Fort Worth capital murder trial begins in rape, slaying

The capital murder trial began Tuesday for a Fort Worth man accused of sexually assaulting a female relative and then murdering a homeless man to steal his identity.

Michael Henderson committed the second crime so he could escape prosecution on the first, a Tarrant County prosecutor said.

Henderson, 49, had been convicted of a sexual assault before, court records showed. On Oct. 16, 1987, he was sentenced to 11 years and six months in prison after being convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child younger than 14.

In his opening statement, Tarrant County prosecutor Kevin Rousseau said that almost immediately after Henderson sexually assaulted the 16-year-old female relative in March 2011, the girl went to police. Police later found DNA evidence linking Henderson to the assault, Rousseau said.

According to Rousseau, when Henderson realized that he could not free himself from the charge, he decided to commit another crime, the murder of Gary Ali on March 30, 2011.

“He needed another ID, and that’s where Gary Ali came into the picture,” Rousseau said.

Henderson, who was using the name Michael Gilbert at the time, cut off ties from his wife and daughter after he was accused of sexually assaulting his relative, Rousseau said. Henderson owned a lawn care service and his wife had a good job, and it seemed as though they had a good life, Rousseau said.

Ali, who was about the same height and weight as Henderson, had very few possessions of any value, the prosecutor said. Henderson sometimes gave homeless people jobs and was familiar with that community, Rousseau said.

What Ali did have was an identity unencumbered by a sexual assault charge, Rousseau said.

“So [Henderson] put a bullet in his head,” Rousseau said.

After killing Ali, Henderson called his girlfriend, told her to fill up a gas can and his Buick Lucerne with gas and drive to a house that he and his wife owned in Everman, Rousseau said. Once there, the girlfriend saw a body wrapped up in a sheet and covered in blood.

Henderson loaded the body into the Lucerne’s trunk and drove as the girlfriend followed in Henderson’s truck until they reached a park on the east side of Lake Arlington.

“She watched him burn the car,” Rousseau said.

Fort Worth police officer Tom Gierling testified that he accompanied fire crews as they tried to extinguish the fire. There was an open wallet near the vehicle, Gierling said. The wallet seemed to be “on display,” Gierling said.

“This one was like, hey, maybe someone wants you to take a look. Hey, look at this,” Gierling said.

Once the fire was extinguished, Gierling said he shined a flashlight where the fire had melted a tail light and saw something protruding inside the trunk that looked like a leg.

“When the trunk was opened up there was a body inside,” Gierling said.

Crime scene investigator Christopher Bain said that as he surveyed the scene, a lot of various items were found around the burned vehicle’s husk. Some were trash; others had Gilbert’s name on them.

But something seemed strange to Bain, just like it seemed strange to Gierling.

“Everything seemed too organized,” Bain said. “As though there were exact spacing between them.”

Henderson was arrested April 5, 2011, at a west Fort Worth apartment complex.

The capital murder trial is expected to continue on Wednesday in state District Judge David Hagerman’s court. Allenna Bangs, a Tarrant County prosecutor, is assisting with the case. Attorneys William “Bill” Ray and Steve Gordon are representing Henderson.

The state has waived the death penalty in this case.

This story was originally published October 20, 2015 at 8:18 PM with the headline "Fort Worth capital murder trial begins in rape, slaying."