Ynobe Matthews

Case overview

Ynobe Matthews was convicted of capital murder in June 2001 and was sentenced to death. He was executed by lethal injection in Texas on January 6, 2004.

Timeline

• May 27, 2000 — 21-year-old Carolyn Casey attended a party at her College Station apartment complex. Ynobe Matthews, who lived in the same complex, also attended the party.
• May 28, 2000 — Around 1:30 or 2:00 a.m., Casey’s neighbor heard loud noises from Casey’s apartment described as “multiple thuds, kind of rapid succession, over almost as soon as they began.” Around 4:50 a.m., firefighters responded to a structure fire call at Casey’s apartment building.
• August 24, 2000 — Matthews was indicted for the capital murder of Carolyn Casey.
• June 15, 2001 — Matthews was convicted and sentenced to death.
• 1999 — 21-year-old Carolyn Casey and Matthews’s later DNA-linked case involved Jamie Hart, whose unclothed body was found on a rural road 14 months before Matthews was arrested for Carolyn Casey’s murder; Matthews later pleaded guilty to Jamie Hart’s kidnap, rape and murder.
• July 2, 2003 — The conviction was affirmed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
• September 10, 2003 — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed an application for state habeas relief at Matthews’s request.
• September 30, 2003 — Execution was scheduled for January 6, 2004, by Brazoria County District Judge Steve Smith.
• January 6, 2004 — Matthews was executed by lethal injection in Texas.
• January 7, 2003 — The publication reporting the execution described Matthews as executed at the state prison Tuesday night and as the first man put to death in Texas in 2004.

The offence

Carolyn Casey

After drinking alcohol during the evening, Casey claimed illness and left the party to return to her apartment. Casey vomited before she made her way back to her residence. One of the hosts, Chris Hyles, testified that he did not see anyone leave with Casey, and when she left, Matthews was not in the apartment. When Matthews returned to the party later, Hyles noticed “a real foul smell” coming from him that he could not describe, stating that it was “not consistent with body odor.”

Around 1:30 or 2:00 a.m., Casey’s neighbor, Yasha Hartberg, heard loud noises coming from Casey’s apartment described as “multiple thuds, kind of rapid succession, over almost as soon as they began.”

Around 4:50 a.m. on May 28, 2000, the fire department responded to a structure fire call at Casey’s apartment building. Firefighters determined that the smoke originated from Casey’s apartment. As they climbed the stairs, they observed smoke coming from a partially opened window near the door and noticed that the screen on the window had been cut and folded outward. The cuts in the window screen allowed the perpetrator to reach through and unlock the door to the apartment. Upon entering, firefighters encountered thick smoke. Using a flashlight, Lieutenant Bobby Rogers entered the bedroom and found Casey’s body. He also observed a small fire still smoldering in the flesh of her feet.

Casey was wearing only a t-shirt and socks. The top half of her body was propped against the side of her bed, while the bottom half lay along the floor. The inner part of her legs and vaginal area had been burned. Paper and a container of pens and makeup brushes were placed between her legs, apparently as combustibles to start the fire. The burned area between Casey’s legs also contained fecal matter. Police recovered a pair of torn blue panties from Casey’s bed. Both seams were completely torn away and the waistband was missing. A large amount of fecal matter was discovered inside the panties, and the waistband was later discovered underneath the bedding.

The contents of Casey’s purse, including her wallet and checkbook, were dumped onto the living room table. Casey’s car and house keys were missing, but a number of other valuable items remained in the apartment. In the bathroom, officers noted that the toilet seat was raised, towels were on the floor, and a fire alarm was lying in the sink. A partial set of knives was found in the kitchen, and one knife in the set was found in Casey’s bedroom underneath the bed. Towels matching those found on Casey’s bathroom floor and Casey’s house and car keys were later found in one of the apartment complex dumpsters.

A forensic pathologist conducted an autopsy and determined that Casey had been strangled, with a broken a bone in her neck. The pathologist could not determine whether she had been sexually assaulted due to the extensive burns in the genital area. Swabs from Casey’s vagina, rectum, and mouth tested negative for the presence of semen. The pathologist opined that any evidence in the vaginal area could have been destroyed by the fire and also noted that it is very common for people to defecate in their undergarments when they are very scared or at the time of death. Based on the crime scene and autopsy, the pathologist opined that the victim was moved after her death.

