Murder of Diane Maxwell

Background

Diane Maxwell was a 25-year-old phone operator for Southwestern Bell, born in 1944, living and working in Houston, Texas.

The Crime

On December 14, 1969, Maxwell was walking to her job as a phone operator but never arrived. Later that day, a man named William Bell noticed another man walking away from a shack in the area. When Bell went to investigate the shack, he discovered Maxwell's injured body and immediately notified police.

Initial Investigation and Delays

The case went unsolved for many years, a situation attributed to the lack of computer technology available at the time to process forensic evidence. In 1986, seventeen years after the crime, investigators reopened the case but were still unable to solve it, and the investigation was again closed.

Reopening and Resolution

The case remained closed until July 2003, thirty-three years after the murder. Houston police located a batch of forensic evidence that had been collected in 1969. Using this evidence, investigators identified James Ray Davis, a man with a lengthy criminal history who had most recently been convicted of kidnapping a young girl, as a suspect in the Maxwell rape and murder. DNA evidence confirmed that Davis had raped Maxwell. Davis was subsequently convicted of murder with malice and sentenced to life in prison.

Aftermath

James Ray Davis died in prison three years after his 2003 conviction, placing his death around 2007.

Media Coverage

In 2008, the case was featured in an episode of the television series Forensic Files titled "Brotherly Love."

The primary detailed account of this case comes from a Wikipedia article.