On the evening of January 27, 2023, sheriff's deputies in Liberty County, Texas, were dispatched to a home on County Road 4882 in the Dayton area after a 911 call reported a shooting. Inside, they found Brandy Thomas, a 46-year-old White woman, deceased from what appeared to be a gunshot wound. Her husband, Darwin Thomas, was at the residence when authorities arrived.
Deputies immediately detained Darwin Thomas for questioning. Pct.
4 Justice of the Peace Larry Wilburn conducted an inquest at the scene and ordered an autopsy to determine the official cause of death. Following interviews with Liberty County Sheriff’s Office investigators and Texas Rangers, Darwin Thomas was arrested and charged with murder. He was then transported to the Liberty County Jail while investigators continued their work to establish a motive and the sequence of events that led to the shooting.
During his trial, Darwin Thomas’s attorneys argued that he had acted in self-defense. However, prosecutors presented witness testimony and forensic evidence that they argued disproved this claim. A medical examiner testified that Brandy Thomas had sustained nine gunshot wounds. After four days of testimony, a jury deliberated for approximately one hour before reaching a decision. On June 10, 2026, the Liberty County jury found Darwin Thomas guilty of first-degree murder.
The following day, June 11, Thomas appeared for his sentencing hearing. He had chosen to have the judge, rather than the jury, determine his punishment. After hearing emotional victim impact statements from family members, visiting Judge Kaycee Jones sentenced Darwin Thomas to 55 years in prison. As of June 2026, his defense attorney stated that Thomas maintained his innocence and that an appeal of the verdict was underway.
