Serial Killer - Faryion Edward Wardrip

In 1999, a Wichita Falls detective, John Little, began a cold case investigation of the unsolved cases of Sims, Gibbs, and Blau. Samples of DNA from the scenes where Terry Sims and Toni Gibbs were found, were later matched, indicating that both victims had been killed by the same person. Little had known Gibbs personally, as had his wife, and he had also participated in the search for her body. He began to believe that the murders of these women were linked, but such a linkage had not yet been investigated because the murders had occurred in different jurisdictions and therefore different local police departments had investigated each case. Little's investigation revealed a previously unknown link between Wardrip and Ellen Blau. One of Little's fellow officers had stated that Wardrip had admitted to knowing Blau while he was on trial for Tina Kimbrew's murder. This lead had not been investigated at the time it emerged. Wardrip himself stated that the agency would have been able to find a suspect much sooner if they had "paid a little bit more attention."

Little then found additional evidence linking Wardrip to the three unsolved murders: Ellen Blau had lived one block away from Terry Sims, and Wardrip had been employed as a custodian at the same hospital where Toni Gibbs had worked as a nurse.

At the time, police had no DNA sample from Wardrip, so Little used a simple ploy to obtain one: Wardrip had been convicted for the murder of Tina Kimbrew, but in 1997 he was paroled and was working at a factory. During Wardrip's work break, Little approached Wardrip and asked him for the paper cup from which Wardrip had been drinking, in order to spit out the tobacco that Little had been chewing. An analysis of Wardrip's DNA from the cup matched the suspect's DNA in the cases of Terry Sims and Toni Gibbs. Wardrip was arrested, and while he was in custody, he confessed to the murders of Sims, Gibbs, Blau, and one additional murder in Fort Worth of Debra Taylor, 26.

In 1999, Wardrip was sentenced to death for the murder of Sims, and three life terms for the other killings. In 2008, a federal magistrate recommended that the death penalty be overturned because Wardrip received ineffective defense in his trial. On June 14, 2011, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court ruling that ordered the State of Texas to either give Wardrip a new sentencing trial, or agree to giving him a life sentence. The case will be sent back to the U.S. District Court for reconsideration. Wardrip remains on death row at Polunsky Unit near Livingston.