Clayton Foreman found guilty for 1995 cold-case murder of Beaumont teacher Mary Catherine Edwards

after deliberating the jury returned a verdict finding you guilty of the offense of capital murder this is exactly why I do it absolutely it's an absolute wonderful feeling to have been a part of this and to help this family um finally get some answers after nearly three decades of waiting tonight A Bowmont family finally feels a sense of relief today jurors found Clayton Foreman guilty of capital murder in the death of Mary Katherine Edwards the Bowmont teacher was found dead inside her town home back in 1995 advances in DNA evidence and genetic genology eventually LED police to edwards's killer good evening Southeast Texas I'm Brenda Matti I'm Jordan Williams today's verdict came after 29 years of waiting 7 Days of testimony and 50 minutes of deliberation da HEI Giblin told us it was truly a team effort the evidence detailed a journey of law enforcement the bont Police Department the Texas Rangers an assisting agency who from the day Catherine was tragically murdered never were relinquish their Duty and personal drive to catch the person that killed Katherine tonight an Edwards family spokesperson told me it's quote been a long em emotional journey to finally see Justice en closure the prosecution's case revolved around new DNA testing on evidence that had been carefully preserved since 1995 the Texas Rangers got involved involved in 2021 and sent some of the evidence to a private lab for testing then came a DNA profile for a suspect and Bulma police detective Tina Luellen and her husband use genetic genealogy to build a family tree genetic genealogist chery Le Point's father-in-law was caught up in the case she helped police close in on Foreman she testified last week and came back today for the end of this trial I I think it was an amazing team effort absolutely and and um this works this works this is the crime fighting tool of the future in my opinion the genetic genealogy and um it's speaking for the victims who cannot speak for themselves and we heard them talking today about making sure Catherine wasn't forgotten she wasn't and she'll never be forgotten I will never forget her for sure now with this capital murder conviction form automatically faces life in prison the death penalty was off the table from the start prosecutors say the Edwards murder shared alarming similarities to a 1981 sexual assault case involving Foreman as well dur also heard from that victim today prosecutors told the jury not to ignore the evidence and not to let Catherine down they wanted the jury to hold Foreman responsible for what he did 12 News spoke exclusively with one of the jurors a pastor from Port NES Gloria Walker here tonight Gloria he and his fellow jurors say they are comfortable with this verdict that's exactly right Jordan Brenda seven long days of painfully detailed testimony all lined up for this moment and the jury took about 50 minutes to reach that guilty verdict I mean how can you deny he he couldn't deny that clear-cut DNA evidence that's what Larry delham says led him and the rest of the jury to a quick conviction he even thanked law enforcement for laying the pieces out so clearly about the work they had done to put in to make our decision good about the decision we make was there wasn't no there wasn't any doubt that we would happen it happened the jury convicted Clayton Foreman after listening to seven days of extensive testimony from those who collected and tested evidence they also heard from Mary Katherine Edwards twin sister and my dad answered the phone and um he was frantic and um he said your sister's dead your sister's dead Twin's sister is just was an incredible testimony to know she lost her twin was just really difficult and then the lady at last that had been raped Years Ago by just her lack of justice for so many years was very difficult for us six men and six women who felt with listening to all the facts made the best decision for the family and felt that Justice was served almost 30 years later it's a tough case it was really you had to listen to everything to make sure everything was put together and we did that that's what we did Mr delum said that he never thought he would get picked to serve on a jury in a case this significant but that he's happy to issue just a bit of justice for the family Gloria Walker 12 News Gloria thank you and our coverage on this case will continue tomorrow I'm going to be speaking with the husband and wife BPD team those police investigators who dedicated hundreds of hours to cracking This Cold Case all right