A BLOODY BOX

Many of the case files lingered undisturbed in a dark, cool closet in Austin for six years before

a former FBI agent was hired by former Rusk County Sheriff James Stroud to investigate the case.

Stroud said he felt obligated to seek justice in the death of his friend David Maxwell and the other victims

and was one reason he ran for sheriff.

His special investigator, George Kieny, the retired FBI agent, began re-examining the case and asked for the information to be entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).

The DNA evidence collected on a bloodstained box from the KFC crime scene was entered.

The database indexes DNA from violent criminals and crime scenes in all states except Mississippi,

and allows investigators to enter data and search for possible matches.

The next big step in the case came when investigators were informed a DNA match was found

and that match was a suspect on the original list of suspects from 1983.

Kieny and other members of law enforcement began conducting more interviews,

and new information resulted in the Attorney General's office once again becoming involved in the case.

Lisa Tanner, Texas Attorney General's Office assistant prosecutor,

and her team of investigators began working with the Rusk County Sheriff's Department and the district attorney's office

in rekindling the case and soon began presenting evidence to a special-called grand jury.

Darnell Hartsfield, Pinkerton's cousin, was tried and convicted for aggravated perjury in regard to his testimony to the grand jury.

He and Pinkerton were now the focus and the prime suspects in the case, and Pinkerton is first to stand trial.

"The team worked to reconstruct the crime scene,

reconnect the evidence and gather DNA from the two men indicted today in an effort to build a solid case with the grand jury,

" Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said during a 2005 press conference announcing the indictments against the two men.

Dan Sitton, KFC of Nacogdoches executive vice president, told the newspaper last week that the victims have never been forgotten.

"We hadn't been able to keep up with the case in the last several years and haven't been in the loop,

but we would like them to find the ones who did this," he said. "These were our employees and we have never forgotten."

Sitton said the late owner did not share his feelings with him about the murders to those around him,

but that it affected everyone.

"It was a big blow, and I can't really say what his feelings were because

he didn't disclose his feelings, but it was a blow to all of us," he said.

Sitton, as many do, hope the case will once and for all be solved so that the families left behind could have some closure.

"It was just a terrible incident that went on without any closure. It would fade awhile then

we would get inklings things were coming up and then it would fade away again,"

he said. "I hope this tragedy is finally coming to an end."