Montegomery Louis "Monty" Landers, a 19-year-old male, was tragically killed on September 23, 1983, in Kilgore, Texas. Monty, along with four other victims—Opie Ann Hughes , Mary Tyler , Joey Johnson , and David Maxwell —was abducted from a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant following an armed robbery. The group was taken to a nearby field where they were executed with shots to the back of the head.
Opie Hughes was found a short distance away from the others, having been sexually assaulted before being shot.
The case remained unsolved for over two decades, with several arrests made but no convictions. In 1995, James Earl Mankins Jr. was arrested based on a torn fingernail found on one of the bodies, but DNA evidence later cleared him. The breakthrough came in 2001 when DNA testing linked cousins Darnell Hartsfield and Romeo Pinkerton to the crime. Both were already serving prison sentences for other offenses at the time of their arrest.
In 2007, Romeo Pinkerton pleaded guilty to five counts of murder and received five concurrent life sentences as part of a plea deal. Darnell Hartsfield was convicted at trial in 2008 and also received five consecutive life sentences. Despite their convictions, there is ongoing speculation about the possibility of a third perpetrator, as DNA evidence from one of the victims indicated sexual assault.
The tragic loss of Monty Landers and his fellow victims remains a somber chapter in Kilgore's history, with the community still seeking closure and justice for the heinous crime.
