Raper–Bodry crime spree

In November 2000, Tom Raper Jr., 30, of Minnesota, and Hiram Bodry, 46, of Pueblo, Colorado, went on a multi-day, cross-country crime spree through the Texas Panhandle and into Oklahoma that left two people dead — Clifford Shannon Espinoza, a friend of the pair, and Patricia Norris Hart, a Cactus, Texas liquor store clerk — along with a robbery, a burglary, and a stolen-vehicle chase that ended in a shootout and standoff at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge near Lawton, Oklahoma. Raper eventually pleaded guilty to Espinoza's murder and was sentenced to 60 years in prison. Bodry, held on a capital murder charge in the Hart killing, was found dead by apparent suicide in the Moore County jail in May 2001 before his case was resolved.

Background

Investigators believed Raper, Bodry, and Espinoza — a 35-year-old man from New Mexico — were friends who met up in Pueblo, Colorado, in early November 2000, before driving southeast together into the Texas Panhandle (archived Lawton Constitution/SWOK News article, Nov. 17-18, 2000).

The Cactus liquor store robbery and killing of Patricia Hart

On November 10, 2000, Patricia Norris Hart, 48, an employee of Doc Holiday's Liquor Store in Cactus, Texas (in Moore County), was shot to death at the store where she worked. She died of a single gunshot wound to the head, according to Lt. Tom Shelton of the Moore County Sheriff's Department. Hart was reportedly the only person in the store at the time of the shooting, which investigators believed occurred sometime between 6 and 7 p.m. Shelton would not disclose where Hart was wounded or whether anything had been taken from the store during the apparent robbery. A passer-by called for help after the shooting.

The killing of Clifford Espinoza

After leaving Cactus, investigators believe Raper, Bodry, and Espinoza drove south to the area around Canyon, Texas — about 20 miles south of Amarillo — sometime between 8 p.m. and 1 a.m. the following morning. Espinoza's body was found on ranch land about six miles south of Canyon, in a rural Randall County field, on November 13, 2000. Lt. Ed Smith, director of the Potter-Randall-Armstrong Special Crimes Unit of the Amarillo Police Department, said investigators believed they had identified a motive for Espinoza's killing but declined to release it publicly at the time. Espinoza was initially unidentified pending fingerprint confirmation; officials also described his death as a shotgun killing in later reporting.

Near Espinoza's body, Amarillo detectives found a Minnesota license plate, which investigators linked to a car abandoned along a road east of Floydada, in Floyd County — roughly 50 miles southeast of Amarillo.

The Floydada burglary and vehicle theft

Raper and Bodry are believed to have driven from the Canyon area toward Floydada, arriving sometime that Saturday. There, they reportedly abandoned a Dodge Omni they had been driving and broke into the rural home of Larry Jones, roughly eight miles east of the city. According to Floyd County Sheriff Royce Gilmore, the pair broke the glass in the home's front door, ransacked part of the house, and took a diamond ring and several hundred dollars in loose bills from a metal box in a closet. They then are believed to have taken a 2000 Cadillac Escalade from the home's garage; Jones was not home at the time. The Floyd County Sheriff's Department issued warrants against Raper and Bodry for burglary of a habitation and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

Chase and arrest in Oklahoma

Authorities were able to track Raper and Bodry's movements because the stolen Cadillac Escalade was equipped with an OnStar Global Positioning System, allowing law enforcement to follow the vehicle's progress along U.S. 287 between Alvord and Jacksboro, Texas, and later along U.S. 62 between Altus and Lawton, Oklahoma.

During the pursuit, an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper — identified in one report as Trooper Jeff Jordan — and several passing motorists were fired upon. The two men eventually abandoned the Cadillac and fled on foot into the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge near Lawton. Dozens of law enforcement officers sealed off the area, and Raper and Bodry surrendered on Sunday, November 12, 2000 (The Pueblo Chieftain, Nov. 16, 2000, by Juan Espinosa; archived SWOK News/Lawton Constitution article).

Following his arrest, Raper was charged in Oklahoma with shooting with intent to kill in Comanche County and held on a $1 million bond. Bodry was initially held only as a material witness on a $25,000 bond while he contested extradition to Texas, according to Comanche County Undersheriff John Stowe.

Investigators also noted that Raper was wanted on a felony warrant out of Wadena County, Minnesota, for violating probation on prior felony convictions for possession of a firearm and second-degree assault. Bodry, according to Pueblo Chieftain records, had a history of arrests in Pueblo, including a 1997 second-degree assault arrest after a Colorado Springs woman said he struck her with his car, and a 1996 arrest on felony menacing and reckless endangerment charges after he pulled a knife on a cab driver in a fare dispute.

Charges in Texas

Once in Texas custody, Raper was arraigned before a Randall County judge in connection with Espinoza's death, and a Randall County judge issued a warrant charging Bodry with first-degree murder in the same case, according to Lt. Ed Smith.

Separately, on November 17, 2000, a special Moore County grand jury sitting for the 69th District Court in Dumas, Texas, indicted both Raper and Bodry on capital murder charges in connection with Patricia Hart's killing at the Cactus liquor store.

The investigation into the full spree was jointly handled by the Moore County Sheriff's Department, the Potter-Randall-Armstrong Special Crimes Unit of the Amarillo Police Department, the Floyd County Sheriff's Department, and the Comanche County (Oklahoma) Sheriff's Department, with assistance from the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and the Texas Rangers.

Raper's plea and sentence

In December 2000, while awaiting trial, Raper wrote a letter to 47th District Attorney's Office prosecutor James Farren regarding Espinoza's killing, stating: "I don't want to have to wait so long to be tried. ... I'm ready to be forgiven for my sins and want the Death Penalty!" Texas prosecutors and Raper reached a plea agreement within hours on February 28, 2001. Farren said he was satisfied with the resulting sentence: 60 years in prison, with Raper required to serve 30 years before becoming eligible for parole (The Oklahoman, "Deal nets 60-year term after Texas killing, chase," March 6, 2001).

Bodry's death in custody

Bodry, still facing charges in both the Hart and Espinoza killings, was found dead in his cell at the Moore County jail in Dumas, Texas, on Sunday, May 6, 2001. Moore County authorities said it appeared he had hanged himself. His body was taken to Lubbock for an autopsy (The Oklahoman, "Texas inmate found dead in cell," May 9, 2001). No source reviewed for this entry indicates that Bodry's cases were otherwise resolved in court before his death.

People involved

Timeline

Sources

• "Pueblo man jailed in Texas slayings," The Pueblo Chieftain, by Juan Espinosa, Nov. 16, 2000
• "Two men face murder charges in Texas," Lawton Constitution/SWOK News, Nov. 18, 2000 (archived)
• "Police think cross-country crimes related: Texas authorities probe two killings, liquor store robbery, theft of vehicle in Panhandle," Lawton Constitution/SWOK News, Nov. 17, 2000 (archived)
• "Deal nets 60-year term after Texas killing, chase," The Oklahoman, March 6, 2001
• "Texas inmate found dead in cell," The Oklahoman, May 9, 2001