A Menace to People and Pets Gets Justice Texas-Style
(“Pure Evil,” Forensic Files)
Except for the mullet, Jason Eric Massey looks like a wholesome youth straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting.
But as Forensic Files has taught us, outward appearances mean nothing (John Schneeberger and Barbara Stager).
The button-nosed golden-haired youth left a trail of horrifying cruelty in his wake, and he’s one of the few criminals depicted on the show who has already been executed.
Gruesome find. For this week, I looked for some background on Jason — who killed two teenagers and did other awful things — that might explain how he grew into a monster.
So let’s get going on the recap of the episode, along with extra information from internet research.
On July 29, 1993, a work crew found the body of a girl in a brushy area near Telico, Texas.
A few hundred feet away, police found a dead boy.
A library card in his wallet identified the male victim as James Brian King, 14, who went by “Brian.” He died from two bullet wounds.
Unusually vicious. Brian’s body was intact, but the killer had cut off the girl’s head and hands and disfigured her in other depraved ways. She was ID’ed as Brian’s stepsister, Christina Benjamin, 13.
Medical Examiner Sheila Spotswood, who appeared on the episode, said Christina’s injuries were the worst case of mutilation that she’d ever seen.
Investigators found blond hair from two individuals — Christina and an unknown person — at the scene. They also recovered a distinctive tan fiber.
Christina and James had gone missing on July 26, 1993, from their home in Garrett, Texas, where they lived with common-law husband and wife James King and Donna Benjamin.
Frightening fetish. That night, James witnessed his son get in a car with a driver he seemed to know, but he didn’t get a look at his face. Although James didn’t see her, investigators believe Christina was in the car, too.
With few clues, local investigators turned to the FBI for help profiling the killer.
The feds believed that it wasn’t exactly a sex crime — Christina hadn’t been raped — and noted that it was probably committed by someone who started out by abusing animals and derived sexual pleasure from inflicting injuries.
Vehicle full of evidence. Meanwhile, an anonymous caller to the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office suggested looking into Jason Massey, a 20-year-old high school dropout.
Investigators questioned Jason and impounded his 1982 tan Subaru.
Inside, they found a receipt for some ammunition, a hunting knife, bloodstains, and tan carpeting with fibers matching the one from the crime scene.
Detectives emptied out a vacuum cleaner and garbage can at a car wash recently visited by Massey and found more of Christina’s hair and a card from Jason’s probation officer.
Firearm ID’ed. A lab determined the bloodstains in the Subaru were genetically similar to blood from Christina Benjamin’s relatives.
Jason’s cousin owned a .22 caliber pistol, which someone had borrowed without permission from his grandmother’s house. Investigators pegged it as the murder weapon.
Jason was arrested.
So who was this Howdy Doody-faced sadist?
Cruelty started at home. The man who would grow up to admire Ted Bundy and Charles Manson was born in Jan. 7, 1973, to a single mother who was more interested in partying than raising Jason and his younger sister.
Specific details were hard to come by in mainstream media, but British crime blog Shots reported that she used to beat him and leave him alone in the car while she drank at local watering holes.
Jason’s mother also liked to eat in front of him and his sister but deprive them of food, according to the Crime Library.
The family had a history of moving from one dilapidated residence to another. It’s not clear what role Jason’s father, also a substance abuser, had in Jason’s life.
Mother steps in. By the time Jason was in his early teens, his disturbing extracurricular interests became apparent.
A ninth-grade teacher named Edith Robinson recalled that Jason carried around an article about Charles Manson and seemed fascinated by swastikas. He also considered Ted Bundy one of his personal heroes.
Although neglectful, Jason’s mother cared enough to consult a psychological professional when she discovered notebooks he’d written about rape and other violent fantasies.
At 18, he wound up in the Dallas Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit, but he was released soon after, according to Crime Library.
As far as his occupation, multiple sources refer to Jason as a roofer, although it’s not clear whether he worked steadily.
Pulchritude problem. Before the homicides, his record included only one offense, a DWI conviction, but his luck would run out soon.
On, March 17, 1994, Texas indicted Jason on two counts of murder.
