1977-08-04

Construction worker charged in Slaying

A 23-year-old construction worker charged with capital murder in the
slashing death of a Texas Tech University School of Medicine secretary was
returned to Lubbock from Amarillo yesterday.

Bond was denied for Clarence Allen Lackey of Lubbock who was arrested in
Amarillo early yesterday.

Lackey was arrested as he slept in a room at the Broncho Lodge, 6005 W
Amarillo Blvd. Amarillo police received a tip from Lubbock police that the
construction worker was at the motel where his employer maintains two
room reservations.

Amarillo homicide detective Gary Richards led the six officers who made
the arrest at 5 a.m.

Richards called a Beck construction foreman who was staying in the other
room and told him there was an emergency message.

When the foreman arrived in the motel office. officers explained the
situation to him. He toid officers that a 17-year-old employe was also staying in
the room with Lackey.

Richards then instructed the foreman to call the room. ask for
the 17-year-old and tell him that there was an emergency message.

When he arrived at the office, detectives explained the situation to him.
and asked if Lackey might be armed. The youth told them Lackey might
have a knife.

Richards said he drew his gun as he entered the room, but Lackey was
asleep. The arrest was made without incident.

Lackey appeared before Potter County Justice of the Peace Cliff Roberts,
who denied bond

Lackey was returned to Lubbock, where charges had been filed in the
stabbing death of 23-year-old Toni Diane Kumpf.

Detective Sgt. Butch Hargrove of the Lubbock homicide division told the
Globe-News that a capital murder charge was filed because the state
alleges Miss Kumpf was kidnaped before she was killed.

Hargrove said Lubbock detectives got their first major lead about 6 p.m.
Tuesday. By 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, the warrant naming Lackey was issued.
The search for Lackey reached to Stamford and Childress and finally to
Amarillo.

A Lubbock County farmer found Miss Kumpf's body in a field south of
Lubbock about 9:45 a.m. Sunday. She was dressed only in underwear, and her
throat had been slashed.

'There's no one on God's green earth that ought to ever see something like
that." the farmer. J.B. Allen, was quoted as saying after he discovered
the body of the recent Texas Tech graduate.

Miss Kumpf was reported to have been abducted three hours before her
body was found. Neighbors reported to officers that a man was breaking into
her efficiency apartment at 6:25 a.m. Sunday.

When officers arrived, they found the door frame smashed, flower pots over-
turned, and the apartment empty. About an hour later Lubbock officers
were notifying other area law enforcement agencies that Miss Kumpf had ap-
parently been kidnaped.

Neighbors told police they had seen Miss Kumpf dragged into a white
pickup truck in front of the apartment.

Through interviews with other witnesses and friends, Lackey's name
surfaced.

Hargrove said officers believed the construction worker had gone to Stam-
ford, about 120 miles southeast of Lubbock, to assist a truck driver in
picking up some equipment.

At Stamford, they were told Lackey had gone to Estelline.

From there, the search led first to Aspermont, and then to Childress. Of-
ficers in Childress were told Lackey was probably in Amarillo
Hargrove called Amarillo Police

Capt. Kenneth Fahnert. At about 4:30 a.m., Fahnert assembled the team of
officers to make the arrest.

No indication was given that Lackey and Miss Kumpf had been acquainted.