December 6, 2006
DNA EVIDENCE POSITIVELY IDENTIFIES SUSPECT
Midland Police have received official DNA confirmation tying a prisoner, who committed suicide, to the Murder of Lula Belle Klingler.
In late October, detectives with the Midland Police Department were notified of a CODIS hit on a foreign DNA sample from the Murder scene of Klingler. The DNA was from a Texas inmate. On November 1, 2006, a detective with the Midland Police Department, who has worked the Murder case for nine years, together with the Texas Rangers, traveled to Dilley, Texas. They met with the suspect Michael Lynn Rogers (4-5-70) at the Dolph Briscoe Unit where he was being held. Rogers was serving a nine-year sentence for Manslaughter following a hit and run fatality accident that occurred in 1997 in Midland County.
During the interview, Rogers did not admit to being involved in the Murder of Klingler. A search warrant was executed to obtain his DNA sample. It is this sample that was tested to provide an official confirmation of a match.
Midland Police Detectives received a phone call from the Texas Department of Corrections early the next morning, November 2, 2006, informing them that Rogers had committed suicide in his prison cell. He left behind letters to his family and law enforcement. In these letters, Rogers references the Murder by saying, “For many years here (prison), I thought maybe I had gotten away with it. Thank God for that new DNA testing that they do or I might have gotten away with it and it happened again.”
Rogers was not a suspect in the case until the DNA evidence. He did not know the Klingler family or have any ties to Lula Belle Klingler. However, detectives believe other pieces of the puzzle have come together. Evidence from the scene (Klingler’s purse, its contents, a butcher knife from her kitchen, the actor’s shirt, and one of the victim’s shirts, all wrapped in rug from her house) were found in a dumpster behind Speedy Pack two days after the Murder. The location of the dumpster is close to the house in which Rogers was residing. A lottery ticket, which was found inside the pocket of the suspect shirt, was purchased from a store nearby the home of Rogers’ relatives. The suspect shirt was a work shirt with burn holes. Rogers, at the time, was a welder.
Midland Police handled Rogers in 1990 for DWI, Narcotics Paraphernalia, and Marijuana Possession. He was also twice charged with Burglary of a Vehicle outside of Midland County in 1988.
The Texas Rangers have assisted MPD detectives with their investigation. In 2003, the Texas Rangers’ Cold Case Unit out of San Antonio began with assisting with the Murder case.
In 2005, the Texas Legislature passed a law that allowed for the seizure of DNA from all felony convicted prisoners for the purpose of creating a DNA record. Rogers provided his DNA sample in January 2006.
On September 27, 1997, Lula Belle Klingler, then 92-years-old, was murdered in her central Midland home. Lula Belle died as a result of multiple stab wounds. There was no sign of forced entry into the home at 2209 Brunson.
DECEMBER SALES TAX REVENUES
The City of Midland has collected this month's revenue from the State Comptroller's Office. The total amount of revenue received was $1,665,067.
This month's figure reflects a 31.12% increase or a $395,217 increase from December 2005.
The year-to-date total sales tax revenue for fiscal year 2006-2007 is up 23.58% or a $987,556 increase from last year's totals at this time. Fiscal year-to-date actual sales tax revenue is $5,175,185.
Sales tax revenue is generated by sales tax income from two months prior to collection; December collection is based on October sales.
This is the 39th consecutive month of increased sales tax revenues when compared to the same month the prior year.
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