Six short weeks after moving back to his hometown of Amarillo, George Jones met his end.
Jones spent four years in the U.S. Air Force, deploying to Korea for 14 months as a communications sergeant. He returned to the States and honorably discharged. 1
Originally from Amarillo, the Jones family had left for Corpus Christi in 1952. Freshly discharged from the service and looking for new beginnings, Jones and his mother decided to move back to the Texas Panhandle. The decision was made easier following the death of Jones' father, a state wildlife conservation officer.
Embracing the winds of change, Jones and his mother arrived arrived in Amarillo in November 1971. They found a little apartment on 3318 S. Western Street that suited them and moved right in.
On December 29, 1971, the 24-year-old Jones took an admissions test for Amarillo College and toured the campus with his mother. Afterwards, he told his mother he was going out bowling and would return soon. He left in his car, a Ford Pinto.
The plan
At some point in the evening, Jones met up with 18-year-old Robert Easley at Danceland Bar. Easley was there in the company of 22-year-old Richard Lamberson and 20-year-old Alvin Dwight Clark.
As the men conversed, Jones remarked to Easley that he was "looking for some action." The remark was conveyed to the other men by Easley.
Through hushed whispers, the three men agreed to a plan to lure him to Lamberson's home at 604 S. Florida Street with the promise of a date with a beautiful, willing young woman. And there, they would rob Jones.
Easley brought Jones to the Florida Street house. Lamberson arrived shortly after and began to drink liquor with Jones.
Then, Jones, Lamberson and 17-year-old Debbie Bailey went into a bedroom. In the bedroom, a physical fight took place, with Jones ending up beat into submission by Lamberson.
604 S. Florida St., Amarillo Texas (Google Maps in 2025)
Debbie Bailey took Jones' wallet and Clark removed $10 (some accounts say $19) from the wallet. Then, Lamberson resumed beating Jones until Clark stepped in and suggested that they get their victim out of the house.2
Lamberson agreed. He then put Jones, who was alive but semi-conscious, into the front seat of the victim's Ford Pinto and began to drive in the direction of a secluded neighborhood called Walnut Hills.
Following Lamberson in a second car was Easley, Clark, and Debbie Randle and Debbie Bailey.3
Stopping near a small creek, Lamberson lifted Jones out of the car and unceremoniously dropped him on the dirt ground.
He then got back into the car and drove it into Jones. Putting the car into park, Lamberson got out of the car again and began to kick and hit Jones for several minutes until Debbie Bailey intervened and insisted that he stop.
Only then did Lamberson get back into the Ford Pinto and drive away, with the second car close behind, leaving Jones at the scene.
The group returned to the Florida Street house. However, once at the residence, within five to ten minutes, Lamberson insisted that he and Clark return to the scene. This time he had a pool cue in hand.4
"He said he was going to kill George," Alvin said at an examining trial.
Once back out at Walnut Hills, they found Jones still lying where he had been left, still alive. According to Clark, Lamberson told him he wanted his friend to watch something. He then began to beat Jones in the head, neck, and shoulders area with the butt-end of the jointed pool cue.
When the assault came to an end, Lamberson pitched the body of Jones down the gully and the men returned to the Florida Street home.
At one point, Alvin said he asked Lamberson how "he could do a thing like that."
He then said that Lamberson told him "It doesn't bother me a bit, and I have no conscience at all."5
Alvin also said that he asked Lamberson if he had ever done something like that before and his friend replied:
"About 11 times."6
December 30, 1971
Alvin Clark, Richard Lamberson, Debbie Randall and Debbie Bailey made a speedy trip to Dallas in Jones' Ford Pinto.
Upon their return, Lamberson, Clark, and another man drove it to a spot by the Veteran's Hospital and poured gasoline on the seats of the Pinto.