Matthews’s statements

Police interviewed Matthews and his roommate in connection with Casey’s murder. In response to their request, Matthews turned over the clothing he was wearing the night of the party and consented to the collection of samples of his head hair, pubic hair, blood, and saliva. Forensic testing revealed that fibers similar to the fibers of Matthews’s clothing were found on Casey’s clothing, her body, and under her fingernails. Fibers from Casey’s panties were found on Matthews’s shirt. Matthews’s DNA matched scrapings taken from Casey’s fingernails on both hands.

When confronted with this evidence, Matthews told police that he and Casey had been “seeing each other on and off” for a couple of weeks to a month. He admitted that he had been in the apartment in the early morning hours of May 28 in order to engage in consensual sex with Casey. He said that he had ripped her panties off while they were “messing around.” He stated that after the sex act he and Casey got into a fight during which he threw her on the bed and choked her to death. He also admitted starting the fire and ransacking the apartment to make it look like a burglary.

In a later interview, Matthews told Detective Jeff Capps that after intercourse he argued with Casey because she had been enticing his younger brother. He said Casey responded that she could “fuck’em if I want to,” and that Matthews called her a “bitch.” Casey then took a swing at Matthews, and he threw her on the bed and choked her to death. He further stated that he returned to Casey’s apartment after the murder and ignited a fire between her legs to cover up any evidence of intercourse, used a towel to wipe down fingerprints, and cut the screen in the window to give the appearance of a burglary.

Sexual assault / attempt language in the appeal

On direct appeal, Matthews challenged the legal sufficiency of the evidence for the jury’s finding of guilt insofar as it related to whether, at the time he murdered the victim, Matthews was sexually assaulting or attempting to sexually assault her. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected the contention and affirmed the conviction and sentence of death, concluding that the jury could have inferred that Matthews was sexually assaulting or attempting to sexually assault Casey at the time he killed her.

Investigation

Firefighters noticed that the screen on the window had been cut and folded outward. The cuts in the window screen had allowed someone to reach through and unlock the door to the apartment. Firefighters later found a small fire still smoldering in the flesh of Casey’s feet.

Police also found torn blue panties on Casey’s bed, with a large amount of fecal matter inside them and a waistband later found underneath the bedding. They also recovered information from Casey’s purse showing her wallet and checkbook had been dumped onto the living room table; her car and house keys were missing.

A couple of days later, officers located towels matching those found on Casey’s bathroom floor and Casey’s house and car keys in an apartment complex dumpster.

A videotape from a nearby convenience store showed that Matthews was wearing different clothes on the night of the offense than those he had turned over to police. When confronted with this video, Matthews turned over the clothing he was wearing in the surveillance video. Matthews consented to the police collecting samples of his head hair, pubic hair, blood, and saliva.

No semen was found on swabs taken from Casey.

Arrest

The record described DNA evidence obtained after Matthews was arrested for Carolyn Casey’s murder connected him to the kidnapping, rape and murder of 21-year-old Jamie Glenda Hart.

Trial

A jury convicted Matthews of capital murder in June 2001 and sentenced him to death based on the jury’s answers to special issues set forth in Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 37.071, sections 2(b) and 2(e).

During the punishment phase, the jury learned that Matthews had attempted to rape two other young women and had succeeded in raping three other young women. The jury was informed that he manipulated several women into a position of vulnerability before commencing assaults and that he hit and choked several of them. The jury also learned that Matthews had raped and murdered a sixth young woman whose body was discovered in a ditch by a passing jogger. The medical examiner testified that the victim had a black eye and numerous other bruises to the left side of her head, was strangled with a ligature but not to the point of causing death, was raped and thrown from a moving vehicle while still alive resulting in “road rash” over most of her body, an injury to her neck causing paralysis, and skull fractures to the back of her head causing her brain to swell and, ultimately, her death. The woman’s car was discovered a short distance from where her body was found, with fingerprints and DNA tied to the offence.

