Kaufman County Criminal District Attorney (KCCDA) Erleigh Norville Wiley and the Terrell Police Department (TPD) announced today the convictions of Bianca Newman, Justin Prox, Darrius Hubbard, and Anthony Holliman in the Pizza Hut murders. The community of Terrell, Texas was rocked on September 2, 2006, when they awoke to the horrific news that there had been two Pizza Hut employees murdered - Stephen Dale Mitchelltree and Patricia Oferosky.
During the initial investigation, there were no fingerprints, DNA or weapons recovered at the scene, but many man hours went into interviewing witnesses, running down leads, and continuing to gather other evidence at the scene of the crime. As a result of those efforts the four suspects that have been convicted were arrested by TPD and the four were charged with capital murder. At an examining trial that was conducted by the Justice of the Peace, the Court concluded that there was no probable cause, and all suspects were released.
Though this case was over 15 years old, the TPD continually pursued the investigation of these cases. The case was actively reopened in 2020 by Detective D. Ballard and Detective C. Seabolt, with the assistance of Ranger Chad Matlock. The case was presented by the KCCDA’s Office to the grand jury and the grand jury returned indictments on April 29, 2020, on the same four suspects. “Our office always believed we had the right suspects and the citizens of Kaufman County spoke when they indicted these suspects,” asserted Chief Ken McKeown.
This matter was finally concluded in the 86th District Court, with the agreement of the victims’ families through plea negotiations on June 17, 2022. The final suspects accepted responsibility of these murders and these cases have been legally concluded.
Our offices would like to personally thank the Mitchelltree and Oferosky families for continuing to work with law enforcement and we want to acknowledge the loss of their loved ones. “The senseless murders of two good people, Stephen and Patricia, is a loss for their families, but justice has been served by the convictions of these 4 individuals that took innocent lives,” concluded DA Wiley.
The prosecution was led by the Criminal Trial Chief, Marc Moffitt, with the assistance of Investigators Walter Hughey and Mike Holley, and paralegal Amanda Morris in the trial preparation. Additionally, the District Attorney’s Office would like to thank the Terrell Police Department.
Also instrumental in this investigation was Ranger Chad Matlock, who not only assisted TPD, but brought state resources to our community to aid in the investigation.
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