McKinney homicide

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Contents 1 2004 McKinney Quadruple Homicide 2 Incident 3 Police Response 4 Community Response 5 High School Response

[edit] 2004 McKinney Quadruple Homicide

Four people were gunned down in a house in McKinney, Texas on March 12, 2004. The incident received notable national coverage on the July 22, 2006 episodeofAmerica's Most Wanted, leading to the capture of a suspect.

[edit] Incident

On March 12, 2004, Eddie Williams, Javier Cortez, and Raul Cortez invaded the home of Rosa Barbosa expecting to get access to the check-cashing store where Rosa worked. The gunmen followed Barbosa home from the check-cashing store and invaded her home to try and gain access to the store. Mark Barbosa, Rosa Barbosa’s nephew, was eating at CiCi’s pizza in McKinney with some of his friends, Austin York and Matt Self.
While the gunmen were interrogating Rosa for information on how to rob the check-cashing store, Matt Self, Austin York, and Mark Barbosa were on their way to visit the Barbosa home. Matt Self and Austin York were students at McKinney North High School and were players on the varsity football team. York was with Self at the time that Matt decided to do his routine check on his neighbors, and was not at all expecting what he was about to witness. When the boys arrived at the Barbosa home they were extremely surprised to find Rosa Barbosa being held hostage in the house by three gunmen. The three gunmen were surprised when Self and York walked into the house. The boys were said to have never been a target to the gunmen, and that they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. As soon as the boys walked into the house the Cortez brothers ambushed them and forced them into the front bedroom of the small house.
Police reported that the four hostages were fatally shot on 100 block of Truett Street, at Ms. Barbosa’s home. When the police came onto the scene in March 2004, all of the victims were announced dead on the scene except for Matt Self. He was air lifted by medical helicopters to the Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, where he died the following day.

[edit] Police Response

One month after the killings, police had believed that they had solved the case, but soon realized that the suspects were not guilty, due to a lack of evidence and were released. It wasn’t until a few months after the case that the authorities were led to Eddie Williams and the Cortez brothers. McKinney Police Detective, Joe Arp, eventually gathered DNA evidence that linked Raul Cortez to the crime scene on Truett Street in McKinney, Texas. Investigators collected a cigarette butt from the place where Cortez worked in Florida to use as DNA evidence against the suspect. Also, investigators retrieved DNA evidence from the latex glove pieces and duct tape that the suspects left behind in the house on the day of the murders. Arp used the cigarette butt and the latex pieces to cross-reference and once tested, was found to have matched. The case had not been progressing steadily until Talisha Haithcox, 37, called the police and told them that her boyfriend, Eddie Williams, was involved with the murders of the four victims in McKinney, Texas.
Williams and Haithcox went to the police station together on June 14, 2004, and cooperated with the police fully. Eddie Williams, 24, cooperated when the police asked him to take a polygraph test, which in turn proved that Williams was in fact telling the truth when he said he was in the house on Truett Street on the night of the killings. Williams told police officials that before the shooting he had been at Raul Cortez’s house in McKinney planning to rob Cliff’s Checking Cashing business, where Rosa Barbosa was the manager. Williams also stated that while they were planning the robbery Raul Cortez fired his .25-caliber pistol into the ceiling of his house at 312 South Kentucky Street in McKinney while his brother stood outside to listen and see if he could hear the shot being fired. Police officials recovered fragments of the bullet in the South Kentucky residence, and matched those bullet fragments to the ones that were removed from victims Mark Barbosa, 25, and Austin York. Williams admitted to shooting Austin Self, and explained that his main reasoning was because the Cortez brothers would have killed him if he hadn’t have shot Austin. Haithcox 18-year-old son, Cody, reasoned with the police officials on why Williams might have shot Austin. “I heard Shorty (Eddie Williams’ street name) talk about Javier. He was his friend.”(Dallas News) Cody said. “If anything, I think they made him do it. He’s not that type of guy.”(Dallas News) Regardless if he was forced to shoot the victims or not, justice was served.
Javier Cortez, 31, Raul Cortez, 26, and Eddie Williams were all arrested and charged. Williams faced four counts of capital murder and was held in the Collin County Jail on a six million dollar bail. Raul Cortez was charged with one count of capital murder, and was jailed in Florida. Javier Cortez was not charged with capital murder, but was being held on a federal gun charge and a charge of providing false information on an application to obtain a firearm.

[edit] Community Response

The city of McKinney, Texas has never been the same ever since the disastrous murders of the four innocent victims. The citizens of McKinney came together to mourn for the victims, as well as support and pray for the families of the victims. Bill Self, a neighbor and friend of the Barbosas, was very sad to see his long time neighbor not live next door to him anymore. “Rosa, the lady, she was just the salt of the earth,” Self said (McKinney Courier-Gazette). “Whenever I saw her in the yard, she always had this wonderful smile and spoke in just a friendly manner.” (McKinney Courier-Gazette).

[edit] High School Response

The students at McKinney North High School were devastated by this also, because of the influence the boys had on the student body of the school and on the football field. The entire football team, junior varsity and varsity, was lost without the boys. Having have had a great football season that previous year, the football coaches were worried that the death of Austin York and Matt Self would effect their upcoming season.
In the oncoming season, the team decided to use this tragedy to show the team a lesson on how to overcome challenges in their lives. All of the football players on the McKinney North High School football team played every game with the spirit of Austin York and Matt Self on the field with them. The players knew that each game that they won was a win for Austin and Matt. Each game that the football team won was not only a win for Austin and Matt, but it was a win for their families.
One of the ways that McKinney North High School decided to pay tribute to Austin and Matt was by dedicating a parking spot in the student parking lot at the high school, one for Matt and one for Austin. The students at North High School painted each spot in the spirit colors of the school, blue and orange. They painted each boy’s first and last name, along with the boy’s football jersey number. To this day, the parking spots are still painted, and no student has ever parked in the spots. The students that are in attendance at the high school feel a sense of respect every time they pass by the parking spots.
Also, the coaches felt that out of respect to Austin and Matt’s families they would retire the football jerseys and the numbers on them. The team agreed with their coaches in that it would be devastating for any of the boy’s family members to see another football player playing on the bulldog team with that jersey.

Works Cited
Ellis, Tiara M. "Police Use DNA to Tie Men to McKinney Murders." The Dallas Morning News. 20 July 2007. Dallas News. 20 July 2007 <http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/072007dnmetmckinneydna.2f39562.html>.
Wixon, Matt . "McKinney North underdogs? Try Unbeaten." WFAA. 9 Sep. 2006. WFAA. 29 Apr. 2008 <http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/columnists/mwixon/stories/091006dnspowixon.2c1ef91.html>.
White, Stefanie. "Star Community Newspapers." McKinney Courier-Gazette 18 July 2007.