Kenneth Cummings Jr.

Kevin Cummings Jr. (1961 - June 4, 2007) a gay man from Pearland, TX, was last seen alive on June 4, 2007. Terry Mangum, 26, was arrested and later confessed to stabbing Cummings to death after luring him from a gay bar. Mangum said he had gone out intending to target a gay man.

Kenneth Cummings Jr.

Cummings lived alone on the 1100 block of Sussex, in Pearland's Southdown subdivision.¹⁾ He worked as a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines, where he was employed for 24 years. He was well-liked by his co-workers, and considered a dependable, thoughtful person.²⁾ He was also close to his family, and a thoughtful uncle to his sister's children. He often brought back gifts for them, from his travels. When he disappeared, Cummings was in the process of setting up college funds for his 4-year-old niece and 18-month-old nephew.³⁾

When he missed work two days in a row, and failed to show for a promised visit at his sister's house on June 5, Cummings' family and coworkers became concerned. He also missed a planned visit with friends in Fort Lauderdale, during a June 6 layover. After finding blood inside Cummings' home, his parents called police again and the search began in earnest,⁴⁾

On June 10, Texas Equusearch got involved in the search for Cummings, focusing their attention on the two-mile radius area around his home.⁵⁾ Founded in Dickinson, Texas, in August 2007⁶⁾, Texas Equusearch has conducted searched for missing persons worldwide, with a 78% find rate.⁷⁾

Kenneth Cummings Missing Poster

Inside Cummings' home items were missing, including two rugs and purple afghan from the sofa. Police found blood splatters on a wall and an area that looked as if it had been cleaned. Police also found Cummings' car, a white 2003 Saturn, parked in the garage, with damage to the passenger side and front bumpter.⁸⁾

Cummings had last been seen in the Montrose area of Pearland, where he had met a man known as Dillion E.J.'s on Ralph Street and J.R.'s on Pacific Street.⁹⁾

Police began investigating Mangum after many witnesses said they saw him with Cummings the night before he disappeared. Mangum was also the last person Cummings called on his cell phone. Police interviewed Mangum as a person of interest on the case on June 11, as he may have been the last person to see Cummings alive. ¹⁰⁾

Mangum agreed to be taken into custody. Shortly after 7:00 p.m. on June 11¹¹⁾, police arrested Mangum following an interview filled with inconsistencies.¹²⁾

Mangum told police that he had met Cummings at E.J.'s bar in Houston and followed Cummings' back to his home in Pearland, where they continued to party and drink. Mangum said that before he left Cummings gave him his wallet, credit cards, car keys, checkbook, and cash and told him to “go have fun.” Mangum said that his boots got muddy when he did some yard work for his mother. He used the same explanation for thumbs. Later he changed his story, saying that he'd borrowed a shovel from his landlord to dig mushrooms in the woods. Mangum's landlord confirmed that he had borrowed a shovel.¹³⁾

Pearland detective John Matherne would testify that police arrived at the house where Mangum was renting a room just as Mangum was leaving. Mathern saw Mangum's 1992 Toyota parked in the driveway and looked inside. He saw two credit cards on the front seat, one of which bore the name Kenneth Cummings.¹⁴⁾

After Mangum's arrest, police discovered he had made several purchases with Cummings' credit cards along Interstate 10, between San Antonio and Houston.¹⁵⁾ Mangum used the credit cards to buy lighter fluid, a flashlight, and hydrogen peroxide at a store outside of San Antonio. Store video confirmed that the person using the cards appeared to be Mangum. A police search of property records led to a ranch owned by Robert Mangum.¹⁶⁾

When police received permission to search Mangum's car, on June 11, they found a partially used bag of charcoal, a roll of plastic bags, and a pair of shoes with light colored dirt on them. Pearland Police Detective Ricky Bort would later testify that the shoes had a substance on the bottom that police believed to be blood. The trunk later tested positive for blood. They also found fleck of what Bort said appeared to be blood in the trunk of the car. In Mangum's room they found a brown leather belt that had what they believed to be blood on it, and a pair of socks that appeared to have blood splatters on them.¹⁷⁾

Mangum's grandfather, Robert Mangum, identified him in photo line-up and said Mangum had been on his property for the elder Mangum's 90th birthday on June 2. Robert Mangum then gave Texas Equusearch permission to search his property.

