Michael Eugene Sharp: The West Texas Killer
Background and Early Criminal History
Michael Eugene Sharp was born on April 24, 1954, in Eastland, Texas. He was also known at times by the surname Owensby. Long before he became associated with a series of killings in West Texas, Sharp demonstrated a willingness to use threats, restraint, and violence against vulnerable victims.
In March 1975, when he was 20 years old, Sharp entered a woman’s home, restrained her, and stole valuables from the residence. The woman survived and provided information that helped authorities identify and arrest him. Sharp was subsequently convicted of aggravated robbery and other offenses and received a 15-year prison sentence.
Sharp was paroled in 1979 after serving only a portion of that sentence. He moved to Odessa, Texas, where he obtained employment in the oil industry. To neighbors and coworkers, he appeared to have established a stable life. He had a family, a well-paying job, a comfortable home, and several vehicles. Beneath that respectable appearance, however, investigators later believed that he was searching for opportunities to isolate and attack women and girls.
The Disappearance and Killing of Blanca Guerrero
In May 1982, 18-year-old Blanca Isela Arreola Guerrero disappeared from Odessa. Guerrero was married, pregnant, and employed at a food store. She was reportedly last seen entering or approaching a pickup truck resembling one driven by Sharp.
Authorities initially lacked enough evidence to arrest Sharp in connection with Guerrero’s disappearance. After Sharp was jailed for the later murders of Brenda Broadway and Christy Elms, investigators questioned him about other unsolved cases. Sharp eventually provided information and drew a map that led detectives to Guerrero’s grave.
Her body had been concealed in a remote location. Investigators noted similarities between the manner in which Guerrero was buried and the disposal of Sharp’s known victims. Because Sharp was already facing a possible death sentence in another case, prosecutors did not bring him to trial for Guerrero’s murder. His knowledge of the grave’s location, however, caused authorities to attribute her killing to him. The precise date of Guerrero’s death was never conclusively established in court, although she is believed to have been killed shortly after her disappearance in May 1982.
The Abduction of Brenda Broadway and Her Daughters
Shortly after midnight on June 11, 1982, 31-year-old Brenda Kay Broadway returned home from work in Kermit, Texas. She then left with her daughters, 14-year-old Salina Kay Elms, whose name has also appeared as Selena in some accounts, and 8-year-old Christy Michelle Elms. The three traveled to a local car wash so that Broadway could clean her vehicle.
Sharp encountered the family at the car wash. Armed with a knife, he forced Broadway and both girls into his pickup truck. He drove them south from Kermit along the highway toward Monahans before turning into an isolated section of the West Texas oil fields.
In the remote desert area, Sharp subjected Broadway and her older daughter to prolonged sexual violence and humiliation. Broadway began praying during the attack. According to the surviving daughter’s testimony, Sharp reacted angrily and made statements questioning how a god could permit human suffering.
Sharp stabbed Broadway and then attacked 8-year-old Christy. Both mother and daughter were killed. While Sharp was occupied, Salina escaped. Barefoot and inadequately clothed, she ran through the desert and oil fields for approximately five miles. Oil-field workers discovered her the following morning suffering from exhaustion and exposure, but alive.
Despite the trauma she had experienced, Salina gave investigators a description of the attacker, his truck, and the general location of the crime scene. Searchers found the bodies of Broadway and Christy buried in a remote area. Investigators concluded that both had been murdered during the early morning hours of June 11, 1982.
Identification and Arrest
Authorities released a composite drawing based largely on the surviving daughter’s description. Members of the public recognized the man in the drawing as Michael Eugene Sharp. Salina also positively identified him as the person who had abducted and attacked her family.
By the time a warrant was issued, Sharp had left the area. Investigators learned that a man matching his description had boarded a bus traveling toward Louisiana. Officers intercepted the bus and arrested Sharp on June 16, 1982, five days after the murders.
A Winkler County grand jury indicted him on June 21, 1982, for the capital murders of Brenda Broadway and Christy Elms and for the aggravated kidnapping of Salina Elms. The surviving daughter’s eyewitness testimony became the central evidence in both murder prosecutions.
Known and Attributed Victims
- Blanca Isela Arreola Guerrero, 18 — Guerrero disappeared from Odessa, Texas, in May 1982. She was pregnant at the time. While imprisoned, Sharp supplied a map that led investigators to her buried body. The precise date of her death was not conclusively established, but authorities believed she was killed shortly after she disappeared. Sharp was never separately tried for her murder.
- Brenda Kay Broadway, 31 — Broadway was abducted from a car wash in Kermit, Texas, shortly after midnight on June 11, 1982. Sharp drove her and her two daughters to a remote oil-field area, sexually assaulted her, and stabbed her to death. Her body was buried outside Kermit.
