According to a Jasper County probable cause affidavit, the suspect in the murder of Candi McKee killed her with a screwdriver, set her SUV on fire, and dumped her body in the Sabine River on Monday.
Kevin Byerly, 56, of Newton, is still being held in the Jasper County Jail on a first-degree murder charge. His bond amount has been set at $1 million.
East Texas News obtained the probable cause affidavit Wednesday morning.
The probable cause affidavit stated that an investigator with the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office, was contacted by dispatch, who told him that a deputy was at the scene of a vehicle fire near the intersection of FM 1004 and County Road 588, which is in the Call community.
“Dispatch also told me that [the JCSO deputy at the scene] said that there was blood everywhere,” the investigator said in the affidavit.
When the JCSO investigator arrived at the scene, the deputy showed him pools of blood and a blood trail where an injured person had moved or been moved.
The JCSO investigator then started taking photos of the Ford Expedition, which was still burning when he got there. In the affidavit, he said the fire was so hot that it destroyed the SUV’s license plate and door jamb VIN plate.
In addition, the JCSO investigator found blood in a small trench that started at the Expedition’s driver’s side door and continued for several feet, the affidavit stated.
“It then looked like the victim or the injured person sat down for a long enough time to saturate an approximate four-inch spot in the ground,” the affidavit stated. “It also appeared that the person was loaded into a vehicle. I also found gloves and the victim’s glasses.”
During the investigation, McKee’s family members and co-workers said that she was missing and that she had been stalked by Byerly.
Sometime later, the JCSo investigator found Bylerly at his son’s house in Newton. After he got permission to search Byerly’s Chevrolet Avalanche, the investigator found McKee’s driver’s license in the back seat and also noticed that the vehicle’s bed mat was missing.
At that point, the JCSO investigator asked Byerly to go back to the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office with him to speak about McKee.
The JCSO investigator said in the affidavit that he got a full confession from Bylerly, who allegedly admitted to killing McKee with a large screwdriver that was still in the bed of his Avalanche. Bylerly said he committed the crime on CR 588, where McKee’s burning SUV was found.
“Kevin then said that he put Candi in the bed of the truck and took her to the Sabine River Bridge in Vernon Parish off Hwy. 63,” the affidavit stated. “Kevin then said that he dumped Candi in to the Sabine River along with his bed mat, which was covered in blood.”
When investigators went to the location Bylerly allegedly described, they found a factory bed mat for a Chevrolet Avalanche. Investigators found McKee’s body about 500 yards down river from the Sabine River Bridge on Highway 63 East, the affidavit stated.
According to the affidavit, McKee’s wounds matched the large screwdriver that Bylerly said he used.
Bylerly was then arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
http://www.ktre.com/2019/03/06/affidavit-newton-man-used-screwdriver-kill-woman-dumped-her-body-sabine-river/
