ODESSA, Texas — Starting a family can be an exciting time for newly married couples. From buying the baby’s crib, to their first outfit, expecting your first child can be an exhilarating feeling.
For one couple in 1984, however, that feeling was taken from them — along with the lives of the would-be mother and the unborn baby.
"Back in the day, you just put an ad in the newspaper and people would come test drive your vehicle," Odessa Crime Stoppers CEO Susan Rogers said.
But on this day, a simple ad in the paper led to a gruesome murder.
"They surmise that someone came and test drove the vehicle," Rogers said. "And she got in the car with them, and something happened while they were test driving it, and she was killed during that."
Not just her being killed, but her unborn baby also losing their life that hadn't even started.
This is the story of Janet Gregston.
"So Janet Gregston was found murdered on August 21 of 1984," Rogers said. "She was in the process of selling a car. She had a gold Buick Riviera."
"And we think the perpetrator went over there, acting as if he was interested in buying the car," Monnie Weddel, former investigator of the case, said. "And we believe she willfully got into the car with him to let him test drive the car. And this took them out on the North Loop, where he was going to try and take her into the lease road. But there's the gate was closed and locked. And as they were sitting there, she bails out of the car. And she's, at that time, she's in the driver's position. And he stabbed her several times before she was able to exit the car."
"She was found on northeast Loop 338," Rogers said.
Police are unsure why this happened, since the murderer didn't even take the car.
"He then takes her car," Weddel said. "Leaving her body there and drives it into Northeast Odessa and abandons her car there."
"The vehicle was subsequently found in a neighborhood afterwards," Rogers said. "So I mean, you know, you have no idea what the motive is for someone that's going to kill someone. You know, they just I mean, it's, some people are just wired wrong."
The one thing on this case's side: witnesses.
"I think there were a couple of witnesses that had been on the loop at that time that had seen a man and a woman arguing in a car," Rogers said. "So they had some witnesses at the time. "
Enough witnesses to create a sketch of the potential killer.
"We wound up with a drawing — a sketch of the suspect," Rogers said.
But it eventually led to a dead end.
"I believe back at the time that when the composite was actually released," Rogers said. "They had some names that had come in, but they'd ruled everybody out on that. So as far as I know that we've never been able to get anywhere with that."
So it was back to square one for investigators.
Until a few months later, when a man came to the sheriff's office claiming he had ESP, and that he knew Janet was in danger on the day of her death, stating he had "visions of harm," according to newspaper articles at the time by the Odessa American.
He also gave investigators details about the crime only the killer would know.
An eyewitness then confirmed he was the man they saw that fateful day. So an arrest was made, and for a while, investigators seemed to have their man.
That seemed to be that. He was the murderer of Janet Gregston... right?
"We took the case to the grand jury," Weddel said. "He was found to be incompetent to stand trial. He was allowed to go to Rusk State Mental Hospital where I think he was there for a year or so."
He was later found to be competent in January of 1986 and awaited his trial.
After six months, his murder case against Janet Gregston was — to the horror of the family — dismissed.
It was revealed in a hearing that a key piece of videotaped evidence had been erased accidentally by a sheriff's department deputy. The evidence in question was a 45-minute videotape recording of a hypnosis session with an eyewitness, the one who identified the suspect as the killer.
And with that, the accused killer was dismissed due to a lack of evidence, and the man was released.
"And next thing I know, he was was released back into the public," Weddel said.
So investigators were once again back to square one, and they were determined to find Janet's killer.
"She was pregnant, the baby did not survive," Rogers said. "She didn't have any other children. [...] I mean that tugged at everybody's hearts. I mean, you know, she was pregnant and was murdered and possibly over a vehicle, you know, that, that sort of thing just didn't make a lot of sense to people back in that time."
Despite this major setback so many years ago, investigators still have hope.
"Janet is another case that I think could be solved," Rogers said. "I think it's another one of those cases, I mean, this happened in the broad daylight. If you can think back to '84, think back where you were at that time. And you know, at the time, you probably thought about it, that you drove by that area and you saw something, you might be that person that saw something but just wasn't comfortable talking to law enforcement at the time. And again, so many years have gone by, so many years have gone by, and we need information. Now's the time to come forward and tell us so that law enforcement can look into it and see if it's, if it's got any weight to."
The police have all the tools to solve this crime, except for a bit of information. This could be your chance to come forward and give closure to a family who have been grieving for nearly 40 years.
This includes Janet's widower, who not only lost his wife, but also lost his baby, and what could have been a beautiful family.
"My understanding is that, to this day, he's still distraught about that," Rogers said. "I mean, I can't imagine either. I can't imagine your wife and your child being murdered in broad daylight."
2024 will mark 40 years since the murder of Janet Gregston, and the family still hasn't gotten any answers. If you have any information, make sure to contact Odessa Crime Stoppers at (432) 333-TIPS.