Marfa residents seek answer to break-ins

On Monday afternoon, on behalf of more than 100 area residents, two Marfa women submitted a stack of petitions to District Attorney Jesse Gonzales (83rd District), asking for an escalation of the investigation into the rash of home break-ins in Marfa over the past two months.

The petitions point to local concern over a series of intrusions into the homes of single women, where ejaculate was allegedly found on personal items, such as women’s clothing. Those signing the petition asked for further investigation by the Texas Rangers.

KRTS has learned that Meghan Gerety and Katherine Shaughnessy Michael authored a letter that accompanied the petitions. Neither woman would comment publicly on them, asking for time for law enforcement to consider the petitioners' complaint. Some concerned citizens had met variously with local law enforcement earlier in the week.

The Big Bend Sentinel detailed some of the home invasions in local news reports last month, here and here. As detailed in the second Sentinel report, articles of clothing are being analyzed by a crime lab. The first break-in was reported on August 17 and the latest on October 12.

The letter and petitions were delivered to District Attorney Gonzales, based in Fort Stockton, as well as to Presidio County Sheriff Danny Dominguez and Marfa City Mayor Dan Dunlap.

The petitioners, which tally more than 100, endorsed the following, entitled A Petition for Justice by the Citizens of Marfa:
“We, the undersigned, are deeply concerned about the recent break-ins targeting single women in Marfa where the violator(s) ejaculated on women’s clothing. We feel local law enforcement is not equipped to deal with the serious nature of these crimes. We do not want this to escalate into a violent sexual attack or worse. We want the Texas Rangers called in to investigate.”
UPDATE TUESDAY OCT 18: The Texas Rangers have recently been brought in to assist with the case. CBS 7 Odessa and NewsWest 9 Midland reported on the story Tuesday night.

In an horrific side-note to the story, there were signed petition pages that were not delivered because they were in Gerety’s purse when, on Friday afternoon (October 14), while walking to pick-up her son from school, she was struck by a motorist in the crosswalk at San Antonio & Highland avenues in Marfa.

According to eyewitness reports, the northbound vehicle struck Gerety, where she impacted the windshield and was carried some 50 feet before being lurched off the vehicle onto the sidewalk in front of Marfa City Hall. She was immediately attended to by Marfa EMS, rushed to Alpine Casparis Airport, and then taken by helicopter to a hospital in Odessa, where she is still being treated for injuries including skull fractures, nose & wrist breaks, and multiple lacerations and contusions.

Click Listen Now above for the radio report that was broadcast on 93.5 FM.