Man who murdered fiancee outside Fort Worth church sentenced to 99 years
Jared Seavey, who a Tarrant County jury found murdered his fiancee outside a Fort Worth church, was sentenced Friday to 99 years in prison, according to Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office records.
A Tarrant County jury said prosecutors proved Seavey, now 24, killed Vanessa Faye Mayfield, 31, in 2019. Police said at the time that Mayfield may have already been dead when they first received a call.
Mayfield was found dead at the base of a stairwell outside of a downtown church building in the 400 block of Burnett Street on Aug. 17. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office listed the cause of death as trauma to her head and neck.
Flanery Chelsea, a friend of Mayfield’s, reached out to Seavey when she heard her friend was dead, not yet knowing the man was suspected of killing her, the Star-Telegram previously reported.
“Is vanessa ok??” Chelsea wrote to Seavey on Facebook on the afternoon of Mayfield’s death.
“I dont know im out of town,” Seavey responded that same day.
Seavey went on to say in their exchange that he was “praying it’s not her” and “loved her to death,” before questioning why he had to lose Mayfield. Although Chelsea hadn’t met Seavey, she said Mayfield had talked often about how he had a job at a restaurant in downtown Fort Worth and would be able to take care of her.
Chelsea, whose husband is Mayfield’s cousin, found out a few days later that Seavey was arrested on a charge of murder in connection with the death.
“I’m hurt, I’m upset,” Chelsea said in 2019, “... because she’s been through a lot with her other relationships and she had told me that she thinks she finally found someone that could treat her right and help her to get her life together.”
Robert Golden found Mayfield’s body about 8:45 a.m. as he walked to a store. She was at the base of a stairwell outside First United Methodist Church at West 4th and Burnett streets.
“You could tell it was a big time struggle,” he said. Blood was on the building’s exterior wall.
One friend, LaToya Stevens, said in 2019 that she had encouraged Mayfield to seek out homeless shelters.
“But she didn’t listen to me,” Stevens said.
Mayfield had been experiencing homelessness for about 10 years, Chelsea said in 2019. She had five children — her youngest was a 6-month-old girl — whom her sisters and mother would look after, she said.
Mayfield posted on Facebook in late July of that year she was in a relationship. After that update, she went on to share several pictures with Seavey in which they were smiling together.
Seavey was a server at a downtown restaurant, Chelsea said. Mayfield was trying to enroll to receive disability benefits through MHMR Tarrant County.
The two appeared to have a loving relationship, at least on the surface, Chelsea said.
“I’m hurt by that,” she told the Star-Telegram in 2019.
Mayfield’s death prompted protests in 2019 outside the church where she was killed and outside the Tarrant County Jail, calling for answers about her murder and for churches in the area to band together to help the community of people in Fort Wort who are homeless.
This story contains information from the Star-Telegram archives.