Police, with the help of college students, arrested a woman accused of committing a 1991 murder in the Dallas area.
Suspect Janie Perkins, 63, faces one count of capital murder for the death of Cynthia Gonzalez, a 25-year-old woman at the time who lived in Arlington, Texas, 20 miles west of Dallas, the Arlington Police Department said Monday.
The case went cold after detectives pursued early leads.
Then this fall semester, criminology students at the University of Texas at Arlington partnered with the police, reviewed evidence and investigated Ms. Perkins.
Law enforcement arrested her on Nov. 6 without incident.
The victim’s daughter, Jessica Roberts, who was 6 when her mother was killed, told Dallas’ KXAS-TV, “I am so grateful for this program and so proud of these students at UTA and so thankful for the time they have spent and the effort they have put into this case.”
“When we heard the news (of the arrest), I was just emotional and happy that the victim’s daughter would finally get some answers. We had put so much work and time into the case, to finally get an answer it was just really great,” participating senior Jacey Concannon said, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Gonzalez, an adult entertainer, went to meet with a client and was reported missing by her ex-husband on Sept. 17, 1991, after she failed to return home that morning. Her car was found abandoned on a street in Arlington, and her body was found dumped on a rural property in neighboring Johnson County on Sept. 22.
Ms. Perkins, police said, was a friend of Gonzalez whom police looked into initially. The two women shared a romantic partner, and weeks before Gonzalez was killed, the partner told Ms. Perkins that he was leaving her for Gonzalez.
Ms. Perkins did not have an alibi for where she was the night Gonzalez went missing.
Also, Ms. Perkins failed two voluntary polygraph tests inquiring whether she knew who killed Gonzalez or if she was involved herself. She also told the original investigators that she had thought about killing Gonzalez or getting someone to do so, Arlington police said.
Nevertheless, since polygraph tests are inadmissible in court and Ms. Perkins maintained her innocence, she never faced charges at the time.
Following the questions from the criminology students, current Arlington Police Department detectives looked into the case files and found witness testimony claiming that Ms. Perkins admitted being involved in the death of Gonzalez. The new review by the detectives led to a warrant and charges against Ms. Perkins.
“When we launched our cold case partnership with UTA, we always hoped we’d get an outcome like this one day. I don’t think any of us expected that lightning would strike the first time. I want to sincerely thank the students for their work and dedication to this case,” Arlington Police Chief Al Jones said.
