Taiana Matheny

Background

Taiana Matheny was a Tucson woman accused of luring two Omaha, Neb., men to their deaths and shooting one of the men. She was 25 years old at the time of sentencing.

Kevin Pierce Sr. was 26 years old. Victor Ford was 25 years old. A third intended victim, Dawayne Kearney, was attacked but survived. Erika Wilson, a friend of murder victim Kevin Pierce, later commented on Matheny’s testimony.

Matheny met Terry Sellers at a party and came to Omaha with him on February 21st. She went to the mall with her new boyfriend, Terry Sellers, on a day described as Feb. 23, 2005, and got a manicure and a tanning session, bought fuzzy boots, and lured Kevin Pierce on that night at Sellers’s urging. Matheny described that day as “all about her.”

Matheny testified that she lured Kevin Pierce Sr. and Victor Ford to apartment complexes where Sellers and Terrell Thorpe waited to rob them. She said Sellers forced her to shoot Pierce. Prosecutors and officials said Matheny’s testimony was necessary for the first-degree murder convictions of Sellers and Thorpe.

The offence

Matheny admitted luring 26-year-old Kevin Pierce Sr. and 25-year-old Victor Ford to apartment complexes. Matheny and Terry Sellers set out to rob the victims and planned to lure them and then kill them.

Kevin Pierce was killed after Matheny lured him to an apartment complex near 65th Street and Grand Avenue. He was shot in the head with a .38, according to the account described. Matheny testified that she pressed a revolver to Pierce’s head and pulled the trigger and killed him.

Victor Ford was murdered as part of the same scheme. Matheny was able to give only a foggy description of Ford’s murder. Ford was shot in the head with a .38, according to the account described.

A third planned target, Dawayne Kearney (also identified as Dwayne Kearney), fought back and survived an attack that involved gunfire and stabbing. Police said that Matheny tried to kill Kearney with a .38 during the February 27 incident described. Kearney later wound up being stabbed by a third party later identified as Sellers.

Investigation

Matheny’s involvement became central to the prosecution’s ability to obtain murder convictions against Sellers and Thorpe.

During earlier police interviews, Matheny lied through two initial police interviews about her involvement in the spree. Later, she admitted killing Pierce and luring both to their deaths.

Police said a witness who called 911 about the Kearney assault claimed to have heard a gunshot and witnessed the attack. The witness said he was awakened by a gunshot and saw two guys fighting in a parking lot while noticing a woman standing watching. Police stated that the woman was Taiana Matheny.

Police said Matheny and Terry Sellers planned to meet Kearney in the Maple View Apartment parking lot at 104th Ave. and Maple to buy drugs from Kearney. Kearney told police that one person shot at him but missed; he tripped and fell and said “They had him down on the ground,” and that the other guys “jumped on 'em, just started pounding on 'em” while “Girl got on top of them also.” The witness said: “hurry up call the cops, they're pounding on this guy.” Police found Kearney with stab wounds.

Investigators tied the gun to the two murders after the Kearney attack allowed police to connect the weapon to the two murders. Matheny’s attorney said the weapon belonged to Sellers.

Arrest

The 22-year-old Terry Sellers was arrested along with Matheny in connection with the felony assault and stabbing of Dwayne Kearney. Sellers also had spent time in jail previously for carrying a concealed weapon.

At the point described in the March 10, 2005 account, Sellers had not been charged with the two murders.

Trial

Matheny pleaded guilty and later testified in proceedings relating to the case.

Matheny testified about the murder-robbery scheme. She described luring men with the promise of sex to secluded places where they would be robbed and murdered.

During a later trial described as taking place “this week and last,” prosecutors acknowledged that Terrell Thorpe did not pull the trigger or fire the shots that killed Pierce and Ford. Prosecutors urged jurors to find Thorpe guilty under a state law that held accomplices responsible if someone died during the commission of a felony, such as robbery.

In closing arguments, prosecutors Jim Masteller and Leigh Ann Retelsdorf said that the case involved using Terry Sellers’s new girlfriend as bait to lure two young men for the purpose of robbing them of possessions and “robbing them of their very lives.”

Terrell Thorpe’s attorney, Andrew Wilson, argued that Matheny’s testimony should not be trusted. Wilson pointed out that she lied through two initial police interviews about her involvement in the spree and later admitted killing Pierce and luring both to their deaths. Wilson asked jurors if they could trust Matheny and said she “She's a notorious liar,” adding that “She's a coldblooded killer. She shot someone, a stranger, point-blank, execution-style. That's who she is.”

