Hello, and welcome back to “Let's Talk True Crime” after an incredibly long hiatus. I am truly sorry to have disappeared for so long! I hope you at least enjoyed the last 3 posts I had, and are looking forward to what I have waiting for you this week. For our “big day back”, I was looking for a lesser-known case, something that maybe less true crime-minded people would have heard about. Even people who don’t indulge in the truly fascinating world of true crime have at least a passing knowledge of John Wayne Gacy, Jeffery Dahmer, and Ted Bundy (who will ALL be covered at some point.) I wanted to make sure that the case I had coming back was lesser-known. This is the case of Angela Samota.
WARNING: The following topic has mentions of sexual assault, and murder. Reader discretion is advised.
Angela Samota was born on the 9th of September, 1964 in Alameda, California. She was an intelligent girl, who was studying computer science and electrical engineering at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.
On the night of October 12th, 1984, Angela and 2 of her friends (1 male and 1 female) decided to spend a fun evening at the State Fair of Texas. It is mentioned in the police report that Angela’s boyfriend was not present at the fair, as he had a job in construction and had to be up early in the morning. After spending some time at the fair, Angela and her companions headed to the Rio Room. The Rio Room is a dance club in Dallas, where the trio had fun until “after midnight”. According to the unnamed male, Angela was going from table to table greeting people like she had known them forever.
Once they were ready to leave, Angela dropped the male companion off first around 1 a.m. at his apartment. This apartment is listed as being only 5 minutes away from Angela’s condo. The male companion states that after being dropped off at his home, he simply went to sleep. Angela then dropped off her female companion and headed to her boyfriend's condo.
Angela had stopped by her boyfriend's place simply to say goodnight, as he had not gone out with Angela and her other 2 companions that night. After a quick goodnight, she simply headed back to her condo, presumably to get some rest.
This is the point that I will be saying, “why girl. Why?,”. Here at LTTC, we do not judge. We all make weird choices and bad decisions, and we also do not victim blame. I never want to come across like I am blaming the victim for the choices they make. HOWEVER, there are times that I have to stop and ask “why.” In this case, it starts here.
According to Angela’s boyfriend, around 1:45 am, he received a call from Angela who stated that there was a man in her apartment who had asked if he could use her phone and her restroom. It is unknown if the man was already in her apartment or if she had let him come in.
I have to remind myself, that this was a different time. I mean this case happened back in 1984. I wouldn’t be born for another 10 years. I know things were different and people were most trusting in the ’80s. I might also just be terrified of people I don’t know…. Anyways… I digress. Moving on.
Angela’s boyfriend says that she told him to “talk to me,” and then she said she would call him back and hung up. When she didn’t call him back, he started trying to call her, and when she didn’t answer he drove to her condo. There was no response when he knocked on the door, and when he tried to open it, he found that the door was locked. The boyfriend happened to have an early generation mobile phone that had been provided to him by his job, so he was able to call police and give them the information that he had: girlfriend had called and mentioned a man in her apartment, she rapidly hung up and was not responding to phone calls, or knocks at her door.
The police arrived at 2:17 a.m. and were able to break down her door. They found Angela, deceased, covered in blood and nude on her bed. According to her autopsy report, she had been sexually assaulted, and then stabbed repeatedly, dying from wounds to the heart.
I always have a hard time writing about sexual assault. It is one of the worst things that a person can do to another person, and as a victim of it myself, and knowing other people who have been assaulted, I need a breather when I read about or write about it happening to others.
For a long period of time, the police were actually suspicious of the male friend that had been out with Angela that night. He lived within a close proximity, and he knew the victim. As always, the police also suspected Angela’s boyfriend, after all, it seems like it’s always the partner.
The case would remain unsolved until 2008. It took Angela’s friend and old roommate at SMU, Sheila Wysocki, badgering the police to reopen the case. The police were reportedly so sick of Sheila that they finally agreed to retest the evidence. DNA wasn’t really a thing back in 1984. It wasn’t known by the general public until the “Trial of the Century” against OJ Simpson for the murder of his wife Nicole Brown-Simpson (which we will definitely cover).
Originally, the police stated that the DNA evidence had been lost in a flood, but it was located and when samples of DNA from blood and semen were compared to those on file, it pointed to a man named Donald Bess Jr.
Donald Bess Jr. was born on September 1st, 1948 in Jefferson County, Arkansas. He had been charged with and served a 25-year sentence for aggravated sexual assault and kidnapping. He was on parole in 1984, when he sexually assaulted and murdered Angela Samota. In 1985, in a totally unrelated case, Bess was sentenced to prison for one count of aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, and one count of sexual assault. He was found guilty on these charges, and sentenced to life in prison.
In 2010, thanks to DNA matching, Bess was held to stand trial for the rape and murder of Angela Samota. He was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to death. During the trial, other women came forward and stated that they had also been assaulted by Bess, and, per the court record, his ex-wife testified and stated that he was abusive to her and their children.
In March of 2013, an appeal was filed to overturn the death penalty but this was rejected. Then in August of 2013, another appeal was filed to the U.S. The Supreme Court asking them to review the case, but it was denied and his charges stood. A final appeal was filed to The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 2016, but this was also denied, and the findings by the original Texas court were upheld.
Due to this case, in 2016 the Dallas Police Department reinstated their cold case division. Donald Bess Jr. is still on Death Row in Polunsky prison and there is no date set for his execution.
The outcome for a lot of these cases is not good. It is great when the perpetrator is caught, and the victim's family has justice, but it doesn’t compare to the need to have that missing person with you.
Thank you for reading, I hope that Angela is resting well, and that some peace has been found for her family.
As always, Don’t forget to subscribe and share! See you next time and Lets Talk about True Crime!
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