DNA leads to arrest in Texas cold case after nearly 40 years

Investigators in Texas this week announced a major break in a nearly four-decade-long cold case: the arrest of capital murder suspect Bobby Charles Taylor Sr.

Taylor, 60, was arrested in Mexico after authorities say advancements in DNA technology led deputies in Montgomery County, Texas, to this major break.

Taylor is accused of killing Porter, Texas, 16-year-old Deanna Ogg, who was found dead on the side of the road on Sept. 27, 1986. She was headed to a family party and left home around 5 p.m.

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Just two hours later, children nearby discovered her body. She was found seven miles from where she started along a logging road in a small town just north of Houston.

She had been sexually assaulted, beaten and stabbed, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

A man was arrested the next month and convicted in the case, but DNA testing later exonerated him, the agency said.

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As the case went cold for almost 40 years, forensic genetic testing led investigators to Taylor, whose DNA was collected at the scene.

In March 2020 the Texas Rangers identified Ogg’s case for the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative program, according to Texas DPS, and the following year previously exhausted evidence was submitted for advanced DNA testing and genealogy research through Bode Technology. 

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Taylor was then identified as the suspect in 2024 thanks to advanced DNA testing and genealogy research.

“Upon his identification, investigators learned that Taylor was a fugitive from justice on an unrelated felony charge and was believed to be hiding in Mexico,” Montgomery County Sheriff Wesley Doolittle said.

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The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and other agencies coordinated to secure charges for bond jumping. Taylor ultimately turned himself in for an unrelated felony charge on April 24, 2026, in Mexico City.

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At a news conference on Wednesday, authorities released seven different mugshot photos from Taylor’s previous arrests spanning from as recently as 2020, all the way back to 1985.

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Ogg’s mother was present for the Wednesday news conference put on by the MCSO. Doolittle read a letter on her behalf. It said in part, “Deanna wasn’t on this earth for a long time. She was here for a good time. Her love of Jesus and love of family has withstood a lifetime.”