FORT WORTH – A 42-year-old man accused of killing and burying a woman in a clandestine grave near Graham has also confessed to committing a triple homicide in Fort Worth last year, officials say.
Billy Ray "Tank" Minkley Jr. has been jailed in the Young County Jail in Graham, 80 miles northwest of Fort Worth, since his August 19 arrest on warrants for tampering with evidence, unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and possessing a prohibited weapon.
He was initially accused of renting a backhoe and using it to bury the body of Leah Martin, a 22-year-old mother who vanished after driving to her workplace, an auto repair shop in Graham, on the night of May 29.
On Tuesday, Graham police announced they will seek capital murder charges against Minkley and two other men in connection with the Martin case. Graham police said that in addition to admitting his involvement in Martin's slaying, Minkley confessed to a 2014, homicide in Fort Worth.
Fort Worth homicide Sgt. Joe Loughman confirmed to the Star-Telegram that the 2014 case involved the fatal shooting of Ronney Jackson, Jackson's common-law wife, Elizabeth Bernard Sessums, and a visiting friend, David Adams.
The trio were found dead June 2, 2014 inside a house that Jackson and Sessums shared in the 200 block of Sunset Lane in west Fort Worth.
Loughman said a capital murder warrant has been obtained for Minkley's arrest in the triple homicide. He declined to provide additional details until the warrant is formally served.
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