The Clifton Record (Clifton, Tex.), Vol. 104, No. 49, Ed. 1 Friday, June 18, 1999 Page: 3 of 12
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Your Local Business Unit Manager.
Sometimes the best part of change is what doesn't change.
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ower Company,
Ttie Power of ^
CHOICE
The Clifton Record
Friday, June 18,1999
Joe D Bryan
"more or less vindictive." prone to
nasty pranks and cold blooded ac
tivities that included the mass kill
ing of house pets, for no serious
reason One interviewee said
Dunlap had confided that, as a
youth, he would put antifreeze in a
dog’s water to kill the dog and that
he made bombs in his basement.
Too, he would make threats about
burning houses down
“He could just turn in a minute
He was really vindictive I mean he
was just really bad, you know, 1
mean bad,” said an interviewee
who had lived with him
Another person interviewed bv
police said that, once, Dunlap got
violent with her because she would
not submit to handcuffed sex. She
said that Dunlap choked her
around the neck and told her, "1
could kill you and you know it.”
Dunlap's bouts with depression
were many, it was reported “The
first set of clippings you sent, not
Mickey Blue Bryan
you. I’m sorry, the paper people did
irritated him. I mean he was reallv
upset for over a week," said an in
terviewee "He got real mad."
Regarding the house explosion
Dunlap explained to associates that
the Whitley girl had kept a diarv
and wrote everything in it she had
done "He did mention there was a
man there that looked like him," an
interviewee said "1 want to say he
worked at the Ford place " Dunlap
had told the interviewee that he
(Dunlap) had been a suspect in the
house fire
Concerning the death of Mickey
Bryan, one interviewee claims that
Dunlap had bragged that he had
been with the schoolteacher the
night she was killed. Her husband
Joe Bryan, Clifton High School
principal at the time, had been
away at a convention in Austin
Later, through circumstantial evi
dence, Mr Bryan was convicted of
the murder, but says he feels that
• DUNLAP
Continued From Page One
kept abreast of where Dunlap was
during the years following the Judy
Whitley murder, it was a call from
the Rosenberg Police Department
that tipped the local department off
to Dunlap’s unexpected death.
Clifton Record Editor and Pub-
lisher W. Leon Smith, cooperating
with the police departraant under
Chief Vanderhoof. had in 1991 and
1992 fired off a series of letters to
Dunlap, who at that time was liv-
ing in Needville, a suburban area
near Houston Smith's letters had
asked for information about the po-
lice department as it was in 1985,
and about the deaths of Judy Whit-
ley and Mickey Blue Bryan In his
last letter to Dunlap. Smith had
asked questions about Dunlap's in
volvement, including 21 points
about Dunlap being a suspect in the
Whitley death
Dunlap responded in a Feb 23,
1992. letter to Smith, “I did not know
that I was considered a suspect In
fact, ex Chief Brennand told me
that I was not a suspect in the Whit
ley case and for six years you are
the only one who has contacted me
in regaird to Whitley case My deci
sion to leave Clifton was not be
cause of the death of Judy Whitley
1 was unhappy with Clifton before
her death and was making plans to
leave anyway
“And now that you have referred
to me as suspect, what course of
action do you think I should take?”
It was after Rosenberg police had
released Dunlap’s suicide scene in
1996 and were later searching the
personal effects of Dunlap to see if
there were any clues or ties that
might relate to his death that they
resequestered the suicide scene
Officers had unexpectedly found
the series of letters penned by
Smith that were written to and an-
swered by Dunlap suggesting
Dunlap as a suspect.
Upon the Clifton Police Depart
ment being advised of the letters,
then-Sgt Rex Childress was
promptly dispatched by Vanderhoof
to Rosenberg to conduct a search
at the suicide scene. In all,
Childress would make four such
journeys, interviewing people who
knew Dunlap or who had been close
to him.
Dunlap’s associates described
liim as a man “always looking over
his shoulder,” in fear of getting
caught. Not only had Smith dis-
patched letters of inquiry listing
Dunlap as a murder suspect, but
'V&Aderhoof had on occasion anony-
mously mailed newspaper clippings
regarding the ongoing murder in-
vestigation to Dunlap, “just so he
knows he is being watched,"
Vanderhoof had explained prior to
his death to cancer.
One interviewee said of Dunlap,
“He seemed afraid. It was like ..he
said he could not go to prison be-
cause they would end up killing him
in there because cops can’t go to the
pen. They'll kill him.
“...he seemed concerned about
the Rangers or the police coming to
get him," but unconcerned about
the murder... “he was more con-
cerned about himself, about them
coming to get him and he’d have to
go to prison because he couldn’t
handle prison.”
Another interviewee said that
Dunlap would become very de-
pressed after receiving clippings or
letters. Prison weighed hr ivily on
his mind, for not far from one of the
work sites was a prison farm.
Dunlap had confided that he feared
having to spend the rest of his life
chopping cotton.
After he had received the first set
of clippings from Clifton, Dunlap
had allegedly phoned a relative in
Ohio, saying, “They’re after me
again,” said a former associate of
Dunlap’s. “I’m glad they didn’t find
the gray tape in the trunk of my
car,” he was reported as saying.
After other clippings had arrived,
and Smith’s letters, Dunlap report-
edly, according to an interviewee,
wondered why the newspaper
“wants to drag this all up again.
Why they don’t just leave him
alone.”
To more than one interviewee,
Dunlap had, according to sworn
Datements, confided the grotesque
;<nd intricate details of the Judy
Whitley murder, including that
r unlap had handcuffed the teen-
ager and taken her to the woods,
where he sexually assaulted her
after first handcuffing her to a tree.
