For more than two decades, Angela Samota's slaying was marked by unanswered questions.
Most notably: Who killed the 20-year-old Southern Methodist University student?
This morning, Samota's friends and family plan to share a courtroom with the convicted rapist who police and prosecutors now believe sexually assaulted and murdered the promising young woman in her off-campus condo in October 1984.
Donald Andrew Bess, 61, could face the death penalty if convicted of capital murder. Dallas police cold case investigators linked preserved DNA from the crime scene to Bess in 2008. Bess was already serving a life sentence for a Houston area rape.
Opening statements in the case are scheduled this morning before state District Judge Carter Thompson.
Bess' attorney, Richard Franklin, does not deny that DNA evidence indicates his client sexually assaulted Samota. But he questioned whether there is proof Bess killed her.
"I'm not so sure they can prove there was a murder committed in the course of committing a rape," Franklin said. "I would say there's a probability that somebody else killed her. I just don't know how high that probability is, really and truly."
Jamille Bradfield, a spokeswoman for Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, declined to comment on the case. The lead prosecutor is Pat Kirlin.
Samota's family also declined to comment in advance of the trial. Among those expected to attend the trial are some of her Zeta Tau Alpha sorority sisters.
The junior computer science and electrical engineering major spent her final hours at a sorority party held with a fraternity. From there, she went with friends to a Lakewood bar.
According to news reports after her death, Samota left the bar about 1 a.m., drove two friends home and then returned to her new condominium on Amesbury Drive in Northeast Dallas.
About 1:45 a.m., she called her boyfriend and told him there was a man in her condo asking to use the phone and the bathroom. The boyfriend told police there was no urgency in her voice.
The boyfriend tried calling her back minutes later. He got no answer, so he drove to the condo and called police.
At 2:17 a.m., Dallas police officers found Samota's nude body on her bed. She had been sexually assaulted and stabbed more than 20 times.
Investigators initially focused attention on those close to Samota, though they did not rule out a stranger. Within months, leads dried up. The case went cold.
Years later, the Dallas police homicide unit's cold case squad took a fresh look at the case, leading them to Bess in May 2008. He had not been on detectives' radar, and it remains unclear why he was in the Dallas area.
The long-awaited trial is welcome not only for those who knew Samota.
Recently retired Assistant Police Chief Ron Waldrop was commander of the homicide unit when Samota was killed. Despite countless hours of investigating, Waldrop's detectives at the time were deeply frustrated by the lack of progress.
"I think it's been a long journey for the family," Waldrop said. "I'm glad to see this come to fruition."