In the run-up to the trial, the DA said he was afraid that Jason’s good looks would sway the jury if he testified.
Dangerous on the witness stand? By the time the court date rolled around, Jason had replaced his T-shirts with button downs and ties. And he had snipped away the party in the back from his hair.
He also had a polite manner while in custody, calling a reporter “Ma’am,” for example. Of course, the courteous behavior implied that he could present himself as normal enough to fool younger teens into liking him.
Jason decided not to testify.
Goal-oriented. At the trial, prosecutors contended that, after luring Christina and Brian into his car, Jason shot Brian King at close range, then chased Christina as she ran from the vehicle, shot her in the back, stabbed her, and mutilated her body after death.
But the forensic evidence wasn’t the star at the trial. Jason Massey’s journal and testimony from his friends were.
He had written about his desire to commit hundreds of homicides and become the most famous serial killer in the U.S.
More sick ideas. “I’m going to embark on a sacred journey. Yes, I’m going to start my campaign as a serial killer,” he wrote in his diary in 1981, the AP reported. He allegedly aspired to cannibalism as well.
Massey had said he wanted to decapitate a woman and have sex with her head, according to the Clark Prosecutors website.
Chris Nowlin, who was described as Christina’s boyfriend or friend, told investigators that Jason talked about his desire to kill women, but he didn’t take him seriously. Nowlin, an ex-convict who also knew Brian King, said Jason and Christina met through him and made plans to sneak off on a date together.
Nice try. Jason’s court-appointed lawyers tried to turn Nowlin’s words against him. “It doesn’t say much about the credibility of [Christina’s] boyfriend if he didn’t take those alleged threats seriously,” said Steve Kelly, the AP reported.
Another of Jason’s defense attorneys, Mike Hartley, argued that one or more of Jason’s disreputable associates — some of whom were helping the prosecution — could have committed the murders.
But the evidence against Jason just kept rolling in. A former school friend named Anita Mendoza testified that Jason sent her threatening letters and disturbing violent images and may have killed her dog.
Intervention relatively early. It was credible testimony. The investigations turned up a cooler Jason had used to collect mementos of dozens of animals he had killed.
On October 6, 1994, the jury found Jason Massey guilty of murder.
“It’s almost a miracle we caught him as quickly in his career as we did,” prosecutor Clay Strange told the Houston Chronicle. “I’ve met a lot of people meaner, but no one more evil.”
Indeed, law enforcement got him before his victims numbered anywhere near as many as those of Jeffrey Dahmer, another benign-looking but utterly deranged murderer.
At Jason’s sentencing hearing, the prosecution read numerous horrifying thoughts taken from Jason’s journals.
Disgruntled prisoner. The jury gave him a death sentence after deliberating for 15 minutes (“15 minute deliberation included a 14 minute bathroom break,” quipped YouTube commenter mrabrasive).
Over the years, Jason Massey’s appeals included such alleged factors as ineffective counsel, inadequate DNA testing, lack of investigations into other suspects, and a judge who looked bored. The Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty helped him file the legal actions.
Jason solicited pen pals while in prison and lamented that he never got a chance to marry or have kids and that his six brothers and sisters didn’t visit him.
Last hope gone. In 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Jason Massey’s final appeal.
He had his date with a gurney and syringe on April 3, 2001, in Huntsville, Texas.
For his last meal, Jason enjoyed “three fried chicken quarters, fried squash, fried egg plant, mashed potatoes, snap peas, boiled cabbage, three corn on the cob, spinach, broccoli with cheese, one pint of caramel pecan fudge or tin roof ice cream, and a pitcher of sweet tea,” according to Clarkprosecutor.org.
Contrition. In his final words, Massey apologized to Christina Benjamin and James King’s family and revealed that he had thrown Christina’s head and hands into the Trinity River. (They were never found.) He also proclaimed his newfound love for God, stating, “Tonight I dance on the streets of gold. Let those without sin cast the first stone.”
Christina Benjamin’s grandparents watched the execution. Jason looked at them and mouthed the words “I’m sorry” as the lethal injection began to take effect.
