Married Texas man accused of killing girlfriend pleads guilty – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

A married man who was found guilty Thursday of killing his girlfriend after she told his wife and other lovers about their affair told a jury during his sentencing that a group of men kidnapped her and that they must have killed him.

October Ferguson will spend the rest of his life in prison after being convicted of murder. The jury that unanimously found him guilty after deliberating for about an hour Thursday morning determined later that afternoon how long he would spend behind bars.

Earlier in the day, the mostly white Collin County jury of seven men and six women agreed with prosecutors and found Ferguson guilty of killing his girlfriend Kayla Kelly, burying her body in a shallow grave near their home. him and then set fire to her car.

Judicial District Court Judge Angela Tucker read the verdict at about 12:20 p.m., just over an hour after giving the case to the jury. After a lunch break, the penalty phase of the trial began around 1:30 p.m. with the state expected to call one witness and the defense two.

In a surprise move, Ferguson took the stand and testified during the punishment phase of the trial after missing an opportunity to defend himself during the guilt/innocence phase earlier in the afternoon.

Ferguson took the stand and told jurors he did not kill Kayla Kelley. He said he was abducted on the night in question by three men, one of whom was angry that he was dating Kelley. He said that it was those three men who must have killed his girlfriend.

He said a state witness' claim that he tried to create an alibi by texting Kelley and asking her where she was while standing over her body buried in a shallow grave never developed.

Ferguson's wife, Latrina Chandler, stood by him until the end, returning to the witness stand Thursday afternoon to speak again on her husband's behalf, saying he was a generous person who never hurt a fly. She said he was a preacher in his native Jamaica and that he taught Sunday School.

Chander seemed to justify his multiple affairs by saying, “He's young. People cheat.”

DEFENSE SAYS 'THEY GOT WRONG' IN CLOSING ARGUMENTS

In his closing argument, defense attorney Edwin “Bubba” King said, “They got it wrong,” insisting the case was heard in the wrong jurisdiction because the state failed to show evidence that Kelley died in Collin County. Any possible trial, he continued, should be held in Tarrant County, where Kelley's body was found and where she worked.

King also noted how the state did not produce any photographs of their search of Kelley's or Ferguson's homes.

“There is a great deal of evidence here,” he said.

King also disputed the accuracy of the cellphone data collected by investigators. Jurors, he said, may consider his client a “female,” but said, “There is no evidence of any kind that links October Ferguson to the murder of this woman.”

Ferguson chose not to take the stand in his own defense Thursday, though he stopped short of telling the judge he chose not to testify.

“They found physical evidence,” prosecutor Kailey Gillman replied in her closing argument. “They found this woman's body.”

Gillman said she has never heard of a jury with such a “step by step” movement of a defendant than this case.

“Without tracking his movements, she would never have been found,” Gillman said.

Kelley discovered that the man she knew as “Kevin Brown” was named Ocastor Ferguson and that he was married. However, she was determined to be his wife and was led to believe he wanted to marry her too, prosecutors said.

As their volatile relationship progressed and, despite opposition from family and friends, Kelley followed through on threats to expose Ferguson not only to his wife, but to his other girlfriends as well.

Although not required, Gillman offered a possible motive for the killing in closing, pointing to text messages Kelley sent to six or seven women from Ferguson's home on the morning of Jan. 10.

“And this is the last we ever hear from Kayla Kelley,” she told the jury. “He was captured by Kayla and because of that he killed her for her.”

The wife of the man accused of killing his girlfriend testifies

The trial began Tuesday with testimony from local and state police, Kelley's cousin and Ferguson's own wife.

Kelley's co-workers at Raytheon called her family overseas after she didn't show up for work for a third day, prompting them to contact the police.

On Wednesday, prosecutors and an investigator with the Texas Rangers said Ferguson's efforts to create an alibi “is what got him.”

Data obtained from Ferguson's cell phone and analyzed by local and state police detectives is what led police to Kelley's body in January 2023, a week after she was reported missing, according to the state.

Ferguson, 33, is accused of killing Kelley, burning her car in Frisco and burying her in a wooded area less than half a mile from his Grand Prairie home.

Police found Kelley, 33, in a shallow grave, lying face down and naked.

The trial of a man accused of murdering his girlfriend took a dramatic turn when the suspect's wife was called to testify. Prosecutors allege Kayla Kelley was killed after discovering her boyfriend was married and then telling his wife about their affair. NBC 5' Maria Guerrero has the story.

According to the medical examiner, she was strangled with an unknown object. Kelley's death was ruled a homicide.

Dr. Stacey Murthy of the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office testified that Kelley's neck sustained most of her injuries. One side of her neck hurt more than the other, she said. Ferguson's attorney Edwin “Bubba” King asked Murthy if it was possible that Kelley's injuries could have been caused by autoerotic asphyxiation and could be classified as such. Murthy said it's possible, but Kelley's death is being ruled a homicide because of the way her body was found in the grave.

A timeline presented by the state suggests what may have led to Kelley's slaying in the early morning hours of Jan. 10, 2023.

Police believe Kelley took Ferguson's cell phone at 2:29 a.m. and began sending a series of text messages to women he was reportedly also seeing, writing: 'This is his girlfriend. He also has a wife. i know I am as shocked as you are.

This is Kelley's last possible communication.

Two hours later, cell phone records and surveillance video captured only Kelley's car and Ferguson's cell phone leaving her home.

Throughout the morning and day, Ferguson's locations track him to a Walmart where he is seen holding a gas can, then he is seen at a gas station buying gas and a lighter with cash.

Ferguson is later tracked down to his work in Grand Prairie, where a surveillance camera in a break room caught him holding three cell phones, one of which is Kelley's, according to police.

Collin County Sheriff's Office

He continued to send multiple messages expressing concern because she had not responded or brought him lunch. One text shown to jurors read: 'Dad where are you?'

Ferguson then left work, according to his employer, and headed to a wooded area near his home, where police said he continued to text his boyfriend.

Asked why this is important, Texas Rangers Detective Thomas Fitzpatrick replied, “We knew he was out there watching the dead man, texting her,” and “He's digging her grave, texting her.” and he is asking her why she is not answering”.

Prosecutors also showed records of a new Lyft account Ferguson created and used to order a ride home after setting fire to her SUV and abandoning it in rural Frisco.

Ferguson's wife, Latrina Chandler, took the stand for the defense late Wednesday afternoon. Chandler, who also goes by her married name and is still married to Ferguson, smiled at her husband. She told jurors she met Ferguson in 2010 in his native Jamaica, where he worked at a hotel.

She said that after they married in 2018, she soon began to suspect infidelity. The woman testified that she would make Ferguson sleep in their backyard or in his car and that women would occasionally show up at her house looking for him.

Chandler left DFW Airport early on January 10th. She told jurors she believes other people were involved in Kelley's disappearance and said she told Detective Fitzpatrick a man threatened Ferguson with a gun, but that the investigator didn't seem interested in her information.

Fitzpatrick later testified that the information was not considered credible.