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Friday, July 30, 2010 |
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Murder case from 1997 is dismissed
Published September 1, 2009
SAN ANTONIO — The death of a prosecution witness has led to dismissal of a murder case against a former Guadalupe County man accused of killing his father in 1997.
Bexar County Assistant District Attorney Scott Simpson said the murder indictment against William Francis Doerr, 36 for allegedly killing William John Doerr, 53, was dismissed by 227th Judicial District Judge Philip Kazen Monday in the wake of the recent death by natural causes of a Guadalupe County man the prosecution regarded as a key witness.
“That’s a problem with older cases,” Simpson said.
The younger Doerr, known locally by his nickname, “Billy,” was arrested in Hondo in June, 2007, in connection with his father’s death.
The elder Doerr disappeared from a home he was building off FM 775 in New Berlin, and was reported missing on July 22, 1997.
His body was found two years later, shot and wrapped in plastic at a turnaround beneath the Interstate 10 bridges at the Bexar/Guadalupe County line at Cibolo Creek.
Local investigators in Guadalupe and Bexar counties were unable to find enough evidence to make an arrest in the killing.
In 2005, Sheriff Arnold Zwicke reopened the investigation with help from the state’s unsolved crimes unit.
Local officials including Pct. 4 Justice of the Peace and retired sheriff’s chief investigator Larry Morawietz said they’d long suspected Doerr in his father’s killing.
Monday afternoon, Doerr said the sheriff’s office and the Texas Rangers had found the wrong man, and he was grateful to be exonerated.
“We’re excited to have this outcome,” Doerr said. “I almost wish they’d had the trial because we have a bunch of evidence we wanted on trial.”
The arrest has caused problems, he said, because stories pertaining to the case still turn up in Internet searches.
“I’ve tried to secure jobs, but I mow lawns because when you Google me, this comes up,” he said. “This has greatly affected me over the last couple of years. Now that this is going to be gone from my life, I can start to live again.”
Doerr said he also hopes the sheriff’s office and the Texas Rangers continue their investigation — for the reason Morawietz first told the newspaper in 1999 he wanted to see the investigation continue, which was to bring closure for the Doerr family.
“The thing I know is I didn’t do it,” Doerr said. “I can only hope they pick this case back up. They’ve chased a dead end. I’d really like closure, and I don’t have it now.”
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