Jason Massey died without achieving his dream of becoming a world-renowned serial killer, but he snagged a Forensic Files episode that was broadcast just seven months after his death.
And he probably inspired a lot of Texans to pay more attention to who their kids were hanging around with.
That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — RR
Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube
Thanks, Rebecca. It’s notable that he was executed so quickly – about double the time Texas condemned on average take to meet their maker (or not). I wonder why?
While it seems clear he knew right from wrong so was eligible for the death penalty, I wonder how much the defense made of his obvious abnormal psychology. Where perps don’t have the usual motives – money; sex/relationship/jealousy (and its flip-side, hatred) – leaving the literally perverse motive of extreme sadism, as in this case, it raises the question of mental illness. On the face of it, psychological disorder and relative youth could reasonably suggest a life sentence, and I wonder if this was dismissed because of the horror of the case – two children, killed horribly – which overrode potential mitigation per mental illness?
If that’s so – that is, that Massey was executed because his crime(s) was particularly horrible despite illness, I’m not sure I can go along with the world’s being a better place without him – ‘cos a better place doesn’t contain (more) injustice. I’m not sure, either, that one can set the death penalty argument aside: if it’s wrong, can the world ever be better, not worse, when it’s enacted?
Setting the DP question aside, this seems to be one about how mental illness should be treated in law – which in turn is about how mental illness is understood as distinct from culpable abnormality (this latter seems to’ve been how Massey was regarded – ‘sick’ in inverted commas only or largely, and so morally responsible). I find it hard to believe that someone who committed his terrible crimes could be thought sane. So this leaves the legal threshold question: did he know it was wrong? I think he did – but I’m bound to wonder whether that legal question is the right approach…
I think the decapitation and the youth of the victims sped up the criminal justice system for Jason Massey.
Interesting point about his never stealing anything. He was strictly a thrill killer.
This “not criminally responsible” because of so called “mentally ill”is 95% pure BULLCHIT. Of course the world is better off without him.This way you’re absolutely sure he’s killing nobody else. What if he had of gotten released because of another FARCE appeal? He’d be well on his way to his goal of 700 dead. Good riddance. Isn’t it funny how they ALL find GOD…HaHaHa. They’re scared CHITLESS to die and use this to try and ease their minds nothing more…!!!
As the law stood and stands, he knew his crimes were immoral and illegal so was held culpable. I’m content with that. But had he not been executed, the alternative would’ve been either secure hospital or imprisonment for life, so public safety wouldn’t be in issue. Mental illness isn’t an out-of-jail-for-free card: it means that in return for a finding of insanity the perp is (or should be) permanently incarcerated.
‘Finding God’ is value-neutral of these people: if it comforts them, fine; but it should never be used as an indicator of reform or decency. We shouldn’t be surprised that desperate people seek God: He tells us that that’s what He’s about! His Son was crucified with murderers. ‘Faith’ could be an act – but whether it is or not is (and should be) immaterial from our perspective.
Not that it undoes anything, but Massey seemed genuine in his words at execution – when he has nothing to gain (in this life, anyway…) If his faith helped him to appreciate his appalling crimes, the suffering of the families, and feel remorse, that’s got to be better for society – particularly the families – than other ‘unredeemed’ monsters’ last words, such as Gacy (at least 33 murders): ‘Kiss my ass.’
The world is a FAR better place without pure evil like Massey to corrupt it. Getting rid of him was a step in the right direction.
Howdy Doody-faced sadist? Never seen those words together.
Only in America…
R: I looked your phrase up as unknown to me as a Brit – and I see exactly what you mean!
https://www.discogs.com/artist/504904-Howdy-Doody
I’ll have to throw some Brit ones into my comments to even-out!
While I’m sure you’re right about the short Row stay, was his crime really any worse than the likes of Darlie Routier’s? Sure – his crime was ‘creepier’, but a mother stabbing her sons to death seems no less horrible and is at least as shocking., yet she’s been on the Row over 20 years.
Texas inmate Robert Sparks was recently executed for murdering his young stepsons and raping his stepdaughters – again, horrible and shocking – but he languished on the Row for 12 years. Like Massey, there was no question of guilt.
