LANCASTER, Texas -- David Martin Long, a suspect in the September hatchet slayings of three women in a rural home, admitted killing the women in an argument over his involvement with one of them, police said today.
Long, 33, dictated and signed a confession that he used a hatchet and knife to kill Donna Sue Jester, 37, her blind cousin, Dalpha Lorene Jester, 64, and a 20-year-old hitchiker from Florida, Laura Lee Owen, on Sept. 27 at the Jesters' home, Lancaster police said.
Long was charged with capital murder Friday and will be transfered to a Dallas County jail today to be held without bond, police said.
'He has confirmed he is the one who did the offense,' said Lancaster Police Chief John Whitehead.
'Basically he confirmed everything we believed earlier, that the deaths were the result of a fight that escalated between Donna Jester and Long. The subject of the argument was his drinking and his relationship with Laura Lee Owen,' Whitehead said.
'He said Dalpha Lorene Jester was killed because she knew his name, and Laura was killed because she walked in while he was killing the other women,' Whitehead said.
Long was arrested Friday in Austin when police found him drunk in the back seat of a car at 1:45 a.m., said police spokesman C.F. Adams.
Long gave police a false name but a fingerprint technician recognized his fingerprints and checked his record. Just hours before he would have been routinely released, Austin police learned his identity and contacted Lancaster police, Adams said.
Long was returned Friday night to Lancaster.
It was almost the second time since the murders that Long had been jailed and released.
Long was arrested and jailed for drunken driving in Buffalo, Texas, the night of Sept. 27, the same evening investigators believe the women were slain. He was released from the Leon County jail two days later, even though he bragged to cellmates he had killed three women. County officials were unaware he was wanted.
The Jesters were known in the area for feeding and sheltering the needy, and Owen, the woman Long was involved with, had been staying at their home.
Donna Jester's diary indicated she picked Long up Sept. 19, probably as he hitchhiked along Interstate 30, Whitehead said.
Fingerprint expert Charles Dermody recognized Long's fingerprints from a 1984 attempted robbery case.
'In my 20 years in law enforcement, I've only met a few fingerprint guys who say, 'Hey, I remember that case,'' said Tony Lamme, a senior sergeant with the Austin police. 'To those guys, (fingerprints) are an identity all to themselves. They don't remember names; they remember fingerprints.'
