After nearly four decades on the books as a cold case, Montgomery County investigators say they have arrested a suspect in the 1986 killing of 16-year-old Deanna Ogg. Authorities report that Bobby Charles Taylor Sr. is now in custody and facing a capital-murder charge after cold-case detectives re-examined long-stored evidence using modern DNA testing.
According to case records, Ogg left her Porter home in the early evening of Sept. 27, 1986 to get transportation for a family gathering and was later seen at a convenience store on FM 1314. By about 7 p.m. that night, her body was discovered in a heavily wooded area off a logging road in the 17000 block of Old Houston Road, roughly seven miles from where she was last seen, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.
DNA Breakthrough Leads To Capital-Murder Charge
The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office said investigators used “advanced DNA technology” to develop the new case, which led to charges against Taylor. He is being held at the Montgomery County Jail on a capital-murder count. As reported by Click2Houston, the sheriff's office, the Texas Rangers and the FBI were expected to provide more details at a scheduled briefing, and charging documents had not yet been posted by the district attorney.
Earlier Conviction Tossed After DNA Cleared Another Man
Before this latest arrest, a different man, Roy Criner, was arrested and convicted in connection with Ogg's death in the years after the 1986 killing. DNA testing later cleared Criner and he was exonerated in 2000, according to the Innocence Project. His exoneration has long remained in the case file that cold-case investigators continued to revisit while chasing new leads.
Cold-Case Team Leans On New Forensic Tools
Detectives in Montgomery County's cold-case unit have repeatedly gone back to Ogg's file over the years, and in other investigations have exhumed remains and uploaded DNA to national databases as forensic methods improved. Those steps reflect a broader national trend in which investigative genetic genealogy and work by private forensic labs have helped resolve homicides that had gone unsolved for decades, law-enforcement officials say.
What A Capital-Murder Charge Means In Texas
Under Texas law, a capital-murder charge can expose a defendant to the harshest penalties the state allows, including life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty, depending on the circumstances of the case and whether prosecutors seek capital punishment, per Texas Penal Code §19.03. If an indictment is returned, the case could move into pretrial hearings where prosecutors and defense attorneys sort through discovery and potential punishment issues.
Law enforcement officials said they would release additional information at a planned briefing. Anyone with information is asked to contact Montgomery County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-392-STOP (7867) or the sheriff's Cold Case Squad, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. As of Monday evening, charging documents were not yet available online and prosecutors had not filed public court records outlining the specific allegations against the suspect.
