Murder of Adrianne Jones

Background

Diane Zamora and David Graham met as young teenagers at a Civil Air Patrol meeting near Crowley, Texas, and began a romantic relationship in August 1995, announcing their engagement about a month later. Both were high-achieving high school students planning military careers. Graham attended Mansfield High School, where he was a classmate and cross-country teammate of Adrianne "A.J." Jones, an honor student who planned to attend Texas A&M University and become a behavioral analyst. Jones was survived by her parents, Linda and Bill, and two brothers.

Graham told Zamora that he had given Jones a ride home from a track meet on November 4, 1995, and that he had had sex with her during that ride. According to Zamora's later confession, this revelation enraged her, and she demanded that Graham kill Jones.

The crime

On the night of December 3, 1995, Graham called Jones and arranged to drive her to Joe Pool Lake while Zamora hid in the hatchback of Zamora's car. In the early morning of December 4, 1995, after arriving at the lake, Zamora confronted Jones, and a struggle followed. Zamora hit Jones over the head with a dumbbell weight; Jones broke away and ran into a field, where Graham shot her twice with a 9mm handgun, including once between the eyes. The two disposed of their bloody clothing and cleaned Zamora's car afterward.

Investigation and trials

Jones' body was found in a field on Seeton Road near Joe Pool Lake on December 4, 1995, and was initially processed as an unidentified Jane Doe before being identified through a photograph. Graham subsequently attended the U.S. Air Force Academy and Zamora the U.S. Naval Academy. About nine months later, Zamora confessed the killing to her Naval Academy roommates, who alerted academy authorities, leading to notification of Grand Prairie, Texas police. Zamora and Graham were arrested for capital murder on September 6, 1996, and both gave confessions during lengthy police interrogations before later recanting portions of their statements.

At Zamora's trial, which began in February 1998 in Fort Worth, she admitted being present at the scene but denied participating in the killing. On February 17, 1998, a jury convicted her of capital murder; because Jones' family asked prosecutors not to seek the death penalty, she received a mandatory life sentence with parole eligibility after 40 years. Graham was tried separately, and on July 24, 1998, a jury convicted him of capital murder; he was also sentenced to life imprisonment. Trial testimony from a teammate and a coach indicated Graham had not actually driven Jones home on the night he claimed to have had sex with her, a point later used in a 2005 appeal by Zamora's attorney alleging the state withheld this information. Graham later said his original confession, including his account of a sexual encounter with Jones, had been accurate, and that he had recanted on his defense lawyer's advice.

Both remain incarcerated in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice system as of the most recent reporting.