Editor's note: The original version of this report incorrectly stated that accused killer Ryland Shane Absalon reportedly pushed Ginger Hayden and was "verbally offensive" when she refused to have sex with him. Prosecutors said that the incident occurred but that it did not involve Hayden.
Justice has been nearly 30 years in coming for the family of 18-year-old Ginger Hayden.Nearly 30 years since her body was found Sept. 5, 1984, slumped in the bedroom of her Fort Worth apartment, stabbed 57 times in an attack so brutal that the steak knife broke under the force.Nearly 30 years since her dreams of becoming a physical therapist ended just a week after she started classes at the University of Texas at Arlington.Beginning Monday, a former schoolmate at Arlington Heights High School -- and a longtime suspect in her death -- will go on trial, charged with capital murder.New material gathered by the Fort Worth Police Department's cold case unit led back to Ryland Shane Absalon, 45, a neighbor whose DNA was found at the crime scene and who confessed in counseling two years after the slaying.The trial has been a long time coming: Some of the material investigators gathered is now missing or badly deteriorated, one officer has died, and another detective has a "memory disorder" and cannot testify, court records indicate.But memories of Hayden haven't faded, and friends and family are expected to be in the 297th state District Court as the testimony unfolds."None of us wants her to be forgotten," high school acquaintance Angela Houk Walker of Fort Worth said in an e-mail to the Star-Telegram. "We have spent the last [28] years waiting for someone to be held accountable for her murder."Ginger didn't deserve to die the way she did."Defense attorney Gary Udashen declined to comment about the trial other than to say that Absalon, who was 17 at the time of the killing, has insisted he is not guilty."He's maintained his innocence since 1984 and he has not wavered in that," he said.Assistant District Attorney Lisa Callaghan, who will try the case with prosecutors Jim Hudson and Anna Summersett, declined to comment. Jury selection is scheduled for Monday with testimony set to begin Tuesday morning.If convicted, Absalon could face life in prison.Frenzy of violenceSharon Hayden Harvey couldn't understand why her daughter didn't turn off the alarm clock in her bedroom the morning of Sept. 5, 1984, so she finally went to see for herself.Her screams woke the neighbors.Hayden's body lay beside the bed in a pool of blood, wearing only underwear, with a broken steak knife nearby. She'd been stabbed repeatedly in the head, breast and pubic areas as she tried to defend herself."I walked in and I found her," Harvey told the Star-Telegram in 2010. "Then I couldn't walk anymore. I had to hold onto the walls to get to the phone."Nothing had seemed out of the ordinary on the day before the attack, according to statements gathered by investigators.Hayden had spent time that day with her boyfriend, Jeff Green, and his friend Absalon, and they watched television, drank beer and listened to music. Hayden's mother left the apartment about 4:30 p.m. for her night job at the post office, and Absalon told police he left about 9 p.m. to go to a friend's house. He was reported to have been very drunk and may have been on heroin.About 11:30 p.m., Hayden drove her boyfriend home and is believed to have returned home for bed; she had to get up early for classes the next morning. A neighbor saw a man matching Absalon's description knocking on Hayden's patio door about 2 a.m.Harvey returned home from work about 3:15 a.m. to find the living room lights on and a radio playing softly. She saw what she thought was red shoe dye on Hayden's socks in the bathroom and on the floor, mixed with water. She covered the water with a towel and went to bed.Absalon's father in the upstairs apartment heard the screams the next morning and sent his son to see what was wrong. Absalon reported back that Hayden was lifeless and cold, but he said he'd been too afraid to check on her himself.Investigators questioned dozens of witnesses and gathered mounds of material but never made an arrest.Long-ago confessionsTwo years later, unknown to investigators, Absalon confessed to the killing while undergoing treatment in a now-closed drug and alcohol treatment program in Richardson.The teenagers and young adults enrolled in the program were under orders never to speak about admissions made in group therapy, and no one contacted authorities until news of Absalon's arrest surfaced in 2010, according to testimony Friday during a pretrial hearing on whether the jury should hear about the confessions."He said he had killed a girl, that he had stabbed a girl," testified Michele Valencia, who said she spent about 10 months in the Straight Inc. program in 1986-87 with Absalon and was in the therapy session when he confessed."He stood up and it took him a long time to say it," she said. "He was very red, very quiet. ... At the time he said it, I believed it. It scared me."Former participant Sean Garrett testified that Absalon began telling him about the killings one evening. Garrett served as a program "host" for Absalon, and Absalon spent nights in Garrett's home for several months."I had asked him why the police kept coming to Straight to talk to him," he said. "He told me that he had murdered a girl."Defense attorneys have asked the judge not to allow jurors to hear evidence about the confessions. Absalon felt so pressured under the harsh, domineering program that he falsely admitted to the killing and believed he would be protected by the promised confidentiality, they said.State District Judge Everett Young is expected to rule Monday on whether confidentiality rules will keep the confessions out of the evidence.It was the results of DNA tests done with new technology, however, that finally led to Absalon's arrest in 2010. Absalon's DNA was found on the towel in the bathroom, and one of his pubic hairs was found on the sock, which was soaked with Hayden's blood, according to a sworn statement submitted by Fort Worth police Detective Thomas O'Brien in seeking an arrest warrant.Court documents, filed by prosecutors and defense attorneys in advance of the trial, paint a picture of a young man with anger management issues, a persistent addiction problem that included alcohol, marijuana, heroin and speed, and a propensity to use violence.He also had several brushes with the law in the 1980s, and was accused of assault, criminal mischief, burglary, drunken driving and arson, records say.He was also known to carry knives, particularly a steak knife, and shortly after the killing he "had a nervous breakdown/drug addiction-related psychiatric problem," prosecutors said in court filings.Unanswered questionsQuestions about the slaying remain unanswered decades later.Prosecutors acknowledged in court filings that several other people had been considered suspects in the case, and some had threatened to kill her, although details of those threats are not known. Among those who made threats are her mother and boyfriend, although both passed polygraph examinations at the time.And Hayden was pregnant at the time of her death, in the early weeks of her first trimester. The fetus that was removed from her body during an autopsy has been lost, however, so the father of the child cannot be confirmed.Her boyfriend told police that he was aware of the pregnancy and believed that he was the father. But unidentified DNA was also found in her room and on her body, and her purse contained a cryptic note to someone named Robert asking "if there is a problem," documents indicate.Defense attorneys are also challenging the DNA results. Lab reports say that a preliminary test indicated that blood was on the bathroom towel but that more extensive testing was inconclusive on whether the blood was human.Absalon, meanwhile, has apparently settled into a productive life and was living with his wife and preschool-age child in Sierra Vista, Ariz., when arrested, his attorney said."He's been doing fine for 25 years until they came and arrested him," Udashen said.Hayden's mother told the Star-Telegram in 2010, however, that she is ready for justice to be served. She has multiple sclerosis and has used a wheelchair for more than two decades, but she is expected to be among the first witnesses to take the stand Tuesday."After years of frustration, I finally gave it up," she said. "I just figured God knew who did it and he'd tell me sometime."I'm glad they finally did it," she said.This article includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.Dianna Hunt,817-390-7084Twitter: @DiannaHuntHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