Clark said he saw Lamberson flick a match through the window of the car. He set the fire in an effort to hide his fingerprints.7
Deputies found the car several hours later, half-burnt.8
An Unlikely Witness
Alvin Clark, went to the police station around 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 2, to turn himself in on a warrant. He had stolen from a convenience store several weeks before the murder and had been identified rather quickly.
He had contemplated turning himself in for several days before deciding to get it over with, he later told authorities.
He arrived at the jail and began the process of booking in. During the booking process, Clark began to tell jail staff about Jones' beating and where the man had had been left.
The information was relayed to Potter County Sheriff's Office, who immediately came to see the prisoner.
Alvin agreed to take officials to where he had last seen Jones, a small wooded area less than a half-mile from the nearest home in the suburban area nestled just west of Tascosa Country Club.9
The area known as Walnut Hills.
The search
Law enforcement began to search for Jones around midnight on Sunday. However, the bitter winter wind forced them to suspend the search within the hour.10
Once dawn broke over the horizon several hours later, Alvin led deputies to an area where blood stains were visible. A man's shoe laid about 15 feet away from the edge of a gully that sloped down to a creek.
From there, deputies spotted a body floating face-down in 1 1/2 feet of water that filled the creek. 1
The nearest home at the time was a quarter mile away. 11
Deputies contemplated the scene and theorized that Jones was beaten at a spot on the dirt road that sat above the gully. After the beating, he was likely pushed over the side, sending him tumbling 15 feet below. 1
Lamberson Charged
January 3, 1972
Authorities arrested Lamberson on Sunday, Jan. 3, 1972. He was arraigned for murder with malice the next day.
Justice Roberts denied his bond.
Dallas connection
Soon after Lamberson's arrest, Dallas area lawmen went to Amarillo to question Lamberson.
A Jan. 7, 1972 broadcast script from a Fort Worth news station shows that Potter County Sheriff Paul Gaither reported that Lamberson had boasted about being responsible for several killings in the Metropolitan Dallas area. 12
Two trials
Lamberson went on to be tried in two separate trials. One for the assault of George Jones, then a second one for the murder of Jones. He was found guilty in both trials. For his murder conviction, he was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
The Autopsy
A pathologist testified that the cause of death was asphyxia due to drowning. Expert testimony was given that the combination of alcohol and a trauma produced unconsciousness, rendering Jones helpless when his face became submerged in the water.
The trauma was the result of a star-shaped wound on the back of the deceased's skull which had been caused by a blow from a blunt instrument. The pathologist testified further that the pool cue could have been the instrument used to deliver the blow.
The verdicts
Lamberson was tried in 181st District Court for the robbery of Jones. The jury deliberated for 30 minues before returning a guilty verdict and sentencing him to 30 years in prison.13
He was then tried for the murder of Jones in Lubbock County after a change of venue was granted.14 He was found guilty on March 14, 1973 and sentenced to 40 years in prison.1516
Appeal
On appeal, Lamberson argued that he should not have been tried twice and posited that it should have been treated as one continuous criminal act. The trial court disagreed.6
In his second ground of error, appellant complains of improper jury argument in the punishment phase of the trial. The complained of argument is as follows:
"MR. CURTIS:... Now, let's look at the character as the evidence has shown it to you of this defendant. He's not been shown by the evidence to be any first offender — (Emphasis added)
"MR. HALE: Now, Your Honor, I want to object to this —
"MR. CURTIS: — He's done it 11 times — (Emphasis added)
"MR. HALE: Your Honor, I would like to object to this —
"MR. CURTIS: It's within the record, Your Honor.
"MR. HALE: It's outside the record and I'm for a mistrial. He's implying that there are other offenses that this young man is accused of and I move for a mistrial, Your Honor.
"THE COURT: The objection is overruled. Your Motion for Mistrial is overruled. And counsel, —
"MR. HALE: Note out exception.
"THE COURT: — counsel for the State is instructed to stay within the record that has been presented here and the evidence submitted before this Jury.
"MR. CURTIS: Yes, sir, Your Honor.
