HOUSTON -- A 22-year-old prison parolee arrested in Colorado has confessed to abducting and killing Cecile Ham, whose husband manages the rock group ZZ Top and country singer Clint Black, police said Thursday.
Spencer Corey Goodman allegedly attacked and killed Ham July 2, the day after he was paroled from the Texas prison system after serving time for misuse of credit cards, police said.
Ham disappeared while running errands on Houston's west side. Goodman allegedly abducted her outside a drug store, stole her 1991 red Cadillac and began using her credit cards within two hours of her disappearance.
Goodman earlier was charged with auto theft and credit card abuse, but detectives said Thursday they will charge him with capital murder in Ham's death once he is returned to Houston.
'He has given homicide detectives a statement alleging he murdered Mrs. Ham shortly after she was abducted July 2,' said Lt. Ira Franks. 'As far as any other details, I'm not free to elaborate on that.'
Goodman told Houston detectives who traveled to Colorado where they could find Ham's body, and a search was underway Thursday. Her body was not left in Houston, Franks said.
Goodman, who also earlier served prison time for burglary, went on a spending spree with Ham's credit cards, police said, using the cards 60 times within eight days and spending thousands of dollars on junk food, gasoline and other merchandise.
He traveled to several Texas cities and spent a week hiding at a secluded Christian camp northwest of Austin before driving to Colorado.
A merchant in Eagle County, Colo., notified police after refusing to accept one of Ham's credit cards for a purchase Wednesday. He led officers on a 32-mile chase before running Ham's car into a ditch, Franks said.
Ham's husband, Bill, earlier offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of his wife's kidnapper.