According to police, when Judy
Whitley’s body was found in the
wooded hillside area behind
Goodall-Witcher Hospital on June
20,1985, the ligatures that had been
on her wrists had been removed,
but indentions on her wrists sug-
gested that she had at one time
been either tied or handcuffed to
the base of a tree that stood near
her body. A strip of gray duct tape
had been placed over ner mouth,
making it impossible for her to
breathe through her mouth. During
the assault, she apparently choked
and died.
According to one of Dunlap’s as-
sociates, Dunlap had said, “she
gurgled on her saliva.” *
Former romantic interests of
Dunlap’s have described him as
the police department had framed
him
SEQUENCE OF EVENTS
According to records. Judy Whit
ley was last seen at home at 11 30
a m. on Wednesday. June 19,1985,
headed to a convenience store on
Hillside Drive in the western sec-
tor of the city to buy some snacks
At 4:30 p.m that day. a search be-
gan for her. as family members be
came alarmed when she appeared
missing
A house-to-house search began
at 9:30 a m the next morning, along
with a dragnet that started at the
Bosque River working westward
Involved were local National
Guardsmen law enforcement offic
ers from Bosque County, the Texas
Rangers, and area volunteer
firefighters
At 6:15 p.m, her body was found
50 yards from Hillside Drive in the
western sector of the city Pnor to
his death to cancer, former Chief
Vanderhoof had told The Record
that he did not understand why the
manhunt started on the opposite
side of town He would have started
at the last place she was seen or her
destination and then "fanned out
in a circle, which would probably
have led them to the body sooner
At 7 20 p m . then Justice of the
Peace Alicia Sheffield pronounced
Judy dead
Rumors and speculation by the
citizens of Clifton were abundant
during the ensuing week One
prevalent rumor was that a police
man had committed the crime
Then Mayor Kent Westley (now de
ceased) publicly made a firm denial
of this possibility
Days went by, with the rumor
that Judy Whitley kept a diary be
ing discussed.
Then, on Thursday, July 11, three
weeks after Judy Whitley's body
was found, Dunlap s patrol car was
logged in at the intersection of
Highway 6 and 7th Street, the loca
tion of Schnorrenberg Ford at 12 16
am
Sometime between 12 16 a m
and 1:05 a m (exact time unknown),
a man matching Dunlap’s descrip-
tion was seen by a neighbor leav-
ing the home of Judy's
grandmother. Bessie Hardie
At 105 a m . the Hardie house
exploded and burst into flames, be
mg burned to the ground
At 1 12 a m Unit 303 (Dunlap)
responded to the house explosion
at Ave P and 9th St
At 1:15 a m , a neighbor advised
that the house had been empty, the
resident visiting in Michigan
At 1:58 a m , Dunlap was back in
service
At 2:30 a m . Dunlap reported into
the Bosque County Sheriff 's Office
that he was at T&P ia convenience
store on Hwy 6)
Sometime betw een this time and
12:03 a m the next day Dunlap sub
mitted to a polygraph test that has
been reported to have proved in
conclusive At 12 03 a m he was
back in service
Dunlap went off duty at 7 39 a m
that Friday morning and later, dis
covered through phone records,
spoke with a Meridian attorney
whereupon Dunlap promptly sub
mitted his resignation to Chief
Brennand
In his letter, Corporal Dunlap
wrote
"This is to inform you that effec
tive 7-13-85 at 00:01 am I will no
longer be a member of the Clifton
Police Department Due to per
sonal reasons, 1 have been called
back to my home state
"I want to take this opportunity
to tell you that it has been a great
pleasure to have been a member of
such a fine police department I
hope that you can maintain the
great quality of excellence that 1
have been associated with for the
past 6 mdnths Keep up the good
work Yours truly. Corporal Dennis
M Dunlap ”
Included in the resignation letter
was this
“These items I left for you to take
care of for me 1 VCR Recorder. 1
Honda, CBX M C . 1 couch & 2
chairs l -footstool. 1-bed
It has been reported that as the
dwelling was cleaned after Dunlap •
departed, a roll of duct tape was
found and given to the police as pos
sible evidence The tape suddenly
disappeared, however Police had
been trying to match the threads
and blade-cut of the tape attached
to Judy Whitley’s mouth with sus
pected rolls
When questioned in 1992. former
Chief Brennand commented that
Dunlap had not planned to leave
Clifton pnor to the murder of Judy
Whitley “I went and talked to him
one day before he came and told me
he was leaving and I told him that
the best thing for him to do would
be to leave." Brennand said "just
because of what was going around
Following his departure from
Clifton. Dunlap was tracked to the
Fort Worth Dallas area and later to
Needville. near Houston Warned
multiple times, his former wives
feared him They descnbcd him as
a charmer at first, but upon mar
nage his attitude took an about
face that included cruelty, anger
and depression
It was the Rosenberg Police De
partment that answered the call to
Dunlap s suicide in 19% He had
been a part time maintenance man
for Allied Concrete and was rent
ing an apartment from his boss
According to officers, I )unlap had
wntten two suicide notes and had
prepared a suicide tape recording
In one of the notes. Dunlap said. "To
who ever finds me this what I do
was not done without thought and
planning. 1 am just so disgusted
with myself and the rotten hand life
has dealt me that I no longer want
• See DUNLAP CASE. Page 4
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Smith, W. Leon. The Clifton Record (Clifton, Tex.), Vol. 104, No. 49, Ed. 1 Friday, June 18, 1999, newspaper, June 18, 1999; Clifton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth791292/m1/3/: accessed June 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Nellie Pederson Civic Library.