G-Grandparents:
William Augustus Pitchford #15438421
Lucy Nancy Stevens #15438430
GG-Grandparents:
Washington Pitchford m. Carolina E Reynolds
GGG-Grandparents:
Augustus Pitchford #46927945
Mary Scott Causey #46927977
GGGG-Grandparents:
Samuel Pitchford 1780-1850
Nancy Wright 1787-1850
GGGGG-Grandparents:
William Thomas Pitchford 1733-1812
Sarah Stiles 1740-1778
The Brazosport Facts
Sunday, January 7, 1973
LAWMEN SEEK CLUE IN MURDER
The Brazoria County Sheriff's Department has launched a massive investigation into the strangulation death of a 16-year-old Houston girl whose body was discovered around noon Friday on County Road 65 in Brazoria County.
Found murdered in a big drainage ditch was Kimberly Raye Pitchford of 8514 Wynlea in Houston. Sheriff Robert Gladney said the young girl's partially clad body was discovered by two teenaged boys, who then notified Law Enforcement authorities.
The Angleton teenagers who found the body told Sheriff Gladney they had seen a girl's coat hanging on a fence Thursday night but didn't stop to investigate it.
On Friday, they saw the coat again and then found the girl's body.
She was clad in a blue dress, but her watch and shoes were missing. The body was some eight miles from Darrington Prison Farm, the Sheriff said.
The girl's parents, Mr. and Mrs. E. L. Pitchford reported her missing when she failed to return home Wednesday evening after taking her first day of a driver's education class.
A 10th grader at Dobie High School in Pasadena, she was last seen alive around 6 p.m. Wednesday at the high school. Her father described her as "a shy little girl who wasn't involved in many activities."
He said Wednesday was when "she took her first day behind the wheel at driver's education class. She got out of the car with other students and was to have called us to pick her up. She was always good about calling us anytime she went anywhere. We could always depend on her call," the distraught father said.
The Pitchfords live approximately three miles from the high school. Her body was found one mile north of Iowa Colony near the Community House, some 30 minutes by car, away from her home.
An autopsy performed late Friday at Ben Taub Hospital by medical examiner Dr. Sheldon Green revealed the young girl had been strangled to death. Dr. Green said the murder weapon "probably was a rope," but did not say if such had been found at the scene where the body was found.
Sheriff Gladney said there was no visual signs that the girl had been sexually assaulted, but said she was only partially clad.
However, Dr. Green said chemical tests are still being run to see if she had been attacked. Results of the test will not be known until the middle of the week, he said.
Miss Pitchford's death marks the first murder of 1973 in Brazoria County and the sheriff's office immediately stepped up it's investigation into the case. Chief Deputy Jacque Woods, along with Gladney, is heading the investigation. He is head of the investigation section at the sheriff's office.
The body was taken to Forest Park Funeral Home where services are scheduled at 3:30 p.m. Monday at the chapel at 6900 Lawndale, with burial there.
Besides the parents, survivors include a grandmother, Mrs. B.D. Pitchford of South Houston; two sisters, Cheryl Ann Trojanoski and Candace Lee Pitchford, both of Houston.
Miss Pitchford was born April 9, 1956, in Houston. Sheriff Gladney said the autopsy showed she had been dead more than 48 hours at the time the autopsy was performed.
The sheriff said the girl had been taken to school that morning by car and "was to have called her mother after the driver's education class, but the call never came."
Except for issuing basic information on the murder, the sheriff's office remained tight-lipped about any possible leads in the case. A tight ring of security on information is being maintained with only Sheriff Gladney disseminating comments to the news media.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/09/29/elderly-inmate-claims-to-have-committed-nearly-dozen-murders/
http://thepolicenews.net/screenprint.aspx?newsletterid=18961&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
http://www.chron.com/news/interactives/bell/
Father: Elmer L Pitchford
Grandparents:
Bethel D Pitchford #71172584
Ida Mae Holder #73451293
G-Grandparents:
William Augustus Pitchford #15438421
Lucy Nancy Stevens #15438430
GG-Grandparents:
Washington Pitchford m. Carolina E Reynolds
GGG-Grandparents:
Augustus Pitchford #46927945
Mary Scott Causey #46927977
GGGG-Grandparents:
Samuel Pitchford 1780-1850
Nancy Wright 1787-1850
GGGGG-Grandparents:
William Thomas Pitchford 1733-1812
Sarah Stiles 1740-1778
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