Reginald Kimbro, North Texas Serial Killer/Rapist, Sentenced To Life Without Parole
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - A man convicted of raping and murdering multiple women, including several in North Texas, was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole this morning after pleading guilty to a 2017 Fort Worth murder.
Reginald Kimbro pleaded guilty on Mar. 18 to the rape and murder of Molly Jane Matheson, 22, of Fort Worth after she was found dead on April 10, 2017 by her mother after she did not report to work. Kimbro and Matheson had dated when she attended the University of Arkansas, but they had not been in a relationship for years when she was murdered.
Matheson had been beaten and strangled, and Kimbro tried to destroy evidence by washing her in the shower and washing a load of laundry where he left behind his underwear. He was connected to the crime through DNA, cell phone records, electricity usage, and surveillance cameras.
While he was under investigation for Matheson's murder, Kimbro raped and stranged Megan Getrum, 36, of Plano. Getrum was a stranger to Kimbro, who murdered her on April 14, 2017 while she was on an evening hike at the Arbor Hills Nature Preserve near her home. Her body was found days later in Lake Ray Hubbard.
Kimbro was linked to Getrum's murder using DNA and witness statements that put Kimbro in the Nautre Preserve's parking lot at the time of Getrum's disappearance. He was charged with capital murder in Dallas County, which he was also sentenced to life in prison without parole for.
During the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney's Office and law enforcement years-long investigation, it was learned that Kimbro had been accused of aggravated sexual assault in Plano in 2012, in South Padre in 2014, and in Allen again in 2014. None of these cases had been filed at the time of Matheson's murder.
Kimbro was subsequently indicted for all of these cases and had been positively linked to each victim through DNA. He was sentenced to 20 years in the Plano case, life in the South Padre case, and 20 years in the McKinney case.
Another victim also came forward during the Fort Worth investigation and reported a 2014 sexual assault in Collin County, which Kimbro was indicted for. He pleaded guilty to that case as well and was sentenced to 20 years.
During the investigation, four other victims were also identified. Victims described being drugged, strangled, and raped. For various reasons, these sexual assaults had not been previously reported to law enforcement, but all four women were prepared to testify against Kimbro.
"Reginald Kimbro is a serial rapist and a serial killer. He used his personality and charm to attract women or drugged them when that did not work," Assistant Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney Allenna Bangs said. "He talked his way out of case after case until his violence culminated in the deaths of Molly Matheson and Megan Getrum."
In 2019, the Texas Legislature created Molly Jane's Law, which requires law enforcement officers investigating sexual assault to input information into a national database which is maintained by the FBI. The effort to enact Molly Jane's Law was led by the Matheson family and their non-profit organization Project Beloved.
"The women affected by Kimbro's crimes are incredibly brave for coming forward with their experiences," Assistant Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney Page Simpson said. "This plea allows the Matheson and Getrum families to finally hear him admit what he did and simultaneously ensures he cannot do it again."
Kimbro has waived all appeals.