Thomas McDowell: South Carolina man gets life in prison for kidnapping and killing girl 40 years ago
LEXINGTON, SOUTH CAROLINA: Thomas McDowell was sentenced to life in prison for breaking into a Lexington County home to kidnap and kill 4-year-old Jessica Gutierrez. The sentence has finally brought the 1986 cold case to an end.
On February 8, 2024, after three days of testimony at the Lexington courthouse, the jury deliberated for about two hours and found 63-year-old McDowell guilty of murder, kidnapping, and first-degree burglary. According to Post and Courier, Circuit Judge Debra McCaslin sentenced him to life in prison.
What happened to Jessica Gutierrez?
Thomas McDowell was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree burglary, kidnapping, and murder in connection with the disappearance and death of 4-year-old Jessica Gutierrez, who went missing from her South Lake Drive home in June 1986 and has never been found.
According to the sheriff's report, McDowell was handed two concurrent life sentences after a jury convicted him of the charges.
On June 6, 1986, Gutierrez's mother woke up and realized her daughter was missing, according to the sheriff's office. She allegedly looked about the house and asked her other children where she was, but she was nowhere to be seen.
When the girl's mother called the police, an inquiry was launched. Authorities conducted aerial and ground searches for her, but "no one ever saw her again." After further inquiry, it was discovered that early on June 6, 1986, someone had allegedly broken in via a window of their home, taken the girl, and left through the front door.
The case was re-examined in 2021
More than three decades after Gutierrez’s disappearance, in September 2021, FBI special agents and analysts assigned to its specialized Child Abduction Rapid Deployment Team and prosecutors with the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office came to Lexington to reexamine the case.
Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said, "South Carolina Law Enforcement Division agents also joined us in reviewing initial reports and interviewing more than 125 people."
He continued, "Because of the work we did, coming together as a team, we were able to sort and connect more pieces of the puzzle about what happened to Jessica all those years ago."
Officials identified McDowell as the primary suspect, and in January 2022, Wake Forest Police arrested him at his home 20 miles north of Raleigh, North Carolina. According to the sheriff’s office, "Prosecutors said McDowell dated Jessica’s mother, Debra, for a short time in 1986."
McDowell has been detained in the Lexington County Detention Center since his arrest in 2022, but he will soon be transferred to the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
After the trial, Gutierrez’s mother told WACH, "I hope that he confesses to where her body is. I already have a place prepared for her, where she can be reunited with the rest of her family. I’m ready to bring my baby home."