There seems neither rhyme nor reason…
Lol, looking forward to Coronation Street and The Two Ronnies references
Am a avid Corrie-watcher, but I fear your readers would find it harder to comprehend such references than I did yours. A quick Google of ‘howdy doody’ instantly explained!
Another FF (season 7, episode 5: The Alibi) Howdy Doody Lookie Likie:
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/cmm/crystal-faye-todd-johnnie-kenneth-ken-register-the-t3011014.html
A few years ago the death penalty was halted in some states because of the “cruel and unusual punishment” part of the US Constitution. There was a botched-up lethal injection in California that caused this. I’m not sure if that affected Texas but this potentially could have caused a delay in the other death-row cases.
In the US a ton of time is spent on death-row while the inmates exhaust all their options and appeals. All death-row cases in California are automatically appealed, again I’m not sure if that is the case for Texas, but lawyers have been known to delay executions for decades. Since Massey had a court-appointed attorney and little, if any, family support, my thinking is he may have not used all the options (read: delays) given him by the courts.
He seems to have used the usual means of appeal, so the mystery remains.
PROCEDURAL TIME-LINE
March 17, 1994 – The State indicted Massey for the capital offense of murder of two persons in the same criminal transaction to which Massey later entered a plea of “not guilty.”
October 6, 1994 – A jury found Massey “guilty” of the capital offense.
October 12, 1994 – Following a punishment hearing, the jury answered the special issues submitted pursuant to article 37.071 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure; an affirmative answer was given to the first special issue and a negative answer was given to the second special issue. In accordance with Texas law, the trial court assessed Massey’s punishment as death.
October 23, 1996 – The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed his conviction and sentence in a published opinion.
June 23, 1997 – Massey filed an application for state habeas corpus relief pursuant to article 11.071 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. (At a later date, the state habeas court entered findings of fact and conclusions of law recommending that relief be denied. Thereafter, the Court of Criminal Appeals adopted the trial court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law and ordered that Massey’s request for state habeas relief be denied.)
March 6, 1998 – Massey filed a petition for habeas corpus relief in federal district court.
January 10, 2000 – The U.S. Magistrate recommended relief be denied.
February 24, 2000 – The recommendations were signed and judgment was rendered against Massey.
March 23, 2000 – Massey filed a motion for certificate of appealability (COA) in federal district court.
March 27, 2000 – The district court denied the motion.
March 23, 2000 – Massey filed a notice of appeal and the case was subsequently docketed in the Fifth Circuit.
May 26, 2000 – Massey filed a motion for COA in the Fifth Circuit.
September 13, 2000 – The Fifth Circuit denied COA.
October 2, 2000 – Massey filed a motion for rehearing in the Fifth Circuit.
October 17, 2000 – The motion for rehearing was denied.
January 16, 2001 – Massey filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court.
March 19, 2001 – The petition for writ of certiorari was denied.
Massey, 28, was executed by lethal injection on 3 April.
Jason Massey and other losers like him that kill animals and people are trash, scum, and deserve to be executed and society and the world are better off without these people.
Thanks, RR for another outstanding crime exposé ! More than usual, the episode of Forensic Files was like the series Twin Peaks. I was saddened only in that lethal injection is so cheesy, as executions go, and a person like that should fry in the chair. You know, like an eggplant. But it’s a great story, too bad people get so awful.
Justice will always prevail. I hope this murderer will suffer in jail.
Very unlikely indeed, in this life at least…
Brian & Christina were My friends from school. And I am aware of who Anita Mendoza is. I also knew Jason from our small town. As a mother now of a mentally ill child. I mean bipolar, schizophrenia mentally ill. They know right from wrong. They have to choose to abide by it.
Jason terrorized many females in a creepy way, for years. And he would have continued had they not caught him so quickly. I am sad that another human has to die. But if he wouldn’t have been put down, he would have continued to kill, maybe not out here, but in prison. He got what he deserved. Because Christina and Brian were awesome friends. And they were just innocent kids. They definitely didn’t deserve what happened to them. May they RIP.
