So Innocent, Yet So Dead

by Bill Davis

On October 6, 1990, during a family weekend an antique mall in Beaumont, Texas, Joe and Elaine Langley's life changed forever. Their 10-year-old daughter, Falyssa Van Winkle, disappeared while buying peanuts just a few yards away. Five hours later her body was found under a remote rural bridge 80 miles away, where she had been raped and strangled.

Starting with hundreds of potential witnesses and suspects who were at the mall, a team of investigators from throughout Southeast Texas quickly narrowed their focus to a 44-year-old vendor and family acquaintance named James Rexford Powell.

Seen through the eyes of a veteran sex crime detective who helped lead the search for Falyssa Van Winkle's killer, this is a chronicle of the investigation, arrest, subsequent trial, and execution of a man whose profile is all too familiar to police, and can be found much closer to home than any parent can bear to imagine.

At Powell's trial, he was convicted of capital murder in 45-minutes and sentenced to receive the death penalty in 35-minutes.

So Innocent, Yet So Dead, was published in hard copy December 12, 1998 (ISBN 0-9669502-0-8). Powell was finally executed on October 1, 2003. The execution was witnessed by the author, who then wrote the final chapter to the book.

Sgt. Bill Davis, a 36-year police veteran with the Beaumont, Texas Police Department, retired January 31, 2008. During his tenure with the Beaumont Police Department, he investigated over 7,000 child abuse and sex crimes cases. As an internationally recognized motivational speaker and consultant, Sgt. Davis has conducted seminars, lectures, and workshops on the awareness, prevention, and intervention of child abuse, sex crimes, and safety to over 300,000 people during the last thirty years. He has received numerous awards for his investigative skills, speaking abilities, and efforts to save lives.

261 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 12, 1998

Reviews

[Skyler · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book is the story of the murder and subsequent police investigation of a ten year old girl in 1990 written by one of the investigators assigned to the case. Poorly written, the book reads as a loosely constructed narrative of police reports interspersed with cliches. The final chapter, titled "A Theory," was especially offensive -- not only in its feeble attempt in storytelling, but its failure through word choice and structure. In describing the rape of the victim, the author says the killer "penetrated the being of her soul" -- a line that likely inspired "50 Shades of Grey."

Stick to your day job, Bill.

[Tena · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of a young girl who was kidnapped, raped and murdered. Written by the officer who worked on the case. Investigation and interviews with witnesses in several counties help to piece the case together. A story that no parent ever wants to be a part of. The realization that when someone commits such a terrible crime and gets caught, it is usually not the first crime that person has committed.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was pretty good. I found the writing style to be very basic and there were some grammatical and typo errors that were kind of frustrating. There was a lot of repetition in some of the terms. It was a good read though and I was glad to know how the end came out. Since it was written by one of the detectives I thought it would have a different perspective but it was told as if it was not written by one of the detectives.

[Bobbi · Rating 5 out of 5]

To imagine what the family went through! A great book with heartbreaking true facts of the case. The ending made me sick as the guy didn’t even acknowledge what he had done. This book takes from from the beginning of the kidnapping all the way to the end where justice is served. A great book by the very detective who worked the case!

[Dixie Cain · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a hard time putting the book down I began readin. I live about 90 miles north of Beaumont . I

I worked for the Lufkin PD for several years and I like to read anything that has to do with pd

[JoAnn McGuire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the pleasure of meeting the author of this book. He is an amazing man. Sad to head and read this encounters on the job.
This is a sad book.

[Becky Kessler Gallagher]

I could not put this book down until I finished it. This book took place when I was a little girl. We went to the place this book is about all the time.