GUILTY TX - Brian, 31, & Michell Conrad, 35, Zach Doan, 14, murdered, 29 Sept 2005

vanillasky

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Full story: http://www.amarillo.com/stories/100105/new_2915631.shtml

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Gray County Sheriff's Office deputies and other law enforcement agencies are investigating the deaths of three people found early Friday in their rural home.
Sheriff Don Copeland said the victims - a man, woman and 14-year-old boy - died of gunshot wounds. All three were members of the same family, Copeland said.

Copeland declined to release the names of the family members.

There was no missing vehicle from the home, and no suspect has been identified in the killings, Copeland said.

"But we are going to be looking feverishly," Copeland said.

A 10-year-old girl called 911 about the slaying at 6:13 a.m., and law enforcement officers converged on the single-family home about 14 miles south of Pampa on Texas Highway 70.

The girl is now with relatives, Copeland said.

Copeland said he did not know the caliber of the bullets used or how many times the victims had been shot.

Joe Martinez, Gray County justice of the peace, said he ordered three autopsies to be performed on the shooting victims. Martinez said the female victim appeared to be pregnant.
 
That poor 10 yr old. I hope she didn't see what happened. It is going to be so hard for her anyway. Any news about if this was homicide or homicide/suicide? It is odd- that time of the am, the girl makes the call to LE. And she is the only one living.
 
IMO, the article implied that it was homicide - but those are definitely unusual circumstances - and like you noticed - the time the little girl called for help, and why would they have only left her unless they just didn't realize she was in the house?


The Texas Rangers, Department of Public of Safety crime scene officials, Pampa Police and Hoover Volunteer Fire Department were assisting in the investigation, Copeland said. The Amarillo Police Department Traffic Investigation Unit also was at the scene.
 
When I started reading this it reminded me of the Shasta, Dillon, and their family. Thank God the little girl wasn't harmed. That is a puzzle isn't it. I'm glad that she is alright. Now she has to try and survive mentally and emotionally. Probably another darned boyfriend that decided to wipe out an entire family for his own selfish reasons.

I hope the little girl has someone who will show her a lot of love throughout her lifetime. She is going to need it.
 
Updated article... very bizarre, I hope they get a lead soon. :(

Full Story: http://www.amarillo.com/stories/100205/new_2926605.shtml


PAMPA - Few in this town can understand the tragedy. Some are still in fear of it happening again.

But many say the slaying of three members of a family found dead Friday morning in their rural Gray County home near Pampa should never have happened here.

"It is too close to home," said Will Daniel, who lives near where the killings occurred. "This stuff ain't supposed to happen in your community."

Brian Conrad, 31, his wife, Michell Conrad, 35, and her 14-year-old son Zach Doan were found shot to death in their home on Texas Highway 70 about 14 miles south of Pampa, said Trooper Daniel Hawthorne of Texas Department of Public Safety. Michell Conrad was about six months pregnant when she was killed.

Michell Conrad's 10-year-old daughter called 911 about 7:15 a.m. Friday to report the shooting.

Gray County Sheriff officials said there was no missing vehicle from the home, and no suspect has been identified in the killings. All the victims bodies were sent to Lubbock for autopsies.

Investigators don't have a motive for the killings and do not consider the slayings a murder-suicide, Hawthorne said.

"That is something (investigators) are not looking at," Hawthorne said.


Very isolated home:
34191_512.jpg


Brian Conrad:
34146_512.jpg


Michell Conrad:
34183_512.jpg


Zach Doan:
34213_512.jpg
 
FULL STORY, no registration required: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3379318

PAMPA — Authorities have made no arrests in the mysterious shooting deaths of a Panhandle farmer, his pregnant wife and her teenage son, a Texas Department of Safety trooper said Sunday.

Brian Conrad, 31, his wife Michell, 35, and her 14-year-old son Zach Doan were found dead in their home on Texas 70 early Friday in rural Gray County.

"No items were taken that the investigators are aware of, and there's no indication of a robbery," Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Daniel Hawthorne told The Associated Press.

Michell Conrad's 10-year-old daughter called 911 about 7:15 a.m. Friday to report the shooting, the Amarillo Globe-News reported in Sunday editions.

Hawthorne declined to answer questions about the 10-year-old, citing concern for her safety. He said she is not suspected in the shooting.
 
Full story: http://www.amarillo.com/stories/100405/new_2936740.shtml

Ricky Martin eased back in his chair Monday morning, twirled a precious baseball between his fingers and pondered three friends whose lives were tragically cut short last week.

Homicide investigators, meanwhile, were working several leads Monday in Friday's shooting deaths of 31-year-old Brian Conrad, wife Michell, 35, her 14-year-old son, Zach Doan, and the couple's unborn baby.

The victims were found shot to death Friday in their rural farmhouse on Texas Highway 70 about 14 miles south of Pampa. Michell Conrad's 10-year-old daughter called 911 about 7:15 a.m. Friday to report the shooting.

Martin, a family friend who had once worked with the Conrads at the Gray-Roberts County Farm Bureau, said he often played catch with young Zach and gave him some tips on the finer points of hitting. A few months back, Zach stopped by and gave him a shiny new baseball. On the side, Zach scribbled some of Martin's best hitting advice.

"I helped Zach a lot in baseball," Martin said. "He brought this ball into me a couple of months ago. Of course, it's priceless now. It means a ton to me."

Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Daniel Hawthorne said no suspects have been arrested and that investigators largely are keeping mum about the progress of their investigation.

Hawthorne said he could not answer questions about possible motives behind the slaying. Texas Rangers, he said, also will not reveal whether the 10-year-old girl was inside the family's home during the shootings.
 
http://www.amarillo.com/stories/100805/new_2966793.shtml

Pampa/Gray County Crime Stoppers is offering a $16,120 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction in connection with the recent slaying of four family members.

