Reginald Kimbro will spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of parole after he pled guilty to two counts of capital murder for the 2017 murders of Megan Getrum and Molly Matheson.
Published March 22, 2022
In a crowded Tarrant County courtroom, families, some of whom have waited nearly a decade, received their chance to address Reginald Kimbro directly.
Kimbro pled guilty Friday in violent sexual attacks on 6 women over 5 years in 4 counties. Two of those victims, 36-year-old Megan Getrum of Plano and 22-year-old Molly Matheson of Fort worth were killed just days apart in April 2017.
The guilty plea to two counts of capital murder meant Kimbro will spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance at parole but avoided a trial that could have resulted in a death sentence.
At a hearing for victim impact statements on Tuesday, Tracy Matheson began her remarks by addressing Kimbro.
“Our decision to accept your guilty plea, allowing you to avoid the death penalty, has absolutely nothing to do with mercy,” Matheson said. “You have done nothing to deserve that. Instead, it has everything to do with silencing your voice. No longer will you be able to sit behind the lie of innocence.”
Kimbro was connected to rapes in Plano in 2012, Allen in 2014 and another in South Padre Island during spring break that same year.
But it wasn’t until three years later when he was arrested for killing Getrum and Matheson that Collin and Cameron County prosecutors charged him from his earlier sexual assaults despite the availability of DNA evidence linking to him a rape before either murder was committed.
“Instead of doing their jobs, law enforcement agencies from across this state failed these women,” Matheson said.
NBC 5 reached out to both Plano PD and Allen PD for comment on statements made in court Tuesday.
A spokesperson for Plano PD told NBC 5 on Tuesday it "will not be providing any information regarding an alleged sexual assault incident from 2012."
"We are currently looking into the investigative details surrounding this case and should have more information available soon," an emailed response said.
The mother of the 2012 sexual assault in Plano also addressed Kimbro but directed much of her frustration at the detective assigned to her daughter's case, who was just 18-years-old at the time.
"He had plenty of evidence and time to catch a killer," she said. "And he didn’t. It took us almost 10 years to finally get justice.”
Diane Getrum spoke about her adventurous daughter who loved to go on hikes and mountain climbing and was especially adept at finding new culinary experiences in her travels to different countries.
She told the courtroom audience that her own life was “too short to spend any more time on him (Kimbro).”
“Today I’m going to walk out that door because I have mountains to climb, silly snacks to sample and people to love me that I love in return,” Getrum said. “And I’m leaving this behind.”
David Matheson spent nine seconds addressing Kimbro directly.
“I honestly have nothing to say to you, you don’t exist,” Matheson said. “You don’t occupy any space in my head and you never will. You’re the definition of a coward.”
Instead, Matheson spent the rest of his time praising the strength of victims who survived their sexual assault and expressing dismay at the collective inability of law enforcement to identify and stop Kimbro sooner despite multiple opportunities to do so.
“I do understand why women fear reporting to a system that does not protect them, this has to change,” Matheson said. “I hope you walk out of this courtroom knowing that you did make a difference and we do believe you and your efforts to bring this guy to justice will have a lasting impact on how the system looks at sexual assault.”
In the five years since Molly’s murder, the Matheson’s worked to create Project Beloved which seeks to empower sexual assault survivors.
Some of that work has already changed state law. The Texas Legislature passed “Molly Jane’s Law” in 2019 which requires police agencies to enter information into an FBI maintained database that could help identify patterns of serial behavior faster.
Tracy Matheson said its meaningful change made possible by Molly’s life that the man responsible for her death will never take away.
“Molly’s brilliant, joy-filled bright light will shine over the darkness brought by your cowardly decision,” Matheson said.