Texas Rangers

Connie Swinney
Staff Writer

In the wake of a recent family violence allegations, a former Llano County deputy now faces a charge of possessing child pornography.

Steven Andrew Sifford was taken into custody Sept. 1 at an east Texas bar known as Alibis in Groveton and booked into the Trinity County Jail.

A day later authorities transferred him twice – first to the Llano County Jail and then to Kerr County Jail – due to his former status with the LCSO facility where he had worked five years.

Nathan Hendrix/The Highlander

UPDATE: Burnet Police Department has identified the officer involved in the shooting as Patrol Sergeant Russell Butler. Butler was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. He has been with the police department for three years and was just recently promoted to patrol sergeant, according to a Burnet PD statement released on March 29.

By Connie Swinney
Staff Writer

By Connie Swinney
Staff Writer

Llano County investigators believe a man suspected in the stabbing death of a 49-year-old Kingsland woman may have caused his own life-threatening injuries.

A neighbor in the 200 block of Ridgeway called 9-1-1 around 4:45 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 19 in Kingsland, according to a press release from the Llano County Sheriff's Office.

“The caller claimed a man showed up at his door with injuries. Deputies were dispatched to the scene and through an initial investigation and talking to the injured man, determined that a homicide occurred at a residence in the 300 block Ridgeway Street,” the release stated. “A female victim was found at that residence.”

The victim was identified as 49-year-old Rachel Mansell.

Investigators were dispatched to the scene and determined the case to be a “homicide.”

From staff reports •

Authorities have identified the human skeletal remains found in a remote area of northwest Burnet County as those of a 40-year-old Lufkin woman reported missing by her family since April.

According to a Burnet County Sheriff's Office statement released Sept. 26, forensic scientists with the University of North Texas positively identified the remains as Tina Marie Logan.

Eight juvenile males were removed from the Joshua Home near Bertram Wednesday after an investigation into allegations of abuse, neglect, labor violations, fraud, licensing violations, and human trafficking, the Burnet County Sheriff's Office reported today.

During the past several weeks, investigators and officials from many state and local agencies conducted joint investigations into the Joshua Home, which purports to be a residential home for troubled boys and which is affiliated with a nonprofit organization known as The Joshua Home Ministries.

By Lew K. Cohn

Managing Editor

The Highlander

On Monday, May 14, Kingsland resident Shaun Daughtry — fed up with the presence of methamphetamine dealers and users in his neighborhood off Lover's Laner — put up a sign on his property declaring the area to be a “meth-free zone.”

A 56-year-old Llano woman’s death is being investigated after she had to be transported from the Llano County Jail to an Austin hospital, where she died Tuesday, Jan 2.

Cindy Lou Yonker died at Dell Seton Medical Center in Austin, where she was being treated for an undisclosed medical condition.

Yonker had been arrested for public intoxication at 3:20 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 24, by a Llano police officer after the officer and a Llano County Sheriff’s deputy responded to a disturbance call at Lowe’s grocery store, 104 W. Young, Llano.

IN CUSTODY: Ashton Micheal Hutchison

The Llano Police Department (LPD) announced yesterday, Monday, May 29, that Ashton Michael Hutchinson was in custody.

The public had been asked for assistance in locating him in connection with a May 25 burglary that involved a shooting and that appeal apparently paid off. A woman posting on social media said, "We saw him walking on a county road outside Cherokee and called him in."

Hutchison, 25, was taken into custody about 5 p.m. Monday in nearby Cherokee by deputies with the San Saba County Sheriff's Office and an officer of the Llano Police Department.

Hutchison was sought on charges of burglary of a habitation at Stonewall's Pizza Wings & Things, 109 West Main Street in Llano.

The manager of the popular restaurant on the Llano County Courthouse Square, Richard Mandi Schmidt, also commented on social media, saying, "We will all sleep a little better knowing he is in custody."

By Lew K. Cohn

Managing Editor

The Highlander

A preliminary investigation indicates the wife of a Burnet County Jail employee shot her spouse once in the back of the head Thursday, April 13, at their Lampasas home before turning the weapon on herself, according to Lampasas Assistant Police Chief Jody Cummings.