From Texas Attorney General Media Advisory: In the early morning hours of July 27, 1993, James King was awakened by the sound of a car pulling up to his house, beeping its horn twice and driving away.
When the car passed by again, he looked out his window and observed a tan car turn off its headlights and park in front of his house. King got out of bed and went to the front door.
Looking outside, he saw his 14-year old son, Brian, approach the car on foot and talk to the people in the car. At this point, King went to the restroom. When he returned, both Brian and the car were gone.
King waited for about an hour for his son to return before going back to bed. When he got up the next morning, King found that Brian and his 13-year old stepdaughter, Christina, were not in the house.
King woke his common-law wife, Donna Benjamin, and although worried, they decided to wait to see if they would return home. When the children did not appear, James and Donna searched for them and subsequently filed a missing persons report.
Approximately 10 days earlier, Christopher Nowlin had been riding in a car with Jason Massey, who was 20 years old and lived in Canton, Texas. Nowlin convinced Massey to drive over to see Christina, a friend of Nowlin’s.
Massey flirted with Christina, and she told him that she would like to “sneak out” sometime. Massey agreed, and told Christina that he would drive by her house around midnight some night and honk his horn and that she was to go to the old Fina station on I-45 and wait.
When Massey and Nowlin left Christina’s house, Massey told Nowlin in sexually explicit language what he wanted to do to Christina, including killing her and cutting her up. Nowlin testified that he didn’t pay much attention to what Massey said, because it was weird and Massey talked about killing girls all the time.
On July 29, 1993, law enforcement authorities found two bodies in a field near Telico, in Ellis County. The first body discovered was that of a nude female whose head and hands were missing. She had been shot in the back and parts of her body mutilated.
When the authorities began searching for the victim’s missing body parts they discovered the body of a young boy, identified as Brian King. Two small caliber bullets were later removed from his brain and the cause of death was determined to be multiple gunshot wounds to the head. No other wounds were discovered on his body.
It was more difficult to identify Christina. A deep wound transected her torso like an autopsy incision, exposing her internal organs. Due to the extensive nature of her injuries and several days of decomposition in the intense summer heat, initial identification was impossible.
Eventually, the body was confirmed to be Christina’s based on recent hospital records. Based on samples of fly larvae from both bodies, it was estimated that Brian and Christina had been killed between the late evening of July 26, 1993, and the morning of July 27, 1993. Bullet fragments recovered from both bodies appeared to be .22 caliber in size.
A subsequent investigation revealed that Massey’s cousin owned a .22 caliber pistol that he stored at his grandmother’s house before leaving on a trip. Massey took the gun unbeknownst to his cousin.
Several witnesses testified to seeing the gun on Massey’s person. The Walmart sales clerk, who sold bullets for a .22 caliber gun, two knives, and handcuffs to Massey, picked him out of a line-up after his arrest.
Late in July, the owner of a local car wash observed Massey pull in about 11:30 p.m. in a tan-colored Subaru. Massey dumped items in the trash bin and started to back out, but stopped when he saw the owner watching him. He pulled his car back into a bay and started vacuuming.
Shortly after this incident, the owner recognized Massey’s picture in the paper as someone who might be involved with the murders.
A search of the car wash trash bin and vacuum containers resulted in discovery of a red bandana with blond hair on it, broken car glass, and a payroll receipt from Kentucky Fried Chicken with Massey’s name on it.
Police searched Massey’s house and found two newspaper articles about the murders, handcuffs and a knife box.
After a search of Massey’s car, the console, steering wheel, step to the car, and spots in the passenger seat tested positive for blood, as did a knife in the glove box and items in the trunk, including duct tape, tissue paper, electrical tape, a wrench, a screwdriver, a denim shirt, the head of a hammer, and a jacket. DNA testing revealed a genetic match between Christina’s blood and the blood found on the car seat, duct tape and hammer.
A subsequent comparison of blond hairs found in the car, hairs on the red bandana recovered from the car wash and hairs found near Christina at the crime scene revealed a microscopic match.
Carpet fibers from Massey’s car matched a fiber found on one of Brian’s shoes.
In addition, hair found on Brian’s pant leg was microscopically matched with Massey’s. An arrest warrant was issued; when placed under arrest, Massey smiled. He was indicted for the capital offense of murder of two persons. He pled not guilty, but was convicted by a jury on Oct. 6, 1994.
Victims
Brian King, 14
Christina Benjamin, 13
Man held in killing of teens
Very accurate
Court denies appeals in murder cases
Convicted murderer Jason Massey executed
Murderpedia: Jason Eric Massey
Texas Execution Information Center – Jason Massey
Jason Eric Massey #706
Wikipedia: Jason Massey
Books
Born Bad
Movies/Documentaries
Forensic Files: Pure Evil
INMATE INFORMATION
Final words: Yes, first I would like to speak to the victims’ family. First of all, I would like to say that I do not know any of y’all and that is unfortunate, because I would like to apologize to each and every one of you individually. I can’t imagine what I have taken from y’all, but I do want to apologize and I want to let you know that I did do it. You guys know that I am guilty and I am sorry for what I have done. I apologize and I know that you may not be able to forgive me and I know that may not be able to forgive me in this life and in this world, but I hope sometime in the future you will be able to find it in you to forgive me. And I want you to know that Christina, she did not suffer as much as you think she did. I promise you that. I give you my word. I know you guys want to know where the rest of her remains are. I put her remains in the Trinity River. I have said that since I have come to death row. I want to apologize to you again. I hope sometime in the future you can forgive me. Okay, now I want to speak to my mom and my family. Brother Anderson, Kathy, I want you to know that I appreciate all these years that you have been coming to see me on death row and Daddy, I love you. I appreciate y’all being here and being strong for me, and Mama, you know I love you, and I appreciate all of these visits, the letters and everything y’all have done for me. Y’all have been wonderful. You too, Granny. I love y’all and you know, I want to apologize to y’all too for what I have done. For all of the pain that I have caused, but all of this pain has brought us closer together and all of this suffering that we have been through has brought us all closer to the Lord and in the end that is what counts. Isn’t it? That’s what counts in the end; where you stand with Almighty God. I know that God has used this to change my life. And it’s all been worth it because of that. If I lie here today where I lie, I can say in the face of death, Jesus is Lord. He has changed my life and I know that when I leave this body, I am going home to be with the Lord forever. That is all I want to say. I love y’all and I won’t say goodbye, I will say I will see you again. I love you, Daddy. Tonight I dance on the streets of gold. Let those without sin cast the first stone.
Offender Information: Jason Eric Massey
