Woodruff found guilty of capital murder in parents’ deaths

Sentenced to life in prison without parole

Brad Kellar
Royse City Herald-Banner

Brandon Dale Woodruff was found guilty Friday of capital murder involving the deaths of his parents, Dennis and Norma Woodruff, in October 2005.

As the prosecution was not seeking the death penalty, Woodruff received an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole.

The jury in the 354th District Court returned the verdict after some five hours of deliberations in the case, following closing arguments.

Charla Woodruff, the defendant’s sister, read a statement following the announcement of the jury’s decision, which said she had tried to move on with her life, but that she still is constantly reminded about the murders.

“The horror and pain come back and leave me at a loss for words,” she said. “Brandon, you made me plan a funeral. That thought still disgusts me.”

Defense counsel Katherine Ferguson said she and fellow defense attorney Jerry Spencer Davis were disappointed with the verdict.

“But we respect that the jury spent five hours deliberating and reviewing the evidence,” Ferguson said, adding a verbal notice of appeal had already been filed. “The appeals court will take it from there.”

Adrienne McFarland, one of two special prosecutors assigned to the case from the Texas Attorney General’s Office, said she and fellow prosecutor Raphael Guerrero could not address the outcome.

“Other than to say we are very pleased with the verdict we can’t say anything else,” McFarland said.

As he was being led from the courtroom and back to the Hunt County Jail, where he has been incarcerated since shortly after his parents’ deaths, Brandon Woodruff was greeted by supporters shouting their encouragement. Woodruff thanked them and declined comment other than to say, “I am not guilty. There will be an appeal.”

The verdict brought to a close a 12-day trial and more than three years of legal twists and turns in one of Hunt County’s most sensational murder cases.

Brandon Woodruff, 22, had pleaded not guilty to one count of capital murder in connection with the deaths of Dennis and Norma Woodruff. Prosecutors alleged Woodruff killed his mother and father inside their home near Royse City sometime after 9 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2005. Their bodies were found in the residence two days later.

During closing arguments Friday morning, McFarland told the jury the evidence was “simply overwhelming” that Woodruff killed his parents, claiming that Woodruff had built a double life of lies.


“Brandon was living in a complete fantasy world,” McFarland said, alluding to testimony from witnesses who said Woodruff talked about being a model, about his parents being wealthy and about how he was going to get a new truck.

“The reality, though, wasn’t even close to the fantasy,” McFarland said, noting the defendant had reached the limits on all of his credit cards and that his parents were struggling with heavy loads of debt. Woodruff was also about to have to drop out of freshman classes at Abilene Christian University, McFarland said, and was planning to tell his parents he was gay.

McFarland argued Woodruff believed his only way out was to murder his parents and obtain the insurance settlement.

“He’s cashing in,” McFarland said. “He’s killed his parents and he is starting a new life.”

In her closing, Ferguson argued the prosecution failed to prove Woodruff killed his parents.

“I’m thinking the prosecution is living in a fantasy world,” Ferguson said. “I’m not sure we sat through the same trial.”

Ferguson said the timelines of Woodruff’s movements the night of the murders, based on cell phone and toll road records, show Woodruff did not have the time to commit the murders. Ferguson said the autopsy results of both the victims could be considered incomplete, as hairs found in the right hand of Norma Woodruff were never tested for DNA.

Ferguson said there was also a dispute among forensics experts over whether a dagger, found more than two years after the deaths, could be the weapon which caused stab wounds found on both victims and that a revolver which the prosecution alleged disappeared from the home of Woodruff’s former girlfriend and could have been used to shoot the victims was never found.

“They certainly are not going to let any facts get in the way of their assumption,” Ferguson said. “Are you bothered by this, ladies and gentlemen? If it bothers you, it’s because they haven’t proved their case and you have reasonable doubt.”

But Guerrero’s closing arguments focused on how Woodruff’s accounts of where he was and what he was doing the night of the murders, specifically between 9:40 and 10:10 p.m., could not be verified.

“You know the truth, because of his lies,” Guerrero told the jury. “And the truth is, he is guilty of capital murder.”

As part of her statement, Charla Woodruff, now a detective with the sheriff’s office in Magnolia County, Ark., said since the murders she had given birth to a daughter who would never know her grandmother and she realizes that whenever she is married, she won’t have her father available to walk her down the aisle.

“The hurt I was going through, you put it there,” she said, adding her biggest regret was that she passed on the chance to speak to her mother the night of the murders while visiting relatives in Texarkana. “I had no idea it was actually my last chance to talk to her.”