DNA AND DETERMINATION LEAD TO
ARREST
IN 19 YEAR OLD ATTEMPTED MURDER INVESTIGATION
Dickinson
Police Department Chief Ron Morales, Galveston County District Attorney Kurt
Sistrunk, and FBI Houston Division Special Agent in Charge Richard Powers
announce the arrest of 40 year old Dennis Earl Bradford of North Little Rock,
Arkansas. North Little Rock Police Deparatment patrol units, assisted by
Dickinson Police Detective Tim Cromie, Houston FBI Special Agent Richard
Rennison, and FBI agents in Little Rock, Arkansas, arrested Bradford without
incident near his home this morning. Bradford is charged with Attempted
Capital Murder in the 19 year old investigation of the abduction of Jennifer
Schuett of Dickinson, Texas.
An affidavit filed in Galveston County, Texas on October 7, 2009, alleges that
on August 10, 1990, when Jennifer Schuett was eight years old, she was taken
against her will from her bedroom by Bradford. Bradford proceeded to drive
Schuett to a remote location, sexually assault her, and slit her throat from
ear to ear, leaving her for dead. She was discovered approximately 14 hours
later by children playing in a nearby field.
Over the years, many dedicated law enforcement professionals from Dickinson
Police Department, assisted by the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI,
and the Texas Department of Public Safety Rangers Division, attempted to
identify the man responsible for the crime that shocked the community. With
few leads to go on, it proved to be a very difficult task.
Approximately 18 months ago, the Dickinson Police Department requested FBI
assistance in developing new leads on this unsolved crime. Because of advances
in DNA testing, key pieces of evidence were sent to the FBI laboratory for
advanced testing. A male DNA profile was successfully extracted , and that
profile matched an existing DNA profile in the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System
(CODIS) database, that of Dennis Earl Bradford of Little Rock, Arkansas.
Research conducted immediately after receiving news of the genetic match
indicated that Bradford was arrested in 1987 in Dickinson for traffic
offenses. His address of record at the time of the arrest was 500 Tanglewood
in Dickinson, less than one quarter of a mile from Jennifer Schuett’s
residential address of 3206 Lobit Drive.
Bradford is currently being held in Pulaski County, Arkansas, awaiting
extradition to Galveston County. Galveston County District Attorney Sistrunk
advises that if Bradford chooses to fight extradition, a Governor’s Warrant
will be issued and hearings will be held in Arkansas to resolve the issue. In
the coming weeks, a date will be scheduled to present the charge and the
evidence to a Galveston County grand jury for indictment.
On August 10, 1990, Jennifer Schuett was
abducted through the bedroom window of her apartment in the 3200 block of
Lobit. At the time, Jennifer was eight years old. Jennifer was found
approximately twelve hours later across town in a vacant field in the 2100
block of California.
Jennifer had been sexually assaulted and her
throat had been cut. Jennifer was alive and was transported by Life
Flight to UTMB in Galveston. Jennifer survived her injuries and was able
to give police a description of her attacker and the vehicle he was
driving.
Dickinson Police Detectives and the FBI are
continuing to investigate this unsolved case. Anyone with information is
asked to contact Detective Tim Cromie at 281-337-6359 or
tcromie@ci.dickinson.tx.us, the FBI at
713-693-5000, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or 281-480-TIPS
(8477).
Your
information can remain confidential by calling Crime Stoppers
Dickinson
Police Department Chief Ron Morales, Galveston County District Attorney Kurt
Sistrunk, and FBI Houston Division Special Agent in Charge Richard Powers
announce the arrest of 40 year old Dennis Earl Bradford of North Little Rock,
Arkansas. North Little Rock Police Deparatment patrol units, assisted by
Dickinson Police Detective Tim Cromie, Houston FBI Special Agent Richard
Rennison, and FBI agents in Little Rock, Arkansas, arrested Bradford without
incident near his home this morning. Bradford is charged with Attempted
Capital Murder in the 19 year old investigation of the abduction of Jennifer
Schuett of Dickinson, Texas.
