Fort Worth police arrest suspects after 3 bodies found at car dealer, abandoned building
Clay Turrentine and Veronica Jones were plucked from a couch on Monday inside Bill’s Auto Sales in Fort Worth. They were tied with rope and put in the backseat of a Ford F-150.
The man who would kill them sat with his accomplice in the front as they headed west, police allege.
Andrew Vandermeer drove, and Lamont Cousins was in the pickup truck’s passenger seat.
They stopped at a building in Palo Pinto County where, Vandermeer told police, Cousins took Turrentine inside the abandoned structure and shot the 55-year-old man to death.
With the auto dealership owner dead, Cousins pulled Jones from the truck and killed her, too, Vandermeer said. She was 46 and an employee of the business.
At the car dealer’s office, there was a third victim. A 65-year-old employee lay dead on the floor.
Ginny Lewis’ body was behind a desk. Blood pooled around her head.
Uneaten food sat on a desk in a Sonic bag.
Cousins and Turrentine were involved in an argument about the sale of a vehicle, according to a Fort Worth police detective’s description of the crimes in an affidavit supporting the suspects’ arrest.
Cousins told detectives that he was at Bill’s Auto Sales, in the 4200 block of Benbrook Highway, on Monday morning, but he denied being involved in the killings. Cousins said that Turrentine and Lewis were at the business while he was there. Cousins said that he and Turrentine often buy and sell vehicles and that Turrentine gave him two checks for two vehicles.
Cousins, 44, of Dallas, was on Tuesday arrested on suspicion of capital murder in the killings. Vandermeer, 32, of Grand Prairie, was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of the same crime.
A person whose name is redacted in the affidavit said that in recent days she knew of an altercation that Turrentine had with someone named Lamont. The person said that she was told that Turrentine had purchased a Dodge from Lamont and paid $10,000 for it. Turrentine bought the vehicle for Jones, who decided that she did not want it, and he put it on their lot to be sold. A buyer purchased the vehicle and later discovered that it had a lien on it and it was repossessed.
Turrentine returned to the buyer the money he or she had paid for the vehicle, leaving Turrentine at a loss. The person believed that Turrentine and Lamont had an altercation over the sales, perhaps on Dec. 10, according to the affidavit.
Fort Worth police arrived about 3:30 p.m. Monday at the business. Lewis’ son had called 911 to report that he could see blood on the floor through a window and no one would answer the door or telephone.
Inside, there were bloody rags and shoe impressions. A safe appeared to have been opened.
Fort Worth police found Cousins and Vandermeer after tracking the GPS on the Ford F-150. The investigation led officers to the bodies in Palo Pinto County on Tuesday. Detectives also searched Cousins’ residence. The U.S. Marshals North Texas Fugitive Task Force took Cousins into custody, and he was booked at the Fort Worth Jail. His bond was set at $1 million.
Jones’ daughter, Cayley Jones, thanked people for their prayers, according to a public post on her Facebook page. Lewis also was Cayley Jones’ great-aunt, she said.
“I’m missing you always, my mom; my best friend,” she wrote. “My whole heart is breaking more every single minute.”
This story was originally published December 15, 2020 at 10:21 PM.
