DALLAS’S DEADLIEST DAY

Thursday, February 8, 1990. The day begins unseasonably warm, with the nearly full moon giving Che early-morning darkness added light. Seven murders will occur on this deadliest of days in Dallas’s deadliest year, 1990.



‧ Midnight-Curtis Moseley, black male, 36: Outside, it’s clear and warm. Curtis Moseley tries to break into his estranged wife’s apartment in South Dallas through a window, wielding a box knife and threatening to kilt her and her daughter. His wife shoots at her husband while he’s outside the window, As she runs out the front door, Moseley grabs her. While struggling, the wife fires twice. One bullet finds Moseley’s abdomen. Moseley is taken to Methodist Medical Center and listed in critical condition. He dies at 11 a. m. The wife, Cynthia Moseley, is arrested and charged with the crime. A grand jury later no-bills her, and she is set free. Case closed.



‧ 2: 30 a. m. -Desmond Houghton, black male, 21: As a shroud of fog moves over Dallas, a man arrives at an apartment complex on Holmes Street in South Dallas to purchase one bag of marijuana from Desmond Houghton. After the purchase, Koughton and an accomplice corner the man on the second-story landing and demand his wallet. The man gives Houghton the wallet, then pushes both robbers out of the way and runs. Houghton’s accomplice, turning to fire at his prey, accidently shoots Houghton in the head. The accomplice flees. Officers arrive at the apartment complex and find Houghton lying on the front landing between apartments 214 and 215, barely alive. He is taken to Baylor University Medical Center and listed in critical condition. He later dies. The case remains open, with the primary suspect not yet apprehended. Investigators continue to seek a statement from a juvenile who said he saw (he shooting.



‧ 6: 26 a. m-Eric Green, black male, 25: The fog brings a cool front with it, and the day’s high of 80 degrees will soon pass. Green, who had checked into a South Dallas motel on Maryland Avenue the previous morning, talks with a friend in the room and then goes to see someone in room 34. At least four shots are fired. The suspect flees. Arriving officers find a small bag of crack cocaine on the bed. Green is taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital and listed in serious condition with several gunshot and stab wounds. He later dies. Police first suspect a female who was listed as renting the room, then later realize the name on the register is phony. Steve Hines, who police believe had arranged a drug buy that went bad, is later arrested. He is scheduled to be tried on April 29, 1991.



‧ 5: 4S p. m. -Valerie and Matthew Petit, white female and white male, 33 and 4: As sunset approaches, Brad Petit, 33, comes into his Oak Cliff home to find his wife and 4-year-old son have been killed, each in their bedroom: his wife struck by a blunt weapon on the head, his son strangled. Petit’s other son, 15 months old, is unharmed. Petit calls the police. Officers discover a window that was forced open from outside. A few small items have been taken. Both bodies are taken to the medical examiner’s office. The case is unresolved; no arrests have been made.



●7: 05 p. m. -Norris Jones Jr., black male, 22: The SUB has set, and the moon is full. Jones, known as “Boone” to friends, washes his car at McDonald’s Car Wash on Houston School Road in Oak Cliff. Jones is shot several times in the head and chest in the car wash parking lot. Police and a fire department ambulance arrive, and Jones is taken to Methodist Medical Center. He is pronounced dead at 7: 15 p. m. Police arrest Neal Walters, who they suspect killed Jones because of drugs. In June, Walters is sentenced to 60 years in jail and fined $5, 000. He is currently in jail while the case is on appeal.



●10: 55 p. m. -Pedro Martinez Cortina., Hispanic male, 24: Out side, though dark, it is still clear and cool, approaching the day’s low of 51 degrees. Cortinas, his friend Jesus Rivero, and Juan Prado are in Cortinas’s apartment an Beckley Avenue in Oak Cliff. Allegedly, they discuss a price for a used television set with another man. (Police will later say they were conducting a drug deal. ) They disagree on (he price, and Prado shoots Cortinas several times in the head and chest. Cortinas then shoots Prado, Each victim is taken to Methodist Medical Center. Cor tinas dies, but Prado, listed in critical condition, survives, Police investigators deter mine Prado to be the suspect, and he’s charged with murder. The murder case against Prado is dismissed in Judge Richard Mays’s court on October 17, 1990, after (he state is unable to locate Rivero, the only eyewitness. Prado is currently serving seven years on an unrelated charge.