TEXAS (KAUZ) – A man who pleaded guilty to a decades-old cold case murder in Ector County will spend the next 20 years in prison.
After a years-long investigation, 62-year-old Billy Wayne Ludwigson was arrested and pleaded guilty to the murder of 64-year-old Velma Nessett.
Ludwigson was sentenced by an Ector County jury in August 2024.
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, Nessette’s half-naked body was found in a drainage ditch in April 1982. DPS said Nessette was sexually assaulted and murdered.
Odessa police arrested a male suspect who confessed to the crime. However, during his trial in 1983, the suspect was acquitted due to lack of evidence and a false confession.
Until 2020, there were no developments in Nessett’s case.
Cold cases were reviewed and Nessett’s case was identified as eligible for the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) program.
This test revealed the identity of Billy Wayne Ludwigson, which was confirmed by standard forensic DNA testing. In July 2020, Texas Rangers and Odessa police arrested Ludwigson in Denver, Colorado, and obtained a confession to Nessett’s murder.
Ludwigson was extradited to Texas and indicted on murder charges by an Ector County jury in October 2020, according to DPS.
On August 9, 2024, Ludwigson, now 62 years old, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
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