Car confiscation dispute may be motive behind Fort Worth auto park triple murder
Relatives of two of the victims believe that a dispute over a confiscated car could be the motive behind the murder of three employees in a Fort Worth car park.
FORT WORTH, Texas – Police identified a second suspect in the murders of three employees in a Fort Worth car park.
Police arrested Lamont Cousins, 44, on three counts of capital murder. Police identified a second suspect as Andrew Vandermeer, 32, who is also now in custody. Current mugshots for them have not yet been released.
Relatives of two of the victims believe that a dispute over a confiscated car could be the motive.
Details from a court document indicate that the three victims died following an alleged shady deal involving a vehicle that the prime suspect sold to the car park.
Lamont Cousins as seen in an earlier Dallas County mugshot in 2012
The investigation into the heinous crime began Monday afternoon. One person called the police to report that they could not get to Bills Auto Sales and that there was blood on the door.
Agents performed a welfare check at the company on Benbrook Highway in southwest Fort Worth. They found 65-year-old Virginia “Jenny” Lewis, the company secretary, shot to death.
The investigation led them to an abandoned building in Palo Pinto County, where they found the bodies of 46-year-old Veronica Jones, another fleet employee, and 55-year-old Clayton Turrentine, the owner of the fleet.
Cayley Jones and Toni Lewis are both distraught, confused, and overwhelmed, looking for answers. Their mothers were two mainstays of their family and worked at Bill’s Auto Sales. Both women and their boss were found murdered.
“There isn’t a bad bone in my body at all,” Cayley said of her mother, Veronica. “And taking someone’s life like that just isn’t fair.”
She was good. And she would have given anything to everyone, ”Toni said of her mother, Virginia. “She always did.”
Veronica Jones and Virginia Lewis worked together at Bills Auto Sales in southwest Fort Worth. (Credit: Family Photos)
The relatives say they know about nieces and nephews. They say he sold vehicles to the company and there was a dispute between him and a confiscated car recently.
Fort Worth police were called to the parking lot after one of the victim’s sons went to see if family members were working and saw blood on the floor. Inside, police found Virginia on the floor behind a desk with a gunshot wound.
‘If it had been a robbery she would have been like just taking whatever you want with you. They had no reason to take our family away from us, ”Toni said.
Police interviewed family members who told them that Turrentine, the owner of the car park, had bought a red Dodge from Cousins for $ 10,000, but later discovered that the car had a lien and was repossessed.
“Lamont was not happy with what my mother told me,” said Toni. “I didn’t know he was coming in on Monday.”
Surveillance videos from nearby businesses show a vehicle entering the parking lot. And ten minutes later, at least two people pull out of the company garage in an F-150 truck.
Detectives followed the GPS tracker on the truck to a parking lot in Arlington, where they found Cousins and Vandermeer.
Vandermeer told police that Cousins had called him to Bill’s Auto Sales. When Ad got there, he saw Turrentine lying on the sofa, injured and bleeding, and a woman sitting next to him, bleeding from her chest.
According to the affidavit of the warrant, Lamont “ordered him to tie both Clay and the female with a rope” and then everyone loaded into the F-150.
Vandermeer said that “Clay and the female were both alive and talking while taking them to an unknown location west of Interstate 20.” Then “Lamont ordered him to stop at an old abandoned building where Lamont pulled Clay from the truck to the abandoned building and shot him.”
Vandermeer said that Cousins then did the same with the woman.
“They positively identified my mother as one of the bodies found in Palo Pinto. The detective just called me, ”Cayley said. “It is what it is, but now it is time for answers. It’s not fair, and it’s not right. “
According to the affidavit, Cousins has disputed Vandemeer’s version of the events and denies being involved in any of the murders.
According to the report, there was also a third person with Cousins and Vandermeer when they were approached by the police. However, that person has not been charged and it is unclear whether they were involved in the murders.
Both Cousins and Vandermeer are charged with capital murder.
Cousins is being held on a $ 1 million bond.
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