For several days, 600 volunteers searched the elder Mangum's property. Eventually a bone was found in a dried-up pond. Searchers dug around it and found charcoal. A bit deeper, the uncovered a body that was later determined to be Cummings' body.¹⁸⁾ Investigators said that Mangum had used Cummings' credit cards, less than 16 miles from the gravesite, to buy charcoal and lighter fluid.¹⁹⁾

Mangum later admitted that he lied in his explanation of the cuts on his thumbs, and admitted that he had killed an old acquaintance with a knife and buried the knife along with the body.²⁰⁾

The following account of Cumming's murder is taken from testimony and news reports during Mangum's trial:

On June 4, 2007, Mangun met Cummings and his friend Craig Farrell at a gay bar in South Houston and struck up a conversation with them, telling them his name was Dylan. Farrell said he and Cummings went out to lunch and did some shopping before going to the bar, where they met Mangum. The three men played pool together, and Farrell said Mangum began flirting with Cummings, so Farrell “just assumed he was gay.”

Farrell said Cummings and Mangum spoke on the phone that evening, which was confirmed by phone records presented at trial. Sureveillance video presented at trial showed Cummings and Mangum purchasing beer and wine on the evening of June 4.²¹⁾

On July 11, 2007, The Facts reporter John Tompkins interviewed Mangum at the Brazoria County jail, he would later testify that Mangum confessed to Cummings' murder during the interview. “As I was explaining, he cut me off and said he planned to plead guilty,” Tompkins would later say. “He said, 'I did it. The bottom line is that I stabbed him in the head with a knife.” Mangum and Tompkins were separated by glass and spoke via the jailhouse phone. Tompkins took one page of notes during the interview, which was not recorded.

Mangum said he did not seek out Cummings specifically, but he did go to a gay bar in South Houston. “It just happened to be the one I bumped into,” he told the reporter. Tompkins were later clarify that Mangum said “it,” not “he.”Mangum reportedly believed he was the biblical prophet Elijah. He did not say that God told him to kill, but said to Mangum “my belief of God was judging him,” and said more than one that he was sacrificing the body.²²⁾

In several jail house interviews, Mangum discussed his motive for killing Cummings. He told The Houston Chronicle that he had studied the bible for “thousands and thousands and thousands” of hours, and that God appeared to him in a dream or “visitation” during a prison stay in 2001 and commanded him to kill. After six months of planning, he went to E.J.'s, where he met Cummings. The two went back to Cummings' home, where Mangum said he stabbed Cummings in the head with a 6” blade.

“I believe I'm Elijah, called by God to be a prophet,” he told reporters. ”…I believe with all my heard that I was doing the right thing.²³⁾

Mangum said he went to a gay bar specifically for the purposes of targeting a gay man, and that Cummings “just happened to be the one that I bumped into.” ²⁴⁾

The Facts reporter John Tompkins did ask Mangum about his sexual orientation, during his jailhouse interview with Mangum, but Mangum went out of his way to tell the reporter that he was not homosexual and that he thought homosexuality was an abomination. “I asked him if killing him was like stomping on a bug,” Tompkins would later testify.”He looked at me kind of confused and I rephrased, “Like swatting a mosquito?' “He said, 'Yes.'”²⁵⁾

Mangum was charged with murder, with a hate crime enhancement. If found guilty of murder, a first degree felony, he could face up to 99 years in prison and fined up to $10,000. Mangum was jailed at the Pearland Police Department, with his jail bond set at $3,000.²⁶⁾

Cummings funeral was held on June 23, at the Christian Temple Church in Houston, and was attended by 600 people. Several of Cummings' Southwest Airlines co-workers attended and wore their uniforms.²⁷⁾

Terry Mangum

On August 7, 2008, Mangum's defense attorneys entered an insanity plea, saying the proper label for their client was mentally ill. Co-counsel Steve Perry told jurors that Mangum suffered from “delusions, schizophrenia and mental illness.” Prosecutor Jerry Warren told the jury that evidence, witnesses, and Mangums own statements would prove his guilt. “Killing a gay man. That was his goal,” Warren said.²⁸⁾

On August 8, 2008, jurors and courtroom attendees saw photographs and heard descriptions of the site where Cummings' body was found. Photographs of the exhumation drew objections from Mangum's attorneys, which the judge rejected. Mangum stared intently at the photographs given to his attorneys.

