An 84-year-old Texas woman was recently arrested and charged with the murder of her husband, who was shot and killed in 1984. Law enforcement says a TV detective show helped to solve the 35-year-old cold case.
Norma Allbritton was arrested on July 1 at her home in Palestine in Anderson County, Texas, and charged with first-degree murder of her husband. She bonded out of Leon County Jail on July 3 after posting $50,000 bail.
An 84-year-old Texas woman has been arrested for the 35-year cold case murder of her husband following a joint investigation between police and @Oxygen‘s “Cold Justice” TV show. https://t.co/iicIuSkerv pic.twitter.com/0FnmLuKXi1
— Inside Edition (@InsideEdition) July 11, 2019
In 1984, Johnnie Allbritton, then aged 64, was found dead in his home near Buffalo, Texas. Buffalo is about 100 miles southeast of Dallas. Authorities say he was shot five times as he entered his home.
Kevin Ellis, a sheriff in Leon County, Texas, said the arrest was greatly aided by the program “Cold Justice.”
“This truly was a team effort,” Ellis told the Palestine Herald-Press on July 9. “Without ‘Cold Justice’ I don’t think we could’ve progressed as we have. But they also couldn’t have done it without the LCSO [Leon County Sheriff’s Office] staff.”
“Cold Justice” is a reality TV program where investigators revisit unsolved cold cases. In 2015, sheriff’s investigators forwarded some evidence from Johnnie’s death to the program, and the producers decided to take on the case, the Herald-Press reported.
The Leon County Sheriff’s Office collaborated with a producer for the show, Johnny Bonds, and a retired homicide investigator for the Houston Police Department. The team traveled across Texas to interview witnesses and persons of interest in the case, according to the news outlet.
“The investigation was done at no cost to our county,” LCSO investigator Tommy Page said, according to the Herald-Press. “’Cold Justice’ brought not only their expertise but also paid for the trips to meet and interview about 50 people.”
Norma arrived home with a child around 4 p.m., USA Today reported, citing a newspaper report dated May 16, 1984. She reportedly found the door locked and also saw guns through the window, whereupon she called the police to check the house.
Inside Edition reported that at the time, authorities believed that Johnnie had entered his house while a burglary was taking place. Investigators had reportedly found a blanket on which there were guns and rifles and it appeared as though they had been dragged from the home, authorities said according to the news outlet.
KBTX reported that investigators said that the scene was staged to appear as though the house had been broken into.
Two weeks after Johnnie’s death, Norma reportedly skipped a scheduled polygraph test, saying that she had accidentally shot herself after having dropped a shotgun, and so she couldn’t make the appointment, the Herald-Press reported.
The polygraph test never ended up taking place. And until now, no other person has been arrested or charged in relation to Johnnie’s death.
Following Norma’s arrest, The Associated Press reported that Ellis had declined to say what new evidence was presented to the grand jury that was enough to indict Norma Allbritton on a murder charge.
Authorities are now investigating the death of Norma and Johnnie’s daughter, Pam, who died at age 13 in 1981, three years before Johnnie’s death. The New York Daily News reported that Pam had been shot and her death was ruled as a suicide at the time.
The case remains open and the sheriff’s office now has several leads.
“I won’t rest,” Ellis told the Herald-Press. “I don’t think my investigators will rest, until everyone involved in this case, and with other possible crimes related to it, are brought to justice.”
Anyone with more information is encouraged to call the Leon County Sheriff’s Office at 903-536-2749.
Producers of the “Cold Justice” program say the case of Johnnie Allbritton is expected to air in early 2020.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
