Earnie Lee Hankins, a 55-year-old man, was tragically murdered on October 8, 2000. His death was part of a gruesome series of killings committed by his son, Terry Lee Hankins. Earnie Hankins was found shot to death in his mobile home, where his body had been left to decompose for nearly ten months, surrounded by air fresheners.
The investigation into his murder revealed that Terry Hankins had also killed his half-sister, Pearl 'Sissy' Stevenstar, a 20-year-old woman, who was found
stuffed into a plastic ice chest hidden in a car at Earnie Hankins' auto repair shop. She had been fatally beaten with a jack stand. Court documents later showed that Stevenstar was the mother of Terry Hankins' child and was pregnant again by him.
Terry Hankins' crimes extended beyond the murders of his father and half-sister. Nearly a year after these killings, he murdered his estranged wife, Tammy Hankins, 34, and her two children, Kevin Galley, 12, and Ashley Mason, 11. All three were shot in the head inside their mobile home in Mansfield, Texas.
Following his arrest, Terry Hankins was charged with capital murder and held in the Tarrant County jail on a $1 million bail. He later confessed to the killings, describing himself as a 'non-caring monster' in a diary recovered by officers. His trial resulted in a conviction, and he was sentenced to death. On June 2, 2009, Terry Hankins was executed by lethal injection in Texas.
The case of Earnie Hankins' murder remains a chilling example of familial violence and the devastating consequences of unchecked psychological turmoil. Authorities and prosecutors described the circumstances as highly unusual and deeply disturbing, with no clear motive ever fully established.