"THE COURT: Please proceed.
"MR. CURTIS: I don't know whether as the evidence as shown you he's bragged — whether he's actually committed the 11 other similar acts, I frankly doubt it. But, I think it's reasonable to conclude that some had been committed — (Emphasis added)
"MR. HALE: Your Honor, I'm going to object to that and I move for a mistrial.
"THE COURT: Objection is overruled and your Motion for Mistrial is denied.
"MR. HALE: Note our exception.
"THE COURT: So noted."
The evidence introduced at the guilt stage of the trial reflects that Alvin Clark was relating the conversation he had with the appellant on the second return trip from Walnut Hills. The following testimony was elicited:
"Q Did he say anything else to you on the way back from Walnut Hills?
"A Yes, sir, he said that — like it happened just then, like George Jones, it had happened 11 times before.'
The argument that Lamberson had committed other crimes, was found to be testimony of what Lamberson himself said rather than an extraneous offense. The appeals court concluded that no reversible error was shown.
George Jones
Jones was a native of Amarillo who had returned to live in Amarillo six weeks before his death. Prior to that, he lived in Corpus Christi with his mother.
On the day of the murder, he had taken admissions test for Amarillo College and gone to the open house. He took his own car to the open house at his mother's suggestion, said his great-uncle, Fancher Upshaw Sr. of 5507 Berget.
Upshaw said. "After the open Upshaw said. "After the open house, he said he was going out bowling... said he'd be in early. We never heard from him after that."
Upshaw, whose wife was an aunt of "Jones' late father, said the Jones spent four years in the U.S. Air Force and had just returned several months ago from Korea, where he had served 14 months as a sergeant in communications.
Jones worked for a a wholesale grocery firm In Corpus Christi before coming to Amarillo. Upshaw said the Jones family left Amarillo for Corpus Christi about 1952. His father, Paul Jones, was been a state wildlife conservation officer for the Amarillo area who died five prior to the murder.
George Jones was buried at Seaside Memorial Park in Corpus Christi, Texas by Cage-Mill Funeral Home.
Jones was a graduate of King High School in Corpus Christi. His survivors include his mother; his grandmother, Mrs. Marguerite Goodnew of 4617 Bushland Blvd. in Amarillo; and his grandfather, Charles T. Rawley of Fort Worth.
Sources
Footnotes
-
"MURDER" (Page 2), Amarillo Globe-News, published January 4, 1972 ↩ ↩2 ↩3
-
"4 Charged in Jones Murder" (Page 2) Amarillo Globe-Times, published January 6, 1972 ↩
-
"4 Charged in Slaying", Amarillo Globe-Times, published January 6, 1972 ↩
-
CRAIG ENDICOTT, "Court Told Death Suspect Beat Victim," Lubbock Times, published March 14, 1972 ↩
-
STEVE LAPRADC, "Dallas Area Officers Finish Questioning Lamberson", Amarillo Daily News, published January 8, 1972 ↩
-
Lamberson vs State, published May 14, 1974 ↩ ↩2
-
"MURDER" (page 2), Amarillo Daily Times, published January 4, 1972 ↩
-
"Murder" (page 2), Amarillo Globe-Times, Published January 6, 1972 ↩
-
STEVE LAPRADE, "Body Found, Suspect Charged", Amarillo Daily Times, published January 3, 1972 ↩
-
STEVE LAPRADE, "Repeated Beatings of Man Described by Witness", Amarillo Daily Times, published January 5, 1972 ↩
-
JACK BOONE, "Jury Decides on 30 Years", Amarillo Daily Times, published January 26, 1972 ↩
-
"Lamberson Trial Starts In Lubbock", Amarillo Globe-Times, published March 13, 1973 ↩
-
"Lamberson" (page 2) Amarillo Globe-Times, published July 26, 1972 ↩
-
"Lamberson gets 40-year term", Amarillo Globe-Times, published March 28, 1973 ↩
