Solved - Kentucky Fried Chicken Murders

True Crimecast

Stove Leg Media

True Crime, Personal Journals, Society & Culture, Documentary

4.7 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 26 December 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For over four decades, the 1983 KFC Murders stood as one of the most haunting and brutal cold cases in East Texas history. Five people were abducted from a Kilgore restaurant and executed in a remote field, leaving a community shattered and investigators with a puzzle that was only partially solved—until now. In this episode, we dive into the 2025 breakthrough that finally identified the third and final participant in the crime. We explore how the Texas Rangers and modern forensic analysts used advanced DNA testing and genetic genealogy to bridge a 42-year gap and provide a long-overdue sense of closure for the victims' families.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Stoveleg Media, Igniting Conversation.
0:12.4	Welcome to True Crime to Go. What can I get for you?
0:15.9	I need some fried chicken. I need it extra crispy, and I will only accept it if you put it in a bucket.
0:24.6	Pull up to the second window and we'll see you next crime.
0:31.5	Welcome to True Crime to Go. I am John here with Jamie. I mean they have the little box. Is that not good enough? It's not good. If it's not a bucket, it doesn't taste the same. I mean, I do love a bucket of chicken. Good bucket of chicken. I've lived in Kentucky my entire life. I've been to the original Kentucky fried chicken. I think I know the 11 herbs. I'm going to tell you, like, I feel like it's ingrained
0:55.2	in my DNA, but I had never heard of this case before last week. I haven't either, man. Why don't
1:00.6	you get the ball rolling? Yeah, five people were abducted during an armed robbery from a KFC in
1:07.9	1983 in Kilgore, Texas.
1:15.3	They were later found executed in a remote field for years.
1:21.3	Part of this case was unsolved, and even the part they did solve, didn't seem quite right.
1:27.4	But just like other cases that we have covered recently, modern technology have allowed them to crack this one
1:28.7	and solve the infamous Kentucky Fried Chicken murders.
1:33.9	Well, you mentioned there were five people abducted in this restaurant.
1:37.7	They were all workers and friends.
1:40.4	They were ending their day at work.
1:42.1	And then hours later, police would discover the victim's bodies
1:45.9	on September 24th on a remote oil lease in Russ County each of them had been shot in the back
1:53.1	of the head execution style one victim opi had been also sexually assaulted so the victims were Opie Hughes, 39, Mary Tyler, 37, Joey Johnson, 20, David Maxwell, 20, and Monty
2:10.6	Landers, 19.
2:12.7	Some were restaurant employees, others were just friends who were there at the end of their shifts.
2:18.1	Their lives ended violently, seemingly without reason. And this left an entire community and
2:25.1	their families just trying to understand why, but desperately looking for answers.
	...

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