Mary Hague Kelly
We reported earlier that Dallas police over the weekend made an arrest in the decades-old murder of Mary Hague Kelly, who we now know was a 78-year-old woman at the time of her death. Kelly was living at 411 North Frances in Oak Cliff when David Rojas, who would have been about 20 at the time, allegedly entered her home, leaving no sign of forced entry, and choked her. A family member found Kelly’s body and alerted police.
Police believe the killer stole Kelly’s handbag and car, which which police recovered two days later in Dallas, says DPD information officer Kristin Lowman.
[Read here about the technology that helped catch the presumed killer. ]
Rojas apparently has been a free man for 33 years, but, finally, DNA evidence collected at that Jan. 19, 1989 crime scene forensically connects him to Kelly’s murder, which an autopsy determined was from strangulation.
Those DNA results came in June 28, police say, and they decisively prove Rojas’ involvement. They made the arrest about a month later, July 22. The suspect remains at Dallas County jail, charged with capital murder. Bond is set at $750,000.
When the DPD shared the arrest announcement on Facebook, a few commented that they knew Rojas from the neighborhood. But Lowman says Rojas was a resident of Del Rio.
A cursory search yielded no news stories about nor an obituary for Mary Hague Kelly in 1989, but Lowman gave us a photo of her, a traditional portrait of a tidy and poised elderly woman wearing a ruffle-neck blouse and a heart locket.
If you are familiar with the case, or if you know the victim or the suspect, please let us know, chughes@advocatemag.com.
