Pre-trial hearing set for two murder suspects

Image
Body

Two people indicted for their alleged roles in a 2016 murder in Snyder are expected to appear in court Thursday.
Jamai Nicole Dabney, 31, and Juan Ramon Barron, 26, both of Springtown, are due in 132nd District Court for pre-trial hearings on their respective charges. Barron is being represented by Nacogodoches attorney Bruce Patton, while Dabney’s defense attorney is Anna-Marie Gillespie of Abilene.
Both are currently free on bonds totaling $225,000 for Barron and $140,000 for Dabney.
Officials allege the murders occurred Jan. 24, 2016 in the 2100 block of Ave. Z in Snyder.
Barron was indicted for murder in the death of Joshua Hoover of Snyder and Benjamin Bruns of Victoria, while Dabney was indicted for murder in Hoover’s death.
After murdering the two men, officials allege Dabney and Barron hid them under a house in the 2100 block of Ave. Z.
An article in the Jan. 25, 2016 edition of the Snyder Daily News stated that Snyder Police Department officers were dispatched to the neighborhood shortly before 9 a.m. on the offense date in response to a suspicious vehicle parked in the road. Upon arrival, officers located the vehicle with its engine running by the mailboxes.
Shortly afterward, Barron and Dabney went to the law enforcement center, where Dabney reported two people had broken into their house at approximately 4 a.m. that day.
“(Dabney) made the comment that two men had tried to break into the house, and they had killed them,” former Snyder Police Chief Terry Luecke said at the time of the murders. “They told us where the bodies were located. Officers did respond to the scene and did locate two male subjects who were deceased.”
Dabney and Barron were arrested on tampering with physical evidence charges and released on bonds of $10,000 apiece.
In addition to the murder charges, Dabney and Barron also were indicted for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly stabbing the victims with a knife and tampering with physical evidence for allegedly hiding the bodies of the victims under the house.
Also, Dabney was indicted on a second degree felony charge of possession of a controlled substance for allegedly possessing more than one gram, but less than four grams, of cocaine at the time of her arrest.