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Verna Dennis was a vivid person who loved yellow roses, was passionate about her faith and helping others, and knew how to have fun, her daughter said. The same suspect has been charged with murder twice in Dennis\u2019 1997 killing, but both times the case has been dismissed before trial.<\/p>\n
Family photo<\/p>\n
Courtesy: Rebecka Eggers<\/p>\n
A Fort Worth cold case killing from 1997 is still under investigation after being dismissed for the second time before trial.<\/p>\n
Verna Dennis was found dead inside her Ridglea Hills home on Aug. 10, 1997. Someone had struck the 56-year-old widow over the head more than 20 times with a steel pry bar and cut her throat with a butcher knife, according to an autopsy report. Dennis\u2019 1993 Acura and tens of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry were missing from the house.<\/p>\n
Michael Puryear, who\u2019d been a college roommate of Dennis\u2019 son, was arrested and indicted on a murder charge in 2006. Then in June 2009 \u2014 two weeks before the trial was set to begin \u2014 the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney\u2019s Office dismissed the case. Prosecutors at the time said the evidence against Puryear wasn\u2019t strong enough to proceed.<\/p>\n
Fort Worth police arrested Puryear<\/a> in connection with Dennis\u2019 death for the second time on July 31, 2023. The department announced the arrest in a news release and said detectives had reopened the case and built on the work of previous investigators.<\/p>\n \u201cRecent advancements in DNA technology allowed for testing that was not previously available,\u201d the release stated.<\/p>\n A Tarrant County grand jury indicted Puryear on the capital murder charge in October 2024, and court documents show trial preparations were underway. On Aug. 29, 2025, the case was dismissed on the grounds of \u201cprosecutorial discretion.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn discussions with the detectives handling the case, it was determined that additional investigation was necessary,\u201d the District Attorney\u2019s Office told the Star-Telegram in an emailed statement. \u201cThe case was dismissed to allow that work to be completed.\u201d<\/p>\n The Fort Worth Police Department didn\u2019t provide additional details on the dismissal and said in an email that police respect the district attorney\u2019s decision. Puryear\u2019s defense attorney, Steve Gordon, declined to publicly comment on the case.<\/p>\n The crime<\/p>\n Verna Dennis loved helping people<\/a>, her daughter, Rebecka Eggers, told the Star-Telegram in 2023. The red-headed west Fort Worth resident was also passionate about her faith. She hosted Bible studies, taught Sunday school and counseled inmates at the state prison in Huntsville.<\/p>\n According to family and friends, Dennis made another ministry trip to Huntsville on Aug. 9, 1997, the day police believe she was killed. Investigators think the attacker followed her into the house when she returned home late that afternoon or was already inside, Puryear\u2019s 2023 arrest warrant affidavit states.<\/p>\n Dennis\u2019 body wasn\u2019t discovered until the following day when friends arrived for a Sunday evening Bible study. Her stolen car was found abandoned about a month later in a K-Mart parking lot in San Antonio.<\/p>\n In October 2005, one of Puryear\u2019s friends named him as the killer, investigators said. According to the informant\u2019s written statement, the two men were watching football together when Puryear started to talk about killing Dennis, the arrest warrant affidavit states. Puryear also purportedly described stealing Dennis\u2019 car and leaving it in a Walmart or K-Mart parking lot in San Antonio.<\/p>\n Puryear was arrested in April 2006, but the case was ultimately dismissed. Prosecutors at that time said Puryear\u2019s alibi \u2014 that he was at a party in Austin at the time of the killing \u2014 appeared credible and the DNA evidence linking him to the crime scene was weak. They said they also determined the informant\u2019s story was likely false, according to the Star-Telegram\u2019s archives.<\/p>\n Another homicide detective reopened the case in December 2020, believing \u201cthe case files may contain information known and unknown to the court at the time of Puryear\u2019s release,\u201d the most recent arrest affidavit states.<\/p>\n The following year, two investigators met with the informant who said Puryear had confessed Dennis\u2019 killing to him. According to the affidavit, the details he shared were consistent with the statement he\u2019d made to police back in 2005.<\/p>\n Another DNA test run in 2023 also determined that it was \u201clikely\u201d the evidence came from Puryear, according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n \u201cThis likelihood ratio provides moderate support for the inclusion of Michael Puryear to this mixture,\u201d the affidavit states.<\/p>\n Even though this second case against Puryear was ultimately dismissed, it can be refiled if police and prosecutors believe there\u2019s enough evidence to charge him after further investigation. It\u2019s not clear if or when that would occur.<\/p>\n In a 2023 interview, Eggers said she\u2019d spent \u201c26 years of torment\u201d waiting for answers. One of the things that hurts the most is never getting an opportunity to see the woman her mother would become, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was just a multi-dimensional person like anybody, who had strong points and flaws and beauty and difficulty, and someone saw her in a vulnerable moment in her life when she was coming out into the world to become her true self, and they snuffed that out,\u201d Eggers said.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n
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