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On May 11, 2011, police & emergency services responded to a house fire in rural Redwater, Texas on the 1200 block of Farm to Market Road 991 East. It didn’t take long for investigators to realize that something terribly sinister had happened. Glen & Wanda Prewett rushed to their daughter’s home, 34-year-old Amanda Doss, arriving shortly before 5 am. They arrived before emergency services since they lived only a short distance from their daughter & two grandchildren. Wanda had gotten a disturbing phone call from her 11-year-old granddaughter, Guinevere Doss, only minutes earlier.
When Wanda answered the phone, she heard noises in the background & shouts of, “Mommy! Mommy,” from Guinevere before the line suddenly went dead. Glen & Wanda were horrified when they arrived & despite the flames, they managed to pull Guinevere from the wreckage, suffering burns themselves, but it was too late & she was tragically already deceased. They were forced to stand-by, grief-stricken, watching the house as it burned to the ground, fully aware that their daughter & grandson were still inside. Wanda & Glen were later taken to a Dallas hospital for treatment of their burns.
It wasn’t until the next day that Amanda & Texas’ bodies were able to be pulled from the ashes & rubble. The victims were so badly burned that it wasn’t immediately apparent if they had suffered other injuries, but the investigators had a gut instinct that their deaths were not a result of an accidental house fire. As they began investigating the scene, their findings further solidified their feelings.
After the autopsies were complete, it was clear that the victims hadn’t died as a result of the fire. They had been stabbed to death before the house was intentionally set on fire although Texas’ body was so badly burned that no autopsy was done. Detectives realized that there was a ruthless killer on the loose & sadly, they had no leads. After months of investigating & the offer of a $145,000 reward, they were no closer to finding the person or people responsible for this horrific crime. The community couldn’t wrap their heads around who would have hurt Amanda, Guinevere & Texas.
This all changed when at 8:30 pm on Friday, August 12, 2011, a phone call came into the Bowie County Sheriff office & a woman was on the other end, upset & crying. She indicated that she knew who killed Amanda, Guinevere & Texas. No one could have ever expected that a 16-year-old girl was responsible for such horrific murders. The teenager, Rachel Pittman was turned in by her own mother when, three months after committing the crime, Rachel confessed to her mother who then called the police & recounted her daughter’s words. By the time the call was placed, the reward money had grown to $148,570 & the woman indicated that she didn’t want the money.
Rachel willingly came to the police station where she told police what exactly had happened on the night of the murders. She gave police details that were never made public & evidence found at the scene of the crime confirmed her confession which included a pocket knife, hair & blood samples. She told police that she had hidden a four-five inch wooden-handled kitchen knife in the waistband of her shorts & carried a two-liter soda bottle that she filled with gasoline & walked the less than a mile distance from her home on Farm to Market Road to the house that Amanda shared with her two children.
At about 3 am, Amanda answered the knock on the rear door of her home & found Rachel standing there. As she’d done many times before, Amanda invited Rachel inside. Rachel had been a babysitter for Guinevere & Texas & often visited the Doss family. She told police that she & Amanda spoke for a while & then she stood & moved for the door as if she was going to leave.
Instead of going home, Rachel attacked Amanda with the kitchen knife she pulled from her waistband & stabbed her to death before moving on to Guinevere & Texas. After viciously killing the family, Rachel retrieved the bottle of gasoline she’d left outside the house, pouring it on the victims & around the house & set the victims on fire with a lighter she specifically brought for that reason. As the fire began to spread, she fled through the same door she’d entered & jumped the fence, just as Glen & Wanda Prewett were pulling up.
Rachel said from here, she incinerated the clothing she’d been wearing as well as her shoes in a burn pile behind her mother’s home after washing up in the bathroom in her own home. Tests performed on the surfaces of Rachel’s bathroom following her confession, confirmed the presence of blood & supported her story.
One day after the murders, Rachel said that she broke the blade of the murder weapon into about twenty pieces & scattered the metal scraps in the woods behind her home. She broke the knife’s wooden handle & burned it in the same pile as her shoes & clothing. Investigators were unable to recover any remnants of her shoes, clothing or the weapon.
She said she took the metal shank from underneath the wooden handle & buried it in a log in the woods near her home. A week after the murders, Rachel returned to the crime scene at night & cleaned the fence rail she’d jumped over after fleeing the scene with soap & water she brought with. She said she came back to remove any potential evidence because she was worried that blood from a cut she got during the stabbings might lead to the discovery that she was the murderer. Investigators took a photo of the scar on Rachel’s left forearm as well as her knuckle that she wore as a reminder of what she did on the night of the murders. As she gave her statement on the night she turned herself in, investigators described her demeanor as matter-of-fact.