- Christy Michelle Elms, 8 — Christy was abducted with her mother and older sister on June 11, 1982, in Kermit, Texas. Sharp murdered her after killing her mother and buried her body at the remote crime scene.
Other Murders Investigated for a Possible Connection
Sharp’s arrest caused law-enforcement agencies across West Texas to review recent disappearances and unsolved killings. Detectives suspected that the murders for which he was prosecuted might represent only a portion of his crimes.
Two cases that drew particular attention involved oil-field workers William Lawrence McNew and Tammy Lee Davis. The pair had been missing since February 1982. Their bodies were discovered in shallow graves near Andrews, Texas, on May 13, 1982. Both had reportedly been killed by blunt-force injuries associated with a shovel.
McNew and Davis had connections to the same oil-drilling company that employed Sharp. Investigators also saw possible similarities in the isolated burial sites. However, they did not uncover sufficient physical or testimonial evidence to charge Sharp with either murder. Their exact dates of death remain uncertain because they disappeared months before their bodies were recovered.
- William Lawrence McNew, approximately 26 or 27 — Reported missing in February 1982 and found buried near Andrews, Texas, on May 13, 1982. Sharp was investigated as a possible suspect, but the killing was never conclusively linked to him.
- Tammy Lee Davis, 20 — Reported missing with McNew in February 1982 and found in a shallow grave near Andrews on May 13, 1982. She worked in the same oil-industry environment connected to Sharp. He was suspected but never charged.
Investigators from Louisiana also examined whether Sharp could have been involved in the 1982 killing of realtor Jean McPhaul in Bossier City. No reliable evidence established such a connection, and Sharp was not charged in that case.
The Trial for Christy Elms’s Murder
Because of the intense publicity surrounding the crimes, Sharp’s first trial was moved from Winkler County to Lubbock. He was prosecuted first for the murder of Christy Elms. Her surviving sister testified and described the abduction, the journey into the oil fields, the attacks, and her escape.
The jury convicted Sharp. A defect in the indictment prevented prosecutors from obtaining a death sentence in that proceeding, and Sharp received life imprisonment for Christy’s murder. Many residents of Kermit regarded the punishment as inadequate because of the victim’s age and the circumstances of the crime.
Confession and Recovery of Guerrero’s Body
While awaiting his second murder trial, Sharp claimed to have undergone a religious conversion. A detective attempted to use Sharp’s stated beliefs to persuade him to disclose information about additional victims. Sharp eventually agreed to discuss other crimes under the condition that his cooperation would not immediately be publicized.
Sharp then drew the map that directed authorities to the burial place of Blanca Guerrero. He reportedly suggested that he possessed information about still more killings. When details of his cooperation appeared in the press, Sharp became angry and ended much of his communication with investigators. Detectives believed that this decision may have prevented them from identifying other victims or resolving additional cases.
The Trial for Brenda Broadway’s Murder
Sharp was later tried for the capital murder of Brenda Broadway. Salina again appeared in court and identified him without qualification as the man who had kidnapped her family and murdered her mother. Prosecutors also introduced testimony from women who said Sharp had attempted to lure them into his truck around the time of the killings.
After approximately three and a half hours of deliberation, the jury found Sharp guilty. During the punishment phase, jurors determined that the crime justified a death sentence. Sharp continued to claim that he was innocent, but his conviction and sentence were upheld through years of state and federal appeals.
Execution
Michael Eugene Sharp was executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit in Huntsville, Texas, on November 19, 1997. He was 43 years old. In his final statement, he asked surviving victims, society, his relatives, and his friends for forgiveness and spoke about his religious beliefs and opposition to capital punishment.
Sharp died after being convicted of murdering Brenda Broadway and Christy Elms. Authorities also held him responsible for Blanca Guerrero’s death because he possessed secret knowledge of her grave and led detectives directly to her remains. Although he was investigated in the murders of William McNew and Tammy Davis, those killings were never definitively attributed to him.
Legacy of the Investigation
Sharp is generally described as a serial killer with three known or officially attributed victims and at least two additional suspected victims. His crimes occurred within a short period in 1982, but investigators believed that his history of violence and his familiarity with isolated oil-field roads may have given him other opportunities to offend.
The survival of Salina Elms was crucial to ending Sharp’s attacks. Her escape through the desert, detailed description of the offender, and repeated courtroom testimony provided the evidence that identified Sharp and secured both murder convictions. Without her account, the deaths of Broadway and Christy might have remained part of a larger collection of unsolved West Texas killings.
The full extent of Sharp’s crimes remains unknown. His decision to stop cooperating after information about his discussions was released publicly left investigators unable to determine whether his references to other killings were truthful. What is established is that he abducted a mother and her daughters, murdered two members of the family, and was responsible for revealing the hidden grave of another young woman. His execution closed the criminal proceedings against him, but unanswered questions surrounding the other West Texas victims have continued to shadow the case.
