LEXINGTON, S.C. — The trial of a man accused of kidnapping and killing a Lexington County girl back in the 1980s will begin next week.
The South Carolina Attorney General's Office confirmed Thomas Eric McDowell, 63, will be in court the week of February 5 to face charges that he killed four-year-old Jessica Gutierrez in 1986.
Deputies arrested McDowell in January of 2022. He was living in North Carolina at the time. McDowell was charged with murder, kidnapping and first-degree burglary.
An arrest warrant stated a fingerprint was identified as belonging to McDowell. He was later identified through a photo lineup. The warrant states he made "statements to other sources" that he had kidnapped the victim and killed her.
Gutierrez, who was just four years old, was taken from the bedroom of her home on South Lake Drive in Lexington in June of 1986. Investigators haven't said yet what they think happened after her disappearance or if there was any motive in the case.
For decades, though, there was no concrete information on the case. But in 2021, just a few months before the arrest, investigators announced they were reexamining the case.
More than 3,500 case file pages were reviewed, according to Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon. Ten FBI field offices were involved in the reexamination of the case.
"We took a fresh look at this case in September when FBI special agents and analysts assigned to its specialized Child Abduction Rapid Deployment Team and prosecutors with the South Carolina Attorney General's Office came to Lexington," Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said back in 2022. "SLED agents also joined us in reviewing initial reports and interviewing more than 125 people. Because of the work we did, coming together as a team, we were able to sort and connect more pieces of the puzzle about what happened to Jessica all those years ago."