Matheny and the defence positions contrasted: Matheny testified that she and Sellers killed both Pierce and Ford. Her attorney, James Martin Davis, described her as not guilty of killing anyone and said it was “the classic case of falling in with the wrong crowd,” and that she came to Omaha despite numerous warnings from her family. Davis said Matheny did not kill anybody and said: “She didn't kill anybody.”

The account of Matheny on the stand included multiple statements and quotes, including her statement on the witness stand: “Today,” she said on the witness stand, “is all about the truth.” Another quoted statement on the stand was: “I understand that they need her testimony to convict the others, but she first still took someone's life,” according to Erika Wilson.

Matheny also gave a quoted expectation about the consequences: “I'm almost positive I’m going to spend the rest of my life in prison.”

Matheny testified that she was intimidated by Sellers and said at the time: “I did what people wanted me to, whether I wanted me to, and “I never questioned anything.”

Davis also said: “She's the one that puts him at the scene of all three crimes and she's the individual who worked with him to lure these people to their deaths,” in reference to Terry Sellers.

Sellers’s father disputed Matheny’s testimony. Terry Fisher said: “Don't nobody tell me what to do, I ain't going to go and shoot nobody because somebody tell me to do this and that,” and “You can't force nobody to do nothing.”

Matheny also spoke about the motive. In the February 26, 2009 account, she acknowledged that “Feb. 23, 2005, was all about her.”

In relation to her guilty plea, Matheny’s attorney James Martin Davis said the jury testimony was “What she did was certainly cold-blooded.”

Matheny’s pleading arrangement involved prosecutors cutting a deal for testimony from an alleged co-conspirator. Prosecutors dropped two counts of first-degree murder, three weapons charges and a drug charge after her guilty plea was accepted. Matheny then began to testify.

During the proceedings, jurors were described as returning to deliberate Thorpe’s fate and the trial involved a week in the life of two best friends, Terry Sellers and Terrell Thorpe.

The prosecutor argument about accomplice responsibility included details about evidence handling, including that Thorpe provided the revolver used in both killings and acted as a lookout and getaway driver, and helped remove car rims from Pierce’s vehicle and hide them. Prosecutors said Thorpe handed Matheny Clorox wipes and had her wipe down the dashboard and inside of Ford's vehicle.

Masteller also referenced an encounter in a holding cell. Masteller said Thorpe provided further proof of his involvement when he ran into Matheny in a holding cell in August. Matheny testified that Thorpe tried to intimidate her, and another inmate confirmed the confrontation. Masteller quoted: “He doesn't say to her, 'Tell the truth.' Doesn't say 'Lie in court for me,'” and later said: “He says, 'Don't come to court.' ” Masteller then asked: “Why doesn't he want her to come to court? Because he knows she will testify about his involvement.”

Sentencing

On March 23, 2009, an Omaha judge sentenced Taiana Matheny to 35 to 70 years on a second-degree murder charge.

Matheny also received five to 10 years for each of two conspiracy counts. The conspiracy sentences were to be served concurrently after the murder sentence.

The account described that Matheny pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder and she was awaiting sentencing at the time of one earlier trial-related report.

The sentencing account stated that she faced up to life in prison.

Matheny admitted luring Kevin Pierce Sr. and Victor Ford to apartment complexes, and that Sellers and his friend, Terrell Thorpe, waited to rob them.

Appeals

No appeals were described in the provided material.

Outcome

Matheny pleaded guilty and was sentenced as described. Officials said without her testimony, the first-degree murders convictions of Sellers and Thorpe would have been impossible.

Aftermath

The proceedings described included ongoing implications for other defendants and their cases, including Sellers and Thorpe, and the role of Matheny’s testimony. Sellers was described as serving a life sentence.

Matheny was described as awaiting sentencing at an earlier stage. She later received the March 23, 2009 sentence described in the status and reporting.

Other details

The account described that Kevin Pierce’s body was found behind an apartment complex across from 4725 N. 65th Street, and that Ford’s body was found just blocks away at 4403 North 62nd Street, with the shootings happening a few blocks and less than 24 hours apart.

Pierce and Ford were both shot in the head with a .38, according to Matheny’s attorney’s statements as included.

Matheny’s attorney said the gun was not Matheny’s gun and said it belonged to Sellers. Matheny’s attorney described her as having come to Omaha despite warnings from her family.

Sellers was described as growing up in Omaha and attending three different high schools in Omaha but never graduating.

The witness to the Kearney incident described seeing two guys fighting in a parking lot, noticed a woman standing on the side watching them, and said he felt “a real bad feeling” when he heard the gunshot.

Prosecutors described that Thorpe handed Matheny Clorox wipes and had her wipe down the dashboard and inside of Ford’s vehicle.