Email Author Steve McVicker

1996 Stories by Steve McVicker

• Blood Sport

  published November 21, 1996

  The Vasquez cousins were dead; the dogs were alive. Neither made a sound as two HPD detectives investigated the murder scene. In fact, it would be... More >>

• Dog's Best Friend?

  published November 21, 1996

  Bobby Hall -- one of the most famous dogfighters in America -- literally wrote the book on his profession. In BullySon and His Sons, printed in... More >>

• Good Work If You Can Get It

  published November 14, 1996

  Michelle Quin is not a cheap date. Over three years, Chris Kumpf, an official of a New Orleans law firm, paid the attractive topless dancer... More >>

• The Victim's Victims

  published October 17, 1996

  One day in the summer of 1994, Robert Carreiro was sitting in a Harris County courtroom listening to pretrial motions in the capital murder case... More >>

• Enviro Cop

  published October 17, 1996

  Stephen Dicker parks his blue-and-white on the side of a deserted street in northwest Houston, climbs out from behind the wheel and steps into the... More >>

• Price of Justice

  published October 3, 1996

  A federal jury scripted another chapter in the bizarre saga of former sheriff's deputy Joseph Kent McGowen last week when it awarded the family of... More >>

• No Time for Sergeants

  published August 29, 1996

  You're always told that if you work hard, you'll be rewarded," says Sergeant Sandy Klein. But last week, the 19-year veteran of the Houston Police... More >>

• The Last Safety Net

  published August 15, 1996

  For most of her 70 years, Miss Natalie, as she's affectionately called, lived as a semi-recluse, pursuing a life of guarded eccentricity in a... More >>

• Split Decision

  published August 8, 1996

  With none of the public posturing that accompanied the initiation of the investigation, the Harris County District Attorney's Office has quietly... More >>

• Death in the Back Seat

  published June 27, 1996

  Anytime a 15-year-old kid whose hands are cuffed behind his back is shot to death while riding in the back seat of a police car, someone has some... More >>

• Blood Feud

  published May 30, 1996

  Until last year, no one had any reason to doubt Dr. Elizabeth Johnson's work. A molecular biologist who had done postdoctoral work in hematology... More >>

• The Boy Scouts

  published May 23, 1996

  On January 18, 1990, Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry was enjoying a pipe of crack cocaine in a room at the Vista International Hotel when FBI... More >>

• Coffee with Betti and the FBI

  published May 16, 1996

  By Thursday, May 2, Betti Maldonado had grown very nervous over her association with the Cayman Group, two investors seeking a piece of developer... More >>

• Goin' South

  published May 2, 1996

  Aside from the headlights of our Toyota 4-Runner, there is little illumination along the narrow, dusty road leading into the village of Coatlan... More >>

• Case Closed?

  published May 2, 1996

  Early on the morning of May 4, 1995, Houston Police Lieutenant Alan Mabry left his home in the Pecan Grove subdivision to get some milk at a... More >>

• Ana's Angel

  published April 4, 1996

  The first time Ana Prieto Canela laid eyes on Jay Hamburger, he told her he was there to be her angel. She thought he was crazy. Six months later,... More >>

• Deadbeat Collector

  published March 14, 1996

  The collection of past-due child-support payments has, unfortunately, proven lucrative enough to develop into something of a growth industry in... More >>

• Security Risk

  published March 7, 1996

  After one too many episodes of violence by anti-abortion activists, Planned Parenthood of Houston took the advice of federal marshals last year... More >>

• End Times

  published February 29, 1996

  Before you build a stairway to Heaven, you might want make sure it's okay with your neighborhood civic association. Take it from members of the... More >>

• Wasted Days, Wasted Lives (Part II)

  published February 22, 1996

  After his release from prison in 1969, Meaux seemed to be a changed man. According to associates at the time, it wasn't a change for the... More >>

• Wasted Days, Wasted Lives (Part I)

  published February 22, 1996

  In the lobby of Sugar Hill Studios are two sets of display cases that until recently held various testimonials to Huey P. Meaux's improbable... More >>

• Semper Fi

  published February 8, 1996

  Charles Kruse sees things other people don't. Unmarked graves, for instance. Kruse also sees devils and spies, ones he believes have... More >>

• Bitter Harvest

  published January 25, 1996

  His brothers and sisters weren't too pleased with the way Alton Arnic looked as he lay in his casket before his December 1994 funeral. But there... More >>

• Autopsy

  published January 25, 1996

  On August 4, 1986, an ambulance was dispatched to 9109 Laura Koppe in northeast Houston, where emergency medical workers found an unconscious... More >>