Texas Woman's Alleged Murder Documented on Facebook By Suspect

The gory post was visible online for 36 hours before being removed by Facebook.

ByABC News
May 31, 2016, 5:28 PM

— -- Friends of Jennifer Spears describe feelings of 'horror' after stumbling across a Facebook photo of her murdered corpse, posted onto her page.

Officer David Tilley, a spokesman for the Plano, Texas Police Department, told ABC News that 45-year-old Kenneth Alan Amyx, the murder suspect, allegedly killed Spears, and then posted a photo of her dead body onto Facebook with a knife wound visible on her neck. Amyx also allegedly posted a second image, a "selfie" of himself covered in blood.

The post was titled with the phrase "Please pray for us."

The images were posted on Sunday morning and the police forced entry into Spears' apartment at roughly 10 a.m., after receiving a call from the victim's sister, Tilley said. Inside the apartment, Spears was found dead. Amyx was found with superficial knife wounds on his body that were believed to be self-inflicted. He went peacefully with police, and was treated at a local hospital before being taken into custody.

The post remained up on Facebook for a period of approximately 36 hours, despite its graphic nature, according to Tilley.

A spokesperson from Facebook told ABC News that it was not immediately apparent to the company that Spears' account had been compromised by another user and that many instances when people share graphic content on Facebook, it involves people condemning violence. Once the reality of Spears' situation had become clear, Facebook staff removed the image and "memorialized" Spears' page, enabling friends and family of the victim to see her pictures and posts without showing any pictures allegedly documenting her killing.

"We remove graphic images when they are shared to celebrate violence," the spokesperson said. "As soon as it was clear what the facts were behind this photograph, we removed it."

The police believe that Spears was "clearly dead" in the image, Tilley said.

He added that Amyx and Spears were "likely dating" at the time of her death.

Tilley did not know whether Amyx was cooperating with the investigation.