Published: August 19, 2009 11:16 pm      

Convicted murderer turns himself in

A nervous public in Athens and Henderson County can breathe easier.

Convicted murderer Donnie Ray Westbrook was taken back into police custody at about 11:50 a.m., Wednesday.

No one caught him. Not the helicopter in the air, nor the Texas Rangers, nor the U.S. Marshals, nor the Henderson County Sheriff’s Department task force; nor two packs of trained dogs.

Nobody could sniff him out — not even the Athens Police Department, at least not until a dispatcher took the all-important 9-1-1 call.

Westbrook turned himself in just two blocks from where he fled 17 hours earlier.

The story of how Westbrook made the decision to surrender is one Craig Rhoton will not likely forget. He’s the office manager of Regal Sterling Monument, at 313 Corsicana St.

Whether Westbrook hid behind a cemetery headstone, or drifted about town during his brief moment of freedom, is yet to be determined.

But when the penalty phase of his murder trial resumed at 1:15 p.m. Wednesday, Westbrook was in custody, properly shackled as a convicted murderer, sitting where he had been pronounced guilty on Tuesday after two hours of deliberation by a 392nd District Court jury.

Rhoton heard about Westbrook’s escape, read the physical description, but when a polite young man walked into his office to borrow the telephone — perfectly fitting that description — Rhoton said he didn’t have a clue that he was talking to the fugitive from justice he’d been reading about.

“I was sitting in the office reading stuff on the computer,” the low-key, smiling manager began.

Westbrook told him he’d been riding with a friend; that they’d gotten into an argument, and that his friend made him get out of the car.

“He wanted to know if he could use the telephone,” Rhoton said, pointing at a black land-line phone on his desk. “I told him he was more than welcome to use it.”

Rhoton said Westbrook called a friend to help him, but the friend told him he didn’t want to get involved.

“He even told the friend, ‘this is Donnie,’’’ Rhoton said.

Between calls, Westbrook told Rhoton he lived in Eustace, but that it was a long ways, and that he didn’t feel like walking.

“It’s too hot,” he said.

The temperature outside was 99 degrees at 11:50 a.m.

Rhoton said Westbrook asked if he could make one more call. Apparently no one answered.

He left. Then he returned, about four minutes later.

Westbrook talked about his mother and concerns he had about some of his family.

Then he told the truth.

“I’m going to be real honest with you,” he told Rhoton. “I started feeling really guilty about lying to you. I was found guilty of murder.”

The light went on inside Rhoton’s head.

“The description said white t-shirt, khaki shorts. That’s what he was wearing. I just thought to myself ‘Whoaaaa’,” Rhoton said. “He is telling me the truth.”

But after allowing reality to sink in for a moment, Rhoton realized he didn’t feel threatened.

He quoted Westbrook’s next words.

“I escaped from court,” Westbrook said. “I told you they convicted me for murder. But I didn’t do it. All they had on me was hear-say evidence.”

Nevertheless, Westbrook asked Rhoton if he would call the sheriff’s department.

A shocked Rhoton found himself asking, “Are you serious?”

He said, “Yes sir.”

“I picked up the phone and dialed 9-1-1. I told the person on the other end of the line, I have Donnie Westbrook in my office, and he wants to give himself up. The operator asked if I was all right, and whether or not he was being aggressive,” Rhoton said. “I told them he wasn’t. You know, the whole time he was here, he was as polite as he could be.”

He said he told the operator they were located at 313 W. Corsicana St., across the street from Auto Zone.

“Within five or six minutes, we had officers and patrol cars all over the place,” Rhoton said.

During that five minutes, Rhoton — a former Baptist minister — said he told Westbrook, “I think you’re doing the right thing, and that there is a God who loves you.”

“He said he knew that,” Rhoton said.

And then it was over. The officers never withdrew their weapons.

Westbrook turned around, so he could be shackled.

And this time he didn’t run.