Authorities are looking for information in the Sept. 30 shooting deaths of 31-year-old Brian Conrad, wife Michell, 35, her 14-year-old son, Zach Doan, and the couple's unborn baby.


The reward money is provided by law enforcement officials, the victims' family and Pampa-based Team Amber Alert.
 
I doubt if there is any connection since nothing was taken from the scene, but LE was looking for a man near Lubbock last week. I don't know if he was ever caught but he broke into a home west of here, raped the wife, overpowered the husband, and then stole their pickup. Hope they find out what happened soon. This family sounds like so many people in this part of the country who live in rural areas and have good decent lives.
 
I live in the area and have learned quite a bit about this case. Pretty much everyone around here knows who committed this crime. It's a drug dealer named Barney Sawyer. He's been guilty of numerous crimes in this area, including (allegedly) the disappearance of a young woman named Monica Appleton. But he always gets off scott free because of alleged connections with Pampa officials. This is a corrupt little town, as evidenced by the case of district attorney Rick Roach. He was elected on a "tough on drugs" stance, and then re-elected despite never prosecuting any cases. The feds finally brought him down with the help of one of his assistants, for rampant meth use, using drug seizures for his own purposes, etc. This is the kind of place where I live.

Anyway, Barney Sawyer allegedly is behind this because Brian Conrad told him he didn't want drugs around his family (there is a meth house just down the road from the Conrad home). He told Sawyer he was going to go to the authorities. Sawyer said if you do that, I will kill your family. You know the rest of the story.

Don't be surprised if there's never an arrest in this case. But if there is, remember the name Barney Sawyer and where you heard it first.

Barney -- your time is coming.
 
Wow, ToddInPampa - that sounds very likely. Thank you for sharing that information. That is horrifying. :( Any theories in town on why the daughter was spared?

And Monica Appleton too... :(

I've heard lots about Rick Roach too... he's bad news in the worst way.

Some additional info on him:

http://amarillo.com/stories/011305/new_1020808.shtml

The suit alleges one of Roach's employees saw him in possession of methamphetamine at the office in the courthouse and saw him inject a substance, which he said was meth, at an apartment owned by the district attorney's office.
 
SimonSays said:
Any theories in town on why the daughter was spared?
Well, they didn't "spare" her. They came into her room, fired shots at her just as they did her brother. But in her case, they missed. She played dead for over an hour, heard them rummaging around in the fridge and whatnot, and after she was sure they were gone, she got up and called 911.

They clearly did not intend for anyone in the house to be left alive. They even shot the dog.
 
Wow. :( I hadn't heard that. Thank you for clarifying about the daughter. IMO, whoever is responsible for this doesn't deserve to live for another minute. That poor child - I can't even begin to imagine what she went through and will have to go through for the rest of her life.
 
Her dad rushed over early that morning. Obviously in these cases you look hard at the ex-spouse, but in this case he had nothing to do with it. Glad she still has a parent to raise her.

Another thing -- her step-mom who was killed, Michell, was 4 months' pregnant. So it's being called a quadruple homicide, not a triple.

Michell had just been to the doctor and had an amnio -- they were informed that the baby had spina bifida.
 
Yes... that is a blessing that she still has her dad. Also, I'm asking a moderator to change the title of this thread to a quadruple homicide - I wasn't sure at the time when I started the thread since the article said it just appeared that a victim was pregnant. Do they think this guy acted alone at the house, or did he have help?
 
ToddinPampa said:
I live in the area and have learned quite a bit about this case. Pretty much everyone around here knows who committed this crime. It's a drug dealer named Barney Sawyer. He's been guilty of numerous crimes in this area, including (allegedly) the disappearance of a young woman named Monica Appleton. But he always gets off scott free because of alleged connections with Pampa officials. This is a corrupt little town, as evidenced by the case of district attorney Rick Roach. He was elected on a "tough on drugs" stance, and then re-elected despite never prosecuting any cases. The feds finally brought him down with the help of one of his assistants, for rampant meth use, using drug seizures for his own purposes, etc. This is the kind of place where I live.

Anyway, Barney Sawyer allegedly is behind this because Brian Conrad told him he didn't want drugs around his family (there is a meth house just down the road from the Conrad home). He told Sawyer he was going to go to the authorities. Sawyer said if you do that, I will kill your family. You know the rest of the story.

Don't be surprised if there's never an arrest in this case. But if there is, remember the name Barney Sawyer and where you heard it first.

Barney -- your time is coming.

Very interesting. Thank you for the local view. It is often right on the money.
 
SimonSays said:
Do they think this guy acted alone at the house, or did he have help?
What I heard was that he hired it done, but that he was on the scene. Whether there was more than one shooter, I don't know.
 
ToddinPampa said:
Well, they didn't "spare" her. They came into her room, fired shots at her just as they did her brother. But in her case, they missed. She played dead for over an hour, heard them rummaging around in the fridge and whatnot, and after she was sure they were gone, she got up and called 911.

They clearly did not intend for anyone in the house to be left alive. They even shot the dog.

OMG! She was smart to do that and very lucky they didn't check closely to make sure she was dead.
 
ToddinPampa said:
Well, they didn't "spare" her. They came into her room, fired shots at her just as they did her brother. But in her case, they missed. She played dead for over an hour, heard them rummaging around in the fridge and whatnot, and after she was sure they were gone, she got up and called 911.

They clearly did not intend for anyone in the house to be left alive. They even shot the dog.

How high up does the corruption go? Could you give your tips to the state investigative team and get any results? Anonymously of course.
 

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