Rachel’s confession was given on August 12, 2011 & it was noted that the Bowie County Sheriff’s Office had received a CrimeStoppers tip from a California phone number on June 14, 2011, two months earlier & a month after the murders. This call identified Rachel as the killer & provided details similar to those that Rachel herself gave during her confession but at the time, the tip wasn’t considered a high priority lead.
It wasn’t until Rachel’s mother, Renee Pettigrew contacted Sheriff James Prince from the Bowie County Police Department, it appeared that the investigation into the triple murder had hit a standstill. The BCSO & the Texas Rangers followed up on dozens of leads, spoke with the Doss’ family, friends, ex-boyfriends & ex-husbands & one by one, they were all eliminated.
Prince met Renee & Rachel in a bank parking lot on the evening of August 12, 2011 after he received a hysterical phone call from Renee. Rachel & her mother rode together in Prince’s pickup truck to the Bi-State Justice Building in downtown Texarkana. Rachel sat, holding her bible.
Before her rights were read, Rachel was allowed to speak with her parents & her father, Howard Pittman, pleaded with her to stay silent & ask for a lawyer. She indicated that she didn’t want her father, her attorney or her mother in the room & she just wanted to tell the truth & everything that happened.
Rachel explained that she committed the murders because she believed it was what an adult friend, Dana Epps, wanted her to do. Dana had moved to another state five to six months before the murders; she was in her mid-thirties at the time. Rachel had known her since she was 6-years-old & when she was 11-years-old, Dana moved in with Rachel’s grandmother in a house near Rachel’s as well as the Doss family. Dana had also lived with her boyfriend in a rental house in the same neighborhood. Rachel had a close relationship with her & when investigators spoke with Dana, she told them that she viewed Rachel as a little sister & the two often spent time together at the Doss home. Rachel told investigators that she planned the murders because Amanda betrayed Dana; Dana & Amanda had gotten mad at each other over a rental house that Dana was staying in that belonged to Amanda’s parents. After the falling out, Dana moved to South Carolina.
Rachel told investigators that she wanted to wait to murder Amanda when the children weren’t home, but her friend’s impatience caused her to kill all three & the children were collateral damage. Experts that evaluated Rachel’s mental state described Rachel a teen descending into psychosis & of suffering from the onset of symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia. Those representing Rachel don’t believe that her adult friend purposely encouraged or threatened her to commit the murders. While Rachel believed her friend wanted to kill Amanda, the belief was based on delusions versus reality according to multiple mental health experts that evaluated Rachel.
Based on Rachel’s actions after the murder, it’s clear that she was aware that what she was doing was wrong since she got rid of evidence to avoid detection. A second expert described that Rachel took special meanings that fed her delusions, from things she heard on TV, billboards or from conversations that were unrelated to her. One expert reported that Rachel heard snakes talking like demons & seeing ghosts.
Some believe that Rachel may not have acted alone & would have had the ability to carry out the murders & the coverup by herself given her deteriorating mental health. However, all evidence indicates that Rachel acted alone & Rachel herself hasn’t accused anyone else of being involved.
After the murders, she reported seeing a pink cloud that she believed were the souls of Amanda, Guinevere & Texas. Because of her deep religious beliefs, she was motivated to confess. As her case proceeded to trial, Rachel’s lawyers filed notice of their intent to plead insanity on her behalf.
It was explained that there is a distinction between legal insanity & clinical insanity & offenders are typically deemed competent by judges & proceed to trial as long as they’re aware of what’s happening around them & are able to assist their lawyers in preparation of a defense. Whether a defendant should be held accountable for criminal behavior which might have been influenced by mental illness, is a question often left to a jury to decide.
Rachel was indicted for capital murder in the deaths of Amanda & Guinevere & for first-degree murder for Texas’ death. She pleaded guilty to two counts of first degree murder. Had Rachel gone to trial & been convicted of capital murder, she would be required to serve more time behind bars before becoming eligible for parole. She was tearful when she took the stand to answer questions before her sentencing & indicated that she didn’t initially agree to the plea deal, but changed her mind after seeing photos of the victims. This decision spared Amanda’s family the burden of a jury trial as well as any possibility of years of potential appeals. Because she was only sixteen at the time of the murders, she would not be eligible for the death penalty. Under Texas law, those accused of a crime are considered adults at age seventeen. Rachel was certified to stand trial as an adult & her case was transferred from juvenile court to criminal court.
In Texas, capital murder is typically punishable by life in prison without the possibility of parole or death by lethal injection. Rachel faced a lesser punishment, life with parole possibility after forty years, if convicted of capital murder. Her plea to first degree murder means she could be eligible for parole after serving thirty years & will be given credit for time already served. At her plea hearing on January 31st, 202nd District Judge Leon F. Pesek Jr ordered the state’s file on Rachel be sealed which include graphic crime scene photos & autopsy reports.