Bexar County Sheriff's Office investigators John Mahon and Juan Contreras described the scene, while prosecution attorney Travis Townsend displayed a photograph of Cummings' body as it was found, using a laser to point out Cumming's head, arms, torso and legs.

Contreras said they found charcoal and melted plastic, and articles of clothing around the body. Investigators left the site around 10 p.m. on June 16, but were sent back on June 18 after being informed that parts of the body would be missing. Investigators recovered “a large piece of flesh or bone” and “a large piece of bone.” Authorities did not reveal what else was found.²⁹⁾Convenience store clerk Mary Scheck testified that Mangum purchased several items at her store, just a few minds from Robert Mangum's ranch, at about 5:00 a.m. on June 6, 2007. Receipts showed he purchased charcoal briquettes and lighter fluid. “He said he was having a barbecue,” Scheck testified. Sheck noticed gashes on Mangum's hand when he signed the receipt, which he said he got while working. Mangum asked if he could use the store restroom to wash his hands.³⁰⁾

On August 9, 2008, medical examiner Kimberly Molina testified in Mangum's trial. Displaying a close-up photograph of the knife blade broken off in Cumming's head, Molina describe the condition of Cummings' body as partially burnt, almost naked, and missing part of an arm. The body was identified as Cummings by dental expert Joanne Ethier. Aside from the puncture wound to his head, Cummings suffered deep cuts to the back left area of his scalp, one of which was probably delivered with force. One of the wounds was associated with a skull fracture, and the tip of the knife was left in the skull.

Using pictures provided by prosecutor Warren, Molina described her examination of Cummings' body, showing the stab wounds and cuts to his head and neck. Cummings had three cuts to his adams apple, and some of the flesh was cut away, but Molina could not confirm whether Cummings' throat had been cut. She could determine that he had been strangled. He also had blood in his right chest cavity, associated with trauma to the chest or chest organs. Molina pointed to three possible causes of death: stab wounds to the head and neck, blood in the chest cavity, and strangulation.³¹⁾

During the fourth day of Mangum's trial, forensic psychologist Kristi Compton testified that he was delusional and schizophrenic. Michael Fuller, a psychiatrist at the University of Texas Medical Branch, also took the stand for the defense. Fuller, after spending six hours with Mangum over three interviews, found that Mangum suffered from a severe antisocial disorder.

Fuller spoke of Mangum's religions beliefs.

“It's my opinion that Mr. Mangum has significant religious preoccupation and delusional beliefs,” Fuller said. “It's complicated to know exactly what to do with bizarre religious beliefs as opposed to other bizarre beliefs.”

Compton, who also had three interviews with Mangum described her sessions with him as “hours of prophecy.” She also spoke of his religious beliefs as justification for Cummings' murder.

“He believed he was justified through God for his actions,” Compton said. “He believed he was anointed and appointed by God to rid the world of harvested sin.”

Compton diagnosed Mangum as delusional when he spoke of getting visits from Satan while locked in his solitary confinement cell in 2003. She said Mangums mental state seemed to deteriorate during that period, though mental illness was already present. In letters written during that period, Mangum claimed to be Jesus Christ and also to be possessed by Satan. The letters were signed either “Elijah” or “Melchizedek.”³²⁾

On August 13, 2008, Mangum was convicted in Cummings' murder, and sentenced to life in prison.³³⁾ The jury took 1 1/2 hours to return a guilty verdict and 30 minutes to return a life sentence, and also impose a $10,000 fine. The jury also found that Cummings' murder was a hate crime.

Mangum will be eligible for parole in 30 years. His previous conviction, letters from the Cummings' family, and the finding that the killing was a hate crime will all be considered in any parole hearings. The prosecution did not file capital murder charges — which carried a possible death sentence — because they did not believe they could prove the killing was part of another crime.³⁴⁾