Tuesday, August 17, 2010 10:04 AM
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(Source: The Eagle)By Matthew Watkins, The Eagle, Bryan, Texas
Aug. 17--Authorities plan to charge a College Station man with capital murder in the kidnapping and stabbing death of his ex-girlfriend's mother who was found dumped in a Fort Worth parking lot over the weekend.
Stanley Wayne Robertson, 42, remained hospitalized Monday with injuries suffered after crashing into a patrol car, ending what police said was a seven-hour crime spree.
He initially was charged with aggravated kidnapping, but authorities said they soon will add capital murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon to the list.
The aggravated assault charge stems from the wreck involving Fort Worth Officer Kerry Gober, who was released from the hospital Sunday.
Authorities spent Monday piecing together a timeline of the weekend's events and discussing how to proceed with Robertson's criminal case.
Police said they believe Robertson drove to the Walmart in College Station with 59-year-old Annie Mae Toliver and her adult son Friday evening. Robertson and Toliver's son went into the store, while Toliver remained in the parking lot. Robertson told the son he forgot something in the car, exited and disappeared with Toliver, her son told police.
About 30 minutes later, police received a call from a woman who said Robertson sent her a text message saying he had kidnapped and stabbed Toliver.
Police tried multiple times to call Robertson on his cell phone, but he didn't answer. He instead called several friends and told them -- falsely, police said -- that he was at different locations in the Bryan-College Station area.
Authorities focused nearly all of their available resources on locating him, and dispatched patrol officers to many of the locations he described. They requested help from the Texas A&M University Police Department to assist with other calls for service in the community.
But, Police Chief Jeff Capps said, they were hesitant to notify the public of Toliver's disappearance because they were unsure if the information they were getting was reliable. The call and text messages they received gave conflicting information -- much of which ended up being untrue, he said.
Hostage negotiators finally reached Robertson by phone about 8 p.m., according to Officer Rhonda Seaton, spokeswoman for the department.
"He was telling us where he was, but he was not being truthful," Seaton said.
Police used "investigative measures" to learn that he was heading to North Texas, she said, and they sent a computer notification to law enforcement agencies in the region.
For a few tense hours, College Station police attempted to find more information about Robertson's location, and hoped North Texas police could track him down.
"You kind of feel out of control when you are depending on the other agencies to stop the person you want to get stopped," Capps said. "They did an excellent job and we are thankful for their help capturing the suspect."
Fort Worth police saw Robertson in a stolen blue Ford Expedition around 1:45 a.m. Saturday in the western part of the city. They followed him at a low speed to a highway about three miles away, where he turned his car around and into oncoming traffic. Seconds later, he collided with a police car, authorities said.
Robertson and Fort Worth Officer Gober, whose car caught fire, were pulled from the wreckage and rushed to a local hospital.
Police found Toliver's body discarded in a shopping center parking lot at around 5 a.m. Preliminary autopsy results posted on the Tarrant County Medical Examiner Office's website said she was stabbed to death.
In addition to those related to the weekend's events, Robertson also faces pending charges of driving while intoxicated and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
According to court documents, he was involved in a police standoff July 5 after holding a knife to Toliver's 34-year-old daughter's neck and threatening to stab her 10 times. He was arrested and held in the Brazos County Jail until he posted $16,500 bail Aug. 1, court records indicate.
Prosecutors now must decide how to handle the slew of charges pending against Robertson.
The aggravated kidnapping charge, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 99 years in prison, is based out of Brazos County. The aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge stemming from Saturday morning's car wreck, also a first-degree felony, is filed in Tarrant County.
Under law, capital murder charges, punishable only by life in prison or the death penalty, can be filed where the murder is alleged to occur or where the body is found.
Because they are in different counties, all the cases can't be tried at once, but prosecutors could agree to pursue the most serious crimes first and then decide to drop the lesser charges if the maximum punishment is obtained.
Brazos County District Attorney Bill Turner said no decision had been made Monday.
"We are still talking about these things," he said.
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