A Johnson County jury has found Jerry Don Elders guilty of Capital Murder for the April 14th, 2021, kidnapping and shooting death of Burleson resident Robin Waddell. Opening arguments for the punishment phase of the trial have begun. Elders faces the Death Penalty or Life in Prison without the possibility of parole. The hearings will resume at 8:30 am Friday morning.
Waddell was carjacked outside a home on the 8000 block of County Road 802 in Burleson and shot multiple times. Investigators stated that someone driving Waddell's stolen Toyota Tacoma pickup crashed through the back gate of the nearby Joshua Police Department and left her, with several apparent gunshot wounds, outside the station's back door at about 8:45 a.m. that morning. Police found the woman and she was transported to Huguley Hospital South in Burleson where she later died.
Elders had also shot Burleson Police Officer Joshua Lott during a traffic stop. Police said Elders was behind the wheel with two passengers in his car when he was pulled over and that as Lott approached the vehicle Elders reached across the vehicle and fired several shots. Lott was hit three times, in the chest, shoulder, and neck. He survived.
UPDATE: On May 3, 2024, a Johnson County jury sentenced Elders to death by lethal injection.
