Where is Donald Bess, the man who killed Angela Samota? Here’s everything you need to know about the man who raped and killed people over and over again.
Donald Andrew Bess Jr., who goes by the name Donald Bess, has raped more than one woman in his life. He is also famous for raping and killing Angela Samota. He was born in Arkansas’s Jefferson County on September 1, 1948.
Angela Samota was killed on October 13, 1984. She had been attacked in her home, raped, and then killed. Before DNA evidence was found in 2008 and charges were brought against a convicted rapist named Donald, who was later tried and given the death penalty, the case was still open.
What happened to Donald Bess? Angela Samota Case
Donald Andrew Bess Jr. is still on death row in Polunsky prison, but there is no set date for his execution. Angela Samota’s body, on the other hand, is buried in the Llano Cemetery in Amarillo, Texas.
In 2016, the Dallas Police Department brought back a squad to look into cold cases. In the 2021 episode of Investigation Discovery called “Betrayed: Co-ed Killer,” the investigation and the eventual finding of Samota’s killer were shown again.
Angela Samota’s murder and sex assault were tried in 2010. At the time, the defendant was already in prison for life. In 1978, he had already been found guilty of sexual assault and kidnapping. So when he raped and killed Samota in 1984, he had already served 25 years of his 25-year prison sentence and was out on parole.
In Harris County, Texas, in 1985, Bess was sentenced to life in prison for one count of aggravated rape, one count of aggravated kidnapping, and one count of sexual assault. This case had nothing to do with Samota’s death.
Who killed Angela Samota and photos of the crime scene
Angela Samota was killed on October 13, 1984. She had been attacked in her home, raped, and then killed. But Angela Samota wasn’t found for 24 years, and the case wasn’t solved until 2008.
A 23-year-old architect who lived in a Lower Greenville apartment was suspected by the police for a long time. He was the guy who went out with Samota and another woman the night she was killed. Reports said that the boyfriend of the victim was also a suspect.
Linda Crum, a Dallas police investigator at the time, was given the case in 2006. She tried to find people with criminal records by using DNA evidence from blood, sperm, and fingernail samples. In 2008, the evidence pointed to Donald Bess, who was on parole at the time of Samota’s death while serving a 25-year sentence.
On October 23, 1984, the police got to the scene of the crime quickly and broke down the door. In the end, Angela “Angie” Marie Samota was found dead on her bed, naked, and covered in blood. She had been stabbed 18 times and sexually abused, and an autopsy showed that chest wounds that hurt her heart caused her death.
How did Donald Bess get hurt?
During the punishment phase of the Samota case trial in 2010, when Bess was being tried for the crime, several women said that Bess had also sexually abused them. The defendant’s ex-wife said in court that while they were still married, he hurt her and their child. In 1969, after being married for three years, they split up.
Based on the DNA evidence, the jury found Bess guilty and sentenced her to death on June 8, 2010. The trial court’s decision was upheld on March 6, 2013, and Bess’s appeal was turned down.
On August 13, 2013, a request for certiorari was sent to the U.S. Supreme Court, but it was turned down on January 13, 2014. Bess filed an appeal in April 2016, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals turned it down. This meant that the Dallas County trial court’s decision stood.
