Authorities arrested a Texas sex offender on Saturday after an extensive and intense maneuver involving multiple law enforcement agencies. It turns out his parents called authorities after his mother discovered something horrifying on their property.
The mother told McLennan County Sheriff's Office deputies she went outside her home to find her son standing there looking “very sweaty.” KWTX Television.
“The man who we believe committed this horrific, brutal murder was sentenced to 40 years in prison. He served almost 10 years, was released on parole and then committed this horrific crime. He should never have been released, but he was.”
The woman claims she tried to walk around her son, Richard Tanner Ozment, 36, but he got in her way and she had to push him away.
But that was far from the worst.
According to the affidavit, the woman said she saw human legs behind a camper on her property in China Springs, and her mother walked to the area behind the camper and found the woman with severe injuries.
According to court documents, the mother asked Ozment, “What did you do?”
He reportedly replied, “She tried to stab me.”
His mother ran inside the house, and Ozment's father called 911.
China Spring Firefighters were the first to arrive at the horrific crime scene and noticed a man fleeing the home.
Paramedics treated 38-year-old Michaela Brooker, who had suffered “severe injuries, primarily to the head,” according to the affidavit. Brooker was taken by helicopter to hospital, where she was pronounced dead from her injuries.
McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara said Ozment used a machete-like weapon to kill Brooker.
By the time police arrived, Ozment had fled the scene.
Law enforcement agencies organized a large search party to track down Ozment, including a SWAT team from the McLennan County Sheriff's Office, a K9 unit and drone support from the Waco Police Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Game Warden and a Texas Department of Criminal Justice K9 tracking unit.
About 10 hours later, officers on horseback accompanied by police dogs pursued Ozment, who was reportedly hiding in an aquarium about a football field away from the bloody crime scene.
McNamara said he believes Brooker's murder stemmed from a “domestic disturbance” but did not elaborate on the victim's relationship to Ozment.
Ozment has been charged with murder and is being held in the McLennan County Jail. $1 million bond.
“This is one of the most horrific, brutal, senseless attacks that we've seen in a long time,” McNamara said. “This should never have happened. This man who we believe committed this horrific, brutal murder was sentenced to 40 years in prison. He served almost 10 years, was released on parole and then committed this horrific crime. He should never have been out of prison, but he was.”
a Waco Tribune-Herald According to a March 2015 article, Ozment, then 26, was sentenced to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to breaking into five area churches and two homes.
“The charges against Ozment have been elevated to first-degree felonies because he was convicted in 2004 of aggravated sexual assault as a juvenile and in 2007 of terroristic threatening,” the outlet noted.
Ozment was arrested in 2013 after a complaint that he was taking photos outside China Spring Elementary School. While in custody, authorities discovered he was not complying with sex offender registration requirements.
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