1991-05-16

In December 2005, Sergeant Kevin Dockery and Officer Rifenberg re-opened the homicide case of E. J. Henderson.

Mr. Henderson, 65, was brutally murdered inside his home in Washburn, Texas on May 16, 1991. Mr. Henderson’s pick-up was stolen after his murder and recovered in Illinois several days later. This murder was featured on Unsolved Mysteries in 1992.

Sgt. Dockery was able to identify a suspect, Lawrence Tutt, after interviewing previous witnesses. The two witnesses were located who provided a composite drawing of the suspect in this case. The offender was not identified during the initial investigation.

Sergeant Kevin Dockery tracked down the owner of a phone the suspect had called in 1991. This witness gave Sergeant Dockery the first name of Larry for the suspect, including the city the suspect lived in during that period. With this information, Sergeant Dockery identified the suspect as Lawrence (Larry) Tutt from New York.

Off. Rifenberg went through the evidence in this case and believed that one palm print recovered at the scene was actually a footprint. Off. Rifenberg compared fingerprint evidence and was able to match Tutt to items inside the house and the stolen pick-up recovered in Illinois.

In January 2006 Sgt. Dockery and Off. Rifenberg met with Tutt, who was in the Ohio prison system. Armed with a search warrant, they were able to obtain Tutt’s DNA and footprints.

Off. Rifenberg was able to compare these footprints and made an immediate identification on the disputed palm print as being Tutt’s footprint that he had left at the scene in 1991.

Since that time, additional DNA evidence has tied Tutt to the scene.

On July 26, 2006 Tutt was indicted by an Armstrong County Grand Jury for the murder of E. J. Henderson.

Tutt is currently serving time in an Illinois prison on an unrelated charge and has a pending homicide conviction from New York.

A trial has not yet been scheduled on this case.