Viswa Vanapalli
Just days apart, in April 2017, the authorities in Texas learned of two brutal homicides that followed a similar pattern. Molly Matheson and Megan Getrum were found raped and killed, with the police later linking the crimes to one person. NBC News’ ‘Dateline: Wreckage’ chronicles the shocking investigation that raised more questions regarding how the killer roamed free despite being accused of sexual assaults in the past. So, if let’s find out more about what happened then, shall we?
How Did Molly Matheson and Megan Getrum Die?
Molly Jane Matheson was born in Florida before moving to Fort Worth, Texas, with her family. She graduated from Keller Timber Creek High School in Fort Worth and later attended the University of Arkansas. However, the 22-year-old reportedly left the university in 2015 and moved back to Fort Worth. At the time of the incident, she lived near Texas Christian University and worked as a sales manager at a women’s clothing shop.
On April 10, 2017, Molly’s mother, Tracy, went to check on her after the young woman didn’t show up for work. That day, Tracy made a horrific discovery in the bathroom. Molly was found dead under a running shower; she had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death, with the killer taking steps to try and wash away the evidence. Molly’s death was ruled a homicide.
Megan Leigh Getrum loved traveling, hiking, and camping. On April 14, 2017, the 36-year-old went on a hike in the Arbor Hills Nature Preserve in Plano, Texas. That evening was the last time Megan was seen alive. On April 15, 2017, her body was found in Lake Roy Hubbard, Texas. Like Molly, she had been sexually assaulted. Furthermore, there were signs of strangulation, blunt force trauma in the back of the head, and drowning.
Who Killed Molly Matheson and Megan Getrum?
In Molly Matheson’s case, the authorities looked at her phone records and messages to see if that would lead to any clues. Records showed that she received a text message from a man named Reginald Kimbro at around 10:26 pm on April 9, 2017. He was brought in for questioning a few days after Molly was found, and the police realized that he knew the 22-year-old from her time in Arkansas. Molly and Reginald dated for a while; despite breaking up, they stayed in touch after.
Reginald told the police that he went to Molly’s apartment that night and claimed they began to kiss. However, he claimed that Molly turned him down for sex, after which he left around 1:30 am on April 10, 2017. A text message on her phone from Reginald at around 2:59 am showed him thanking her for some advice. However, she never read that text. At the crime scene, it appeared that the murderer had gone to extreme lengths to cover his tracks. Molly was left under a shower to remove evidence, but DNA was still found and collected from her body.
Furthermore, the police found wet laundry in the apartment. The load contained two pairs of women’s underwear, a fitted sheet, a pillowcase, washcloths, a towel, a pair of running shorts, and a pair of men’s underwear. Reginald admitted to wearing running shorts on the night of April 9, and the authorities believed that the ones found at Molly’s apartment were his. Later, Reginald’s DNA matched the biological evidence from the scene.
Similarly, biological evidence was collected from Megan, who was sexually assaulted. This also matched Reginald, connecting him to two sexual assaults and murders. Then, as the authorities would find out, he had a pattern of attacking women over the years. Before his arrest for the murders, Reginald came across the police’s radar for sexual assaults in different parts of Texas in 2012 and 2014. In three separate incidents, women accused Reginald of choking and raping them.
In all those cases, his semen was found on the women, but an arrest was not made. The authorities stated that in the 2012 case, the woman in question didn’t want to press charges at the time but changed her mind after the murder investigation began. A woman was raped in Allen, Texas, in January 2014, but the authorities only confirmed that it was Reginald’s DNA in the rape kit in February 2017, just over a month before Molly was killed. Furthermore, a former girlfriend of Reginald’s stated that he liked strangling during sex, and at times, would go too far and wouldn’t stop.
In the end, in March 2022, just before the trial started, Reginald took a plea deal that had him admitting to the two murders and four other sexual assaults. As a result, Reginald was sent away for life without the possibility of parole. The authorities that handled the earlier sexual assault cases were criticized as a result, with one woman stating that the officer who questioned her didn’t believe her. Victim advocates said that the murders could have been avoided if Reginald had been arrested earlier when his DNA was deemed a match in the 2014 sexual assault case.
Read More: Where is Reginald Kimbro Now?