In addition, a female detention officer for the Brazos County Sheriff’s Office testified that Matthews behaved inappropriately towards her, making aggressive sexual remarks toward her that made her uneasy. The jury also learned that Matthews got into a fight and shattered the windshield of a car, threatened to choke another man during an altercation regarding the price of marijuana he was selling, and had prior convictions for unlawful possession of cocaine and cruelty to animals. The jury further heard that while incarcerated Matthews verbally abused a female officer and threw his plastic cup at her with sufficient force to shatter the face of a nearby clock. The jury was also informed that, as a matter of policy, two officers were required to escort Matthews any time he left his cell and that he was to be placed in leg irons any time he left the jail floor.

Sentencing

Matthews was sentenced to death following the jury’s findings in June 2001. In addition, Matthews was linked to the rape and murder of Jamie Hart and later pleaded guilty to the 1999 kidnap, rape and murder of Jamie Hart and was sentenced to life imprisonment for that conviction.

Appeals

Direct appeal

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Matthews’s conviction and sentence on July 2, 2003. The court overruled Matthews’s point of error challenging the legal sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury’s finding that at the time he murdered the victim Matthews was sexually assaulting or attempting to sexually assault her.

The court described the standard for reviewing legal sufficiency as looking at all the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict to determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the offence beyond a reasonable doubt, and stated that it allows responsibility for fairly resolving conflicts in testimony, weighing the evidence, and drawing reasonable inferences from basic facts to ultimate facts.

Habeas

On September 10, 2003, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed an application for state habeas relief at Matthews’s request.

Waiver

Matthews waived further appeals.

Outcome

Matthews was executed by lethal injection in Texas on January 6, 2004. He mouthed “I love you” several times to relatives who were watching him through a window and made no final statement. He was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m.

Other details

Jamie Hart case

DNA evidence obtained after Matthews was arrested for Carolyn Casey’s murder connected him to the kidnapping, rape and murder of 21-year-old Jamie Glenda Hart. Her unclothed body was found on a rural road 14 months after it was found. Matthews pleaded guilty to the 1999 kidnap, rape and murder of Jamie Hart and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Final meal

Matthews’s final meal request included three pieces of fried chicken, one pork chop, two pieces of fried fish, strawberry ice cream, a six-pack of Coke, and a pack of Newport cigarettes. Authorities refused the cigarettes because of a “no tobacco policy.”

Carolyn Casey’s family statements

Carolyn Casey’s mother, Anita, expressed anger toward Matthews in court after he was sentenced:

“I'm not angry at your family,” she said. “I'm angry at you. You stole my child from me. I don't understand why you took the life of my daughter and the Hart's daughter ... I want to know why.” Matthews cried and looked away as Casey’s mother said she found solace in knowing that she would see her daughter again in heaven: “But, in the meantime, I want you to sit in that jail and think about what you have done,” she said.

Matthews’s remarks from death row

Matthews told a reporter from death row:

“I spent the whole week getting drunk,” Matthews told a reporter in an interview from death row. He added that he had also been on a drug binge before the murder, “but that's not an excuse.” In an interview with a reporter from death row, Matthews also said: “Plenty of guys say 'You can beat this,'” he said in a recent death row interview. “I respect their fight. We all have to choose. ... We all have whole different paths to take.” In an interview before his execution, Matthews blamed his crimes on being “rowdy” and lacking maturity: “As a boy, I was always rowdy,” Matthews told the AP. “Even at 24, I was still boyish. I had kids at 17 years old. I guess I never truly grew up.” He declined to make a final statement at his execution.

Described personal details and communications

A written message attributed to Matthews included the following:

“Hello, My name is Ynobe Matthews, DOB 4/14/76, age 26, African American male out of Dallas, TX. I like music of all sorts for ex. Rap: Joy-z, R&B: L. Hill, Rock: AeroSmith and Country, just to name a few. I also enjoy reading books by John Grisham, Leon Koontz and Mark Twain and I have a great love for animals. I'm looking for a pen-pal, that would like to write as well to a young man, while I wait out my Death Sentence on appeal. Sincerely, Ynobe Matthews Ynobe Matthews # 999387 Polunsky Unit 3872 FM 350 South Livingston, Texas 77351 USA” The message also stated: “I also enjoy reading books by John Grisham, Leon Koontz and Mark Twain and I have a great love for animals.”