HOUSTON – Step into The Evidence Room as we uncover the chilling case of Nancy Adleman. On July 29, 1997, the 43-year-old went for a jog near her home and never returned. sexually
An early evening jog
“Normally she would jog with her husband. This time she went jogging alone. She went jogging alone so she could rehearse the lines of her one woman play that she was going to perform at her local church,” said Josh Reiss, chief of the post-conviction writs division of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
Reiss said Arthur Lee Burton, then 27, was riding his bicycle in the area and spotted Adleman jogging along her usual route.
“This case really is about every woman’s worst nightmare. Any woman who has ever exercised alone, any woman who has ever walked out to their car alone at night. This is your worst nightmare what happened to Nancy,” said Reiss.
Court records show Burton grabbed Adleman from behind and forced her into a wooded area near the bayou. Burton then strangles Adleman until she becomes unconscious. Reiss said Burton then attempted to sexually assault Adleman.
“She wakes up, he then strangles her again, knocking her unconscious. And as he is strangling her, she says that she forgives him, and does he know God?” said Reiss. “She goes unconscious, he drags her into a hole in the ground. Someone else is coming up along the bayou, so Arthur Burton takes a shoelace and chokes her around her neck and kills her, and leaves her body.”
A sketch, an arrest and a confession
Harris County Sheriff’s Detectives circulate a