New law removes statute of limitations for tampering with evidence in murder cases

AUSTIN, Texas - Texas law enforcement agencies say a new law recently signed by Gov. Greg Abbott will make it easier for them to investigate cold cases.

HB 1207 removes the statute of limitations for tampering with evidence in murder cases.

The Williamson County Sheriff's Office, Texas Rangers, and Texas Municipal Police Association spearheaded the effort to get the bill passed.

"I think it just gives us options now where it didn't before," Lt. Jason Braeutigam with the Williamson County Sheriff's Office said.

Right now, the statute of limitations for tampering with evidence in a murder case is three years.

"As it stands right now, if you were to move a corpse or get rid of a murder weapon or something like that, if it's been over three years, we can't charge you with anything," Det. Mary Lewis with the Williamson County Sheriff's Office said.

She says most cold cases take 20 to 30 years to solve, and even some current homicide investigations take longer than three years.

"I think it would make a huge impact on the families of the victims in our cases because they oftentimes don't get justice," she said.

Cases go cold when all leads are exhausted.

"Once the case goes cold, generally what we'll try to do is we'll try to just start from the beginning again. We're going to start from step one and go all the way through those steps again until we get to an end," Braeutigam said.

He says they might bring in another detective to a case for a fresh set of eyes, and the new law opens up more possibilities.

"With no statute of limitations in place, we can now go back on these cases, and now we have something to charge or potentially charge. And with that, we could use that to talk to somebody that we think might be involved," he said.

The Williamson County Sheriff's Office says this is an example where the law could've been applied if the case was more than three years old. 

In 2022, Gavin Roberts was charged with the murder of Justin Haden in Austin, as well as tampering with human remains. Haden's body was found in Williamson County. 

"It was within that three years, but let's just say that case was after that three years. Now we would have the ability to prosecute that case for the tampering," Braeutigam said.

The law will take effect on Sept. 1, 2023.