Tyler County Man Arrested, Indicted For 1988 Murder In Southeast Texas
AUSTIN (CBSDFW.COM) — More than 30 years after a woman was killed in East Texas, police have arrested a man in connection with the case.
On Tuesday, Aug. 27, 60-year-old Daniel MacGinnis was arrested in connection with the murder of Patricia Ann Jacobs.
Jacobs, who was 36 at the time, attended a meeting at the Silver Spur tavern in Hardin County on the evening of Oct. 5, 1988. When she didn't return home, her husband drove to the bar to search for her and found her pickup truck still in the parking lot. Jacobs' husband contacted the Hardin County Sheriff's Office and reported her missing.
The following day, on Oct. 6, Jacobs' body was found in the Neches River in Port Arthur — approximately 40 miles from where she was last seen.
MacGinnis lived in the same city as Jacobs when she died, and police determined he was a suspect. But by the spring of 1989, he fled to California.
When the Texas Rangers traveled to California to interview him; MacGinnis, who had no previous contact with Jacobs', denied any part in her death.
The investigation stalled until Oct. 2018, when a family member contacted the Texas Rangers to request an update on the case. Port Arthur Police along with the Texas Rangers determined there was evidence in the case that had not been examined by the Texas Department of Public Safety's (DPS) crime laboratory.
The evidence in question was tested and matched MacGinnis' DNA.
Though, a motive for the murder is still unclear.
MacGinnis has also been convicted of crimes in other parts of Texas, California and Idaho, where the Texas Rangers have reached out to law enforcement agencies in effort to determine if he is tied to any other unsolved cases.
