Naman Shrestha
When Kimberly Langwell didn’t return home to her Beaumont, Texas, residence from work in July 1999, her teenage daughter, Tiffani McInnis, became worried and filed a missing persons report. Having talked to her mother’s ex-boyfriend, Terry Rose, during the search for her, she wasn’t aware that he was responsible for her sudden disappearance and her death. It would take more than two decades for the authorities to arrest Terry, after a shocking testimony from an unlikely witness. CBS’ ’48 Hours: Kimberly Langwell’s Hidden Grave’ chronicles the decades-long case and how Terry Rose was brought to justice.
Terry Rose’s Confession to His Friend Connected Him to Kimberly Langwell’s Murder Decades Later
Born in the late 1950s, Terry Lee Rose Sr. was in a relationship with Kimberly Langwell, who had a daughter, Tiffani McGinnis, from a previous relationship. During their time together, Terry was allegedly violent towards her on multiple occasions. In early 1999, he reportedly tried to strangle her, after which she decided to break up with him. However, in the months that followed, they seemed to continue staying in touch. On the evening of July 9, 1999, Kimberly left work and stopped by Terry’s home. When 15-year-old Tiffani called him, he told her that she had already left his house. In reality, Terry reportedly shot Kimberly in the back of the head and proceeded to bury her remains underneath one of the bedrooms in his home.
He then drove her car and instructed one of his friends and an employee, David Wile, to follow him in his car to the Westmont Center. After parking her car in the parking lot, Terry got inside David’s car and returned to his home on Lindbergh. That weekend, the killer confessed that he had killed his former girlfriend and buried her remains under his house. After Kimberly’s car was found at the Westmont Center a day after her disappearance, the authorities launched an investigation. In the following days, Terry also paid to put up a billboard to amplify the search for the missing woman, despite being the man behind her killing. Given his history of violence towards her, the detectives were suspicious about his possible involvement in Kimberly’s disappearance.
However, because there was no evidence, he wasn’t arrested or charged until more than two decades later, when his friend, David, recanted his initial claims of not knowing anything about the crime. In 2024, David reached out to the police and told them about Terry’s confession. Armed with sufficient evidence against him, the detectives executed a search warrant for the suspect’s home on Lindbergh starting on June 10, 2024. A few days later, on June 13, they found Kimberly’s buried remains under his bedroom with the help of cadaver dogs and ground-penetrating radar. That same day, Terry was arrested and charged with Kimberly’s murder.
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Terry Rose is Currently Incarcerated at a Texas Prison Facility
After his arrest, Terry Rose’s jail phone calls were recorded, in which he showed a lack of remorse. In one of the calls, the accused talked about the crime, claiming that he “had a bad day. I dealt with it wrong. I f**** up, and then I’ve got to deal with it.” He was also vocal about his hatred toward Tiffani. Hoping that she would die early, he also stated, “I will pee in a cup, send it to y’all to pour on her grave.” Terry blamed Kimberly for the murder and said that if she “would have been honest and said, Look, I was out messing around on you. I could have just walked away, not had a problem, and none of this s*** would have been a problem.” About a month after his arrest, Tiffani filed a wrongful death lawsuit against him.
More than a year later, around mid-August 2025, he refused to agree to a plea deal that would have lessened his possible life term to 40 years. However, about four months later, he changed his mind and pleaded guilty to the charges against him on December 2, 2025, just a few days before his trial. His sentencing hearing took place two weeks later, on December 16. Terry Rose was finally sentenced to 40 years in prison for his involvement in Kimberly Langwell’s murder. The judge admitted that he would have liked to impose a harsher punishment.
“There is a part of me that wishes I had not accepted this plea agreement and that we had gone to trial last week, because I do think a jury would have given you life or 99 years,” he added. He also said, “If I had 50, I’d give you 50. If I had 60, I’d give you 60.” Following the hearing, Tiffani told the reporters, “Whenever you lose somebody, it’s never going to be enough. I want people to remember my mom more than anything. To me, that’s what’s most important, that she is remembered.” As of today, the 68-year-old killer is serving his sentence at Diboll Unit in Diboll, Texas, with his parole eligibility date and projected release date scheduled for June 2044 and June 2064, respectively.
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