During the sentencing, a large photo of the Doss family was placed on an easel directly in Rachel’s view. In the photo, the smiling family was pictured wearing their Easter clothes, Amanda wearing a black & white dress & matching hat, Guinevere wore a pink dress & matching hat while Texas wore a suit. Amanda’s parents, Glen & Wanda, read their victim impact statements & Rachel cried & looked down while they addressed her, Glen & Wanda wearing matching shirts with a photo of the family on the front. Glen said, “Amanda trusted you & befriended you.. You were there coloring Easter eggs with Amanda, Guinevere, Texas & Wanda & me.” Through tears, Glen said that he would never see his daughter & grandchildren ever again & how the family had saved up to take a trip to England that they planned to take the summer his family was murdered.
When Amanda traveled, she bought Rachel souvenirs, she often brought her dinner that she’d prepared & her mother hired Rachel to clean her house when she traveled so that she would have extra spending money. Glen said, “She never knew you were evil.” Glen went on to say that he knows that he will be reunited with his family in heaven, but Rachel robbed him of sharing time on earth with his loved ones. Wanda went on to say that not only had she been robbed of her only daughter, but also her best friend. Wanda & Amanda worked together each day for the last seven years, they vacationed together, they shared dinner together most nights. Wanda now lives each day with the vision of finding her daughter in a pool of blood.
Amanda had a big heart & a giving spirit, she would fly to Washington DC to meet servicemen at Walter Reed hospital & she also volunteered to donate a kidney to a friend in need. Guinevere & Texas were Wanda’s world; she would take the kids to school, church & after-school activities such as Boy Scouts & Girl Scouts. The family delivered presents to the Baptist Orphanage each month to celebrate birthdays. At Christmastime, Guinevere asked to be given money in lieu of gifts so that she could spend the money on the orphans. Not only had Rachel stolen Amanda, but also her legacy. Amanda was a very trusting person which made her more vulnerable. When Rachel would run away from home, Amanda allowed her to sleep on her couch.
Wanda told Rachel that on the morning she found Guinevere in the burning house, her granddaughter was covered in blood & on fire. Her skin peeling under Wanda’s hands as she tried to save her granddaughter’s life. The memories remain fresh, Wanda still able to smell the burning flesh; she held out her own arms, displaying the scars from the severe burns that she suffered that morning. The scars serve as a constant reminder of what she lost that day & the fact that she was unable to save Guinevere. Texas had only just turned 8 when his life was tragically & painfully ended. She spoke to Rachel & said, “Do you know how small a coffin is needed when a child is only 8? There is no way to embalm him because his body was so badly burned.” The Prewett home still contains the children’s Easter outfits, a bicycle & a go-cart which sit unused. “Evil walked into Amanda’s house; evil disguised as a friend. Now she is shackled like the monstrous animal she is.”
While in a Texarkana jail, Rachel’s behavior has concerned authorities. While in a juvenile detention facility, it was felt that she was disrespectful to the staff & may have had an unhealthy influence on other her fellow juvenile detainees. She has a following where she walks around & speaks of God’s forgiveness in a distorted manner. Her attitude was said to go from fairly pleasant to stone cold & she began fighting with other inmates & tampered with a lock on her cell door. She attacked an inmate who was working in the laundry room, knocked out her tooth & required the use of pepper spray to get her under control. She stuffed a paper in her cell lock & left her cell during a time she was supposed to be confined. She is currently being held in the Crain Unit, a women’s prison operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Correctional Institutions Division. Her first parole eligibility is August 2041 when she’ll be in her mid-40s.
11-year-old Guinevere Doss was a student at Redwater Middle School & a member of First Baptist Church of Wake Village. She was born on August 4, 1999 in Texarkana, Texas. She was a member of the Girl Scouts, part of the school band, active in dance & a member of the Texas Youth Leadership Council. She was a leader & always up for anything. Texas Johnson had only turned 8, six days before he was murdered. He was born on May 6, 2003 & attended Redwater Elementary School as well as the First Baptist Church. He was described as a sweet, vibrant boy & was active in Awanas & the Boy Scouts.
References:
- Texarkana Gazette: Details emerge in triple slaying
- ABC 7 KLTV: Autopsy on 11-year-old fire victim shows signs of homicide
- Texarkana Gazette: Rachel Pittman pleads not guilty to Doss murder
- Texarkana Gazette: Woman faces multiple charges in burglary
- Pressreader: Texarkana Gazette: Teen pleads guilty to murders
- KSLA 12 News: 16-year-old girl arrested in Bowie Co. triple murder
- Legacy.com: Guinevere Eileen Doss
- Legacy.com: Texas Johnson
- KSLA 12 News: Redwater teen takes plea deal in triple murder
