January 31, 2013, a 911 call comes in: the caller tells the operator that a man has been shot.
Around 9 a.m., five shots were fired and seconds later, 3 more shots were fired. Police arrive at the crime scene swiftly and find the chief assistant district attorney for the Kaufman County Criminal District Attorney’s Office, Mark Hasse, bleeding. No traces were left at the crime scene, not even a bullet casing.
The only evidence is eyewitnesses. One witness said the shooter was completely dressed in black, and after firing the shots, jumped into the back seat of the white sedan and disappeared. Another witness, according to Medium.com, said he heard Hasse shouting loudly “No, no, I’m sorry.”
Hasse dies. Just two months after, Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse is gunned down.
Kaufman County Criminal District Attorney Mike McLelland, and his wife, Cynthia McLelland, plan an Easter dinner for friends and family. Dallas police officer CJ Tomlinson is a family friend, and his mother is supposed to drop off vegetables for Cynthia McLelland to prepare for dinner. When she doesn’t get the McLellands on the phone, she asks her son to check on the couple.
Tomlinson and his stepfather go to the McLelland home. The front door is open and shell casings are on the entryway floor. Mike and Cynthia McLelland, both have been shot dead. One of the shots was directly into Cynthia McLelland’s head. Tomlinson describes the scene as a “home invasion” style assault.
Mark Hasse and Mark McLelland acted as prosecutors in former judge Eric Williams’ felony theft Case. That history put him on the police radar. When officers checked his internet search history, they found that Williams had been actively searching for information on Mark Hasse and Mike McLelland.
Documents were found on a white sedan, issued in a false name, and the login and password for an account that had been leaving anonymous messages for police about the murders were found, but there was not enough evidence to charge him with the murders.
Then came a break. An acquaintance of Eric Williams’ says that he had been asked to rent a garage in his name. Police find the white sedan in the garage, as well as police uniforms, badges, weapons, and even homemade napalm. There were also more than 30 guns, but there was no weapon matching the one that shot the victims.
And there was still one question to be answered: If the suspect jumped into the back seat to speed away from the crime scene, who was driving?
Kim Williams was driving. She was Eric Williams’ wife. She confesses to the police. The pair are convicted. Eric Williams gets the death penalty, which he has appealed repeatedly.
Joining Nancy Grace Today:
Additional Guest
- Alan Bennett – Former Assistant District Attorney; Partner at Gunter, Bennett, and Anthes
“Crime Stories with Nancy Grace” on Fox Nation is also a national radio show heard on SiriusXM channel 111 airing for two hours daily starting at 12 p.m. EST. You can also subscribe and download the daily podcasts at iHeart Podcasts.
[Feature Photo: An exhibit photo of Eric Williams and his high school and current friend Tamara Maas that was shown during the punishment phase of his capital murder trial is displayed at the Rockwall County Courthouse in Rockwall, Texas on Friday, Dec. 12, 2014. Williams is accused in the Kaufman DA murder of Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia McLelland back in 2013. Attorneys for the former public official convicted of capital murder in a revenge plot against North Texas prosecutors are portraying him in a sympathetic light in an effort to spare him the death penalty. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Vernon Bryant, Pool)]
