AUSTIN, TX — Billy Wayne Ludwigson, 62, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to the decades-old murder of Velma Nesset in Ector County. According to a press release, Ludwigson's arrest by the Texas Rangers culminated a lengthy investigation into the 1982 case.
Nesset, a 64-year-old employee at Permian Mall in Odessa, was reported missing by her co-workers and family on April 19, 1982, when she failed to arrive at work. Her partially nude body was later discovered in a drainage culvert, revealing that she had been sexually assaulted and murdered.
In 1983, an alleged male suspect was arrested and confessed to the crime but was discharged due to insufficient evidence and the false nature of the confession. Following this trial, the case went cold for many years without significant development.
In 2020, the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) program identified Nesset’s case as eligible for further investigation. The initiative, funded by the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance, aims to provide investigative support for unsolved sexual assaults and related homicides.
SAKI grant funds facilitated advanced DNA testing and genealogical research through Bode Technologies, eventually leading to Ludwigson's identification. He was arrested in Denver, Colorado, in July 2020, where he confessed to Nesset’s murder, said the release.
Ludwigson was extradited to Texas in October 2020 and indicted by an Ector County jury.
On August 9, 2024, he pled guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
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