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In 1984, Angela Samota, a 20-year-old computer science and electrical engineering student, was found dead in her off-campus residence. She was found naked and bloody in her bed by her boyfriend and the police authorities after she hung up on her boyfriend and did not pick up calls anymore. Angela was r*ped and brutally murdered. She was stabbed 18 times and died from injuries suffered to her chest, which directly affected the heart.
Oxygen's Murdered by Morning is all set to drop its brand new episode, which will chronicle the Angela Samota murder case. The episode airs July 16, 2022.
Who were the prime suspects in the Angela Samota case?
On October 12, 1984 when Angela Samota went to the State Fair with Russell Buchanan and Anita Kadala, her two friends, little did she know that she would return home only to be brutally murdered.
That night, Angela returned home late from the fair after visiting her boyfriend. She came home and was visited by a man in her apartment late that night asking to use the phone and the bathroom. According to Ben, Angela's boyfriend, she had called to tell him about the man and promised to call back again. But that did not happen. Worried, Ben visited her and found her brutally murdered in her bed.
The prime suspects in Angela's murder case were her boyfriend Ben McCall, her friend Russell Buchanan and one of the ex-boyfriends. But during the investigation, it was concluded that Angela's attacker was a “non-secretor." This released both Ben and the ex-boyfriend from the suspect list, leaving Russell, a 23-year-old architect living near Angela's place. However, he too was found innocent when he was given a polygraph test, which he passed successfully.
So who killed Angela?
All about Angela Samota's murderer
The Anglea Samota case soon became a cold case in the absence of any sufficient leads. It was only years later, when Detective Linda Crum used DNA evidence from the scene of crime to compare with pre-existing criminal records, that a match was found and the killer was revealed.
The system matched the DNA evidence with Donald Andrew Bess Jr. At the time of Angela's murder, Donald was on parole, serving a 25-year sentence. In 2008, when he was found connected to Angela's murder, he was already in jail again for another unrelated r*pe and assault case.
Donald Andrew Bess Jr. is apparently a serial r*pist who was arrested numerous times for having abused countless women. When Donald took the stand again in 2010 for the trial for Angela's r*pe and murder, several women, including his ex-wife, testified against him.
On account of all the statements and DNA evidence, Donald Bess was found guilty by the jury of Angela's assault and murder. He was sentenced to receive the death penalty. Following the verdict, Donald made numerous appeals to the court, but all of them were rejected. Donald, now 72, is incarcerated at the Hospital Galveston Unit in Texas. He still remains on death row, but no execution date has been set for him.
Catch Murdered by Morning to know more about the gruesome Angela Samota murder case.
