Military jury convicts once-acquitted NC solider in 1985 slayings of NC mother, 2 children

Jury finds soldier guilty in 1985 triple-slay case

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A soldier who was acquitted in civilian court more than 20 years ago was convicted by a military jury Thursday of murdering a North Carolina mother and her two children in 1985.

Master Sgt. Timothy Hennis was found guilty of three counts of premeditated murder by a jury that deliberated less than three hours following three weeks of testimony in the case.

The panel is to consider Hennis’ punishment during a sentencing hearing that starts Friday and is expected to conclude Monday. It could sentence him to death or to life in prison for the slayings of 31-year-old Kathryn Eastburn and her young daughters in their Fayetteville home.

Eastburn’s husband and surviving child hugged each other and wept after the verdict was announced. Hennis, 52, reached back and squeezed wife Angela’s hand before the decision was announced but he showed no reaction to the verdict. His wife cried.

Lawyers from the government and defense declined to comment on the verdict because the case is now entering the sentencing phase. Gary Eastburn and his family also declined to comment Thursday.

This was Hennis’ third trial in the slayings. Hennis, then an Army sergeant, was convicted in 1986 of the killings in civilian court and sentenced to death, but the state Supreme Court gave him a new trial, in part because the justices said the evidence was weak. Jurors acquitted Hennis in 1989, saying then that it was a quick decision for many because prosecutors couldn’t prove Hennis was inside the house at the time of the slayings.

Hennis, who had adopted the Eastburns’ dog several days before the killings, was arrested four days after the bodies of Eastburn and her 5-year-old and 3-year-old daughters were found.

The case spawned a 1993 book entitled “Innocent Victims,” by Scott Whisnant, which was followed by a cable television miniseries.

“I still feel like everything I knew about Tim Hennis at the time and the way he has conducted himself since then doesn’t add up to him being capable of doing this,” Whisnant said in phone interview. “It sounds like somebody who has a much darker psychosis.”

The prosecutor, Capt. Matthew Scott, told jurors in his closing argument Wednesday that Hennis might have been able to clean up the crime scene 25 years ago, but he couldn’t clean up his DNA.

“The person that slaughtered her, raped her — the person that raped her left his sperm,” Scott said.

The defense had argued that the DNA did not indicate murder, but could have meant Hennis and Eastburn had a romantic liaison some time before the slayings.

“Does the evidence take you beyond adultery to murder?” attorney Frank Spinner said Wednesday. “You should follow that evidence where ever it leads you, no matter how uncomfortable it may make you.”

Whisnant wondered if the defense suggesting that an enlisted soldier had an affair with an officer’s wife backfired in a military court.

“I think it was a calculated gamble on the defenses part and one they felt like they needed to take,” he said.

Whisnant said the DNA evidence was strong, but a lot of physical evidence from the crime scene still doesn’t add up.

Spinner had argued during his closing argument that no other physical evidence, including hair, fingerprints and a bloody towel found in the home, has been linked to Hennis.

“There is so much evidence that doesn’t fit together,” Whisnant said.