2013-08-12 Hooser

Murder of Lance Lee Hooser – Amarillo Body Dumping Case

Lance Lee Hooser, 29, was found bound and shot in northwest Amarillo on August 12, 2013. A Potter County grand jury indicted six individuals on various charges in connection with Hooser's death, which stemmed from internal hostilities within a group involved in methamphetamine trafficking.

Discovery of Body

Hooser was found shortly before 7 p.m. on August 12, 2013 in the middle of South Bryan Street north of Southwest Third Avenue, in the 200 block of South Bryan.^[1]

Amarillo Police Department Corporal Toby Hudson had just returned from vacation and was on his way to the department to pick up his work car when he witnessed something unusual at the intersection of Southwest Third Street and South Bryan Street: two men standing in the middle of the road facing each other with what appeared to be a pile of clothing and boxes. Noting that the scene struck him as "odd" and "out of place," Hudson turned around and drove to the immediate area where he had seen the two men and the unidentified bundle. Once there, Hudson discovered that what he initially thought might have been a bundle of clothing was actually the body of a man.

Hudson summoned both fellow police officers and emergency medical personnel and, while waiting for them to arrive, attempted to resuscitate Hooser, to no avail. An off-duty police officer administered CPR before paramedics arrived.

Hooser's feet were tied with some kind of tape, and police thought his hands had been bound but they were free when he was found by officers—perhaps because of the life-saving measures taken.

Preliminary autopsy results indicated that Hooser died from a gunshot wound to the chest. He bore signs of having been bound, strangled, beaten, and shot.

Motive and Background

Police discovered the synopsis of the story which led to Hooser being found dead in the road: a group of acquaintances in the methamphetamine trade became embroiled in internal hostilities and, ultimately, one man—Hooser—was killed.

Sometime around late July or early August 2013, Hooser had borrowed appellant Jeffrey Sean Noblett's pickup truck, apparently to complete a methamphetamine deal in which he was supposed to sell some methamphetamine and keep some for Noblett, Brittney Bralley, and Terry Young. But Hooser refused to return the truck and, it seems, failed to complete the drug transaction as agreed. Only after a chase and some amount of police intervention did Noblett regain possession of the truck. Clearly, hostilities had begun to brew within the group as a result of the soured transaction.

In a recorded phone conversation with Young, Noblett is heard to complain of Hooser and to express a desire to find out his whereabouts.

Kidnapping and Assault

Bralley, Noblett's girlfriend at the time, testified that she and Noblett went to a house on South Tennessee Street shortly after having received a phone call from Robert Wyatt Melton, but she did not know why they were going there. While she stayed in the truck, Noblett went up to the back door of the house and remained standing there. She saw some of the other men in the group—Melton and Young—very briefly and observed that they had their faces covered. Bralley testified that she paid little attention as to what Noblett was doing but did hear one scream as she sat in the truck.

Clay Rolan, the lead investigator, learned from Noblett's statement to him that Hooser was initially kidnapped at the house on Tennessee Street and that five men were there along with Hooser: Young, Bobby Guy Crawford Jr., Melton, Ricky Don Burns, and Noblett. According to Noblett's statement, he arrived at the house knowing that the plan was to "rough up" Hooser, to scare him a little bit in retribution for having reneged on one or more of the drug deals arranged by the group. Noblett explained that he was tasked with standing by the car that had been backed up to the back porch with its hatchback open and making certain that no one was watching the goings-on at the house. While Noblett performed those tasks standing by the back door, he heard Hooser yelling and heard that Hooser was being beaten.

When someone in the group said that a stronger binding material was needed because the tape was proving inadequate, Noblett retrieved red wire that was used to wrap around Hooser's neck; he unsuccessfully attempted to cut the wire into pieces designed to wrap around Hooser's wrists and ankles. Noblett also heard a declaration by one of Hooser's assailants that they were going to "cut his balls off."

Noblett admitted to having helped by holding or lifting Hooser's shoulders as the other men were carrying the beaten Hooser to load him into the back of the car. The men continued to attack Hooser as he was in the back of the car. Young informed Noblett that the men were going to take Hooser out to the country and scare him some more.

Fatal Shooting

From the record, it is not known the precise sequence of events after Hooser was taken from the house on Tennessee Street. However, at some point after Hooser was loaded into the car and sometime after Noblett left to go get gas, presumably to follow the group out to the country, Hooser was fatally shot in the neck and the abdomen. The evidence suggests that it was Burns who actually shot Hooser and that Melton also played a significant role in the physical assault on Hooser. It seems apparent from the record that Noblett was not present when Hooser was killed.

Investigation and Arrests

Special Crimes investigators spoke with witnesses and identified a maroon Chevrolet Equinox as the vehicle allegedly used when Hooser's body was dumped.

Amarillo SWAT officers, Community Oriented Policing and Problem Solving Unit officers, and Special Crimes investigators arrested Burns on August 9. On August 10, police located the Equinox at 7926 Simpson Drive.

Investigators obtained arrest and search warrants before arresting Young, who was stopped while driving the Equinox.

Authorities arrested Crawford and Melton on August 11 at their homes, and SWAT officers arrested Noblett that afternoon at an East Interstate 40 motel.

Indictments

A Potter County grand jury indicted the following individuals:

Murder Charges:

• Ricky Don Burns, 26
• Terry Daniel Young, 52

Aggravated Kidnapping Charges:

• Robert Wyatt Melton, 32
• Bobby Guy Crawford Jr., 47 (48 in some reports)
• Jeffrey Sean Noblett, 41

Tampering with Physical Evidence:

• Donna Jackson Colson, 50

Trial and Conviction of Jeffrey Sean Noblett

Based on the evidence, the Potter County jury found Jeffrey Sean Noblett guilty of aggravated kidnapping and assessed punishment at fifty years' imprisonment and a $10,000 fine.

On appeal, Noblett challenged the sufficiency of the evidence, the trial court's charge to the jury, and several of the trial court's evidentiary rulings. The appellate court affirmed the conviction.

Case Status

"We knew we had some pretty unique circumstances we were dealing with," said Lt. Erick Bohannon of the Potter-Randall Special Crimes Unit.

The case involved multiple defendants with varying levels of involvement in the kidnapping, assault, and murder of Hooser, with Burns and Young facing the most serious murder charges.