So sorry to hear that you lost your two friends and in such an awful way. It must be a relief to know their killer can never hurt anyone or anything again.
Absolutely. They were just kids hadn’t even experienced the world yet. They didn’t deserve what happened to them. None of the girls he creeped out, stalked & tortured deserved that. He is the prime example of why our country needs better help & laws for our mentally disabled.
Indeed – it was horrible. One can only be deeply sorry for families’ and friends’ loss, which will be felt for life.
There is no question that Massey knew what he planned and did was absolutely wrong, such that from a legal perspective he was culpable. But his behaviour was so disturbing it’s hard to consider him ‘sane’ despite that knowledge. I think it’s certain that he’d have been imprisoned for life, and that unless he were permanently segregated from other prisoners there would’ve been attempts on his life as a child-murderer. Ditto in the unlikely possibility that he’d been committed as insane.
Given that for some – and possibly him – lifetime incarceration and the hatred and threats of others would be worse than death, it could be better for Brian and Christina’s families AND Massey that he was executed.
For the very little it’s worth to those who so greatly suffered and still do, I’m glad he apologised for his terrible murders, which seemed to me sincere.
May Brian and Christina rest in peace and rise in glory, and may the Lord bless and confer peace upon all who feel their loss.
Anyone who tortures small animals for “practice” before transferring these sadistic skills onto human victims who also keeps journals of their sick fantasies and “aspires” to be a serial killer is not going to be reformed by “better mental health treatment in America”. The only “cure” is a permanent end to their worthless lives. It’s like an incurable addiction to them. They can’t stop the fantasy.
I agree — there’s no rehabbing a criminal like him.
I knew Jason and his group of friends from Ennis very well. Though I believe that Jason committed the murders, I don’t believe he was alone in it. Someone should reopen this case. Compile all the new evidence against another certain suspect who was actually questioned in connection with Jason. Open your eyes. Jason was in fact sick enough to believe that if he took that to his grave with him, some part of the act would live on freely moving about and never be brought to justice.
Interesting…this is the first I’ve heard of that theory.
Well, I believe it’s fair to say as the father said, he saw more than 1 person in the car, some say it may have been Christina, but, Brain got into the front seat when he left with Jason. If Jason was interested in Christina she would have been in the front seat. Who’s to say that someone didn’t have a gun on Christina in the back seat and that is why he got into the front seat. Also Jason did try to convince a friend of his from Dallas to be his murder partner and 2 of the serial killers he most idealized were Charles Manson (who had followers) and Henry Lee Lucas (who had a murder partner). Also it is fair to say that one of the suspects that were questioned in now a sex offender.
As I stated in my first post, I grew up around the whole bunch and happen to know that many of them thought themselves to be satanic worshipers. I really think the police might have overlooked some things.
“Who’s to say that someone didn’t have a gun on Christina in the back seat and that is why he got into the front seat.“
On the other hand: Why could she then escape from the car as mentioned in FF?
I did think it was odd that he mentioned no one else helping him in his final statement.
TJ: Insofar as he was taking ‘total’ responsibility, ‘it was me and only me’ is unremarkable. If his remorse — and claimed Xtian faith — was genuine he knew total candour — religious ‘confession’ — was required at the point of death. In secular terms the ‘dying declaration’ is given considerable weight probatively. Furthermore, he appealed, and it’s most unlikely he wouldn’t have cited an accomplice as a means of possibly lessening the gravity of his offence and in seeking a deal for LWOP if he could’ve. That and the fact that police found no evidence of an accomplice renders the suggestion highly unlikely. It’s only conceivably plausible if he was covering for a family member. Even then I’d want to know if his previous brushes with the law had involved an accomplice — particularly a close friend of family member. I’m sure police would’ve considered this…
Draco Malloy looking mother fucker
Sorry, I put my question on the wrong post earlier. Does Jason Massey has one younger sister or six brothers and sisters who don’t visit him?
I normality oppose the death penalty. This is a rare exception due to the brutality of the kill.
Yes, J.M. needed to exit this world.