Fake confession left 1982 killing unsolved for years. Now, 62-year-old sentenced in Texas

Investigators thought they had solved 64-year-old Velma Nesset’s killing shortly after her death, but the then-suspect later admitted to making a false confession, Texas authorities said.

Nesset didn’t show up for work at a mall in Odessa on April 19, 1982. Her “partially nude body” was eventually found in a drainage culvert. According to investigators, she had been sexually assaulted and killed.

The person initially accused of killing Nesset was acquitted in 1983 due to the false confession and a lack of evidence, according to a Sept. 25 news release from the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The case stalled for nearly four decades until federal funding allowed detectives to take another look in 2020.

The DPS Sexual Assault Kit Initiative used DNA testing to identify Billy Wayne Ludwigson as a suspect in the case, authorities said.

Ludwigson confessed to the killing in July 2020 when he was arrested in Denver, according to the department. He was later extradited to Ector County, Texas, and charged with murder, DPS said.

The now 62-year-old pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, authorities said.

Odessa is about a 320-mile drive southwest from Fort Worth.

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