(Fort Worth, TX) – On Tuesday, Jeffery Lemor Wheat, 51, pled guilty to four home invasion
sexual assaults he committed in North Texas between 2003 and 2011. He was sentenced to life in prison for an Arlington case.
He pled guilty to assaulting women in Tarrant, Dallas, Denton, and Collin counties after a years-long investigation by area law enforcement officers and the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office.
This multi-county disposition was orchestrated in part by Assistant Tarrant County District Attorney Stephanie Simpson, with the help of prosecutors in Dallas, Denton, and Collin counties.
“We are exceptionally grateful for the hard work of all the agencies that came together to secure justice for these women,” Simpson said. “Their hard work also ensures the safety of all women in our community moving forward.”
The first case was a September 2003 sexual assault case in Arlington, where the victim was
in her home when an unknown man broke in during the middle of the night and sexually
assaulted her. He was nude except for socks on his hands and feet and a white shirt over his face.
At the time, there were limitations in technology and testing, which led to the case being suspended.
Years later, evidence taken from the Arlington home was retested. Cutting-edge DNA testing methods linked this case to sexual assaults that occurred in Plano, Coppell, and Shady Shores between 2010 and 2011. These three victims were all members of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority.
In 2021, Wheat was found in Crawford County, Arkansas, and arrested. More DNA tests linked him to the Arlington case and to the three other cases.
The DNA testing that helped bring Wheat to justice is called Forensic Genetic Genealogy, or
FGG. This testing also brought Glen McCurley, the man who killed 17-year-old Carla Walker in 1974, to justice in 2020.
DA Investigator Chris LaChance and Victim Coordinator Laura Medina worked on the case as well.
Thank you to the Arlington Police Department and law enforcement officers in Collin, Denton, and Dallas counties for working on this case and never giving up.
