Fort Worth murder suspect out of jail as he awaits trial in girlfriend’s shooting
A Fort Worth man accused of shooting his girlfriend to death at their home in 2018 and then dumping her body in an east Texas field is out of jail on bond as he awaits his trial, according to court records.
Lucious Newhouse III, 55, posted $35,000 bail on Feb. 14 and stepped out of the Tarrant County Jail.
It was the first time he has been free since his arrest in September 2018 in Hopkins County.
Newhouse is accused of killing his 34-year-old girlfriend, Rochelle Mims, who had been living with him.
Newhouse had been held without bond in the Tarrant County Jail on the Fort Worth homicide and a warrant out of Hopkins County, according to Tarrant County court records.
His attorney, James Polk II of Corsicana, filed motions for bail after the Hopkins County warrant was resolved, and a $75,000 bail was set by the Magistrate Court on Dec. 5. Information on the Hopkins County warrant was not available on Friday.
Polk later filed a motion saying the bond amount was excessive and that Newhouse had a viable defense.
In the motion, Polk noted Newhouse had exonerating evidence in the form of DNA impressions on a second gun found at the murder scene. Newhouse had requested forensic DNA testing on a Ruger .357 magnum found at the scene, but prosecutors had failed to produce results as of last month.
One test was completed and provided to Polk, but a second test is expected to be completed at the end of March, according to court officials.
Newhouse’s bond was lowered to $35,000, and he was released earlier this month.
“We do not comment on pending cases,” said Sam Jordan, a spokeswoman with the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office, on Friday.
In September 2018, a blood-soaked floor leading from a bedroom to a front door of a Fort Worth home led detectives to believe Mims was dragged out of the residence.
Her body was later found in a field on Sept. 2, 2018, in Hopkins County near Sulphur Springs.
Fort Worth homicide detectives believe Newhouse killed his girlfriend, then took her body to Hopkins County, according to an arrest warrant obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 2018.
Mims told a friend she had been dating Newhouse, a jealous boyfriend who had assaulted her in the past.
On the morning of Sept. 2, 2018, Newhouse was found sitting on Texas 67 just west of Sulphur Springs. The town is about 110 miles northeast of Fort Worth.
Deputies with the Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office and troopers with the Texas Department of Public Safety had responded to the scene on a possible drunken driver crash.
Newhouse’s vehicle was in stuck in a nearby creek in the middle of a pasture just north of the highway.
Officers walked to the vehicle and found blood on the trunk and rear bumper, according to the warrant written by Fort Worth Detective T.S. O’Brien.
The body of a woman later identified as Mims was located a short distance from the stuck vehicle. She died from a gunshot wound to her head.
Newhouse was arrested at the scene after he was found to have the keys to the vehicle.
Officers at the scene contacted Fort Worth police after they discovered that Newhouse lived in Fort Worth.
A few hours later and armed with a search warrant, Fort Worth police went to Newhouse’s home in the 4200 block of Lorin Ave.
Mims’ purse and identification card were found on a bed and a large trash bag filled with woman’s clothing also was located in the bedroom.
Newhouse was charged with murder a few days after his arrest.
His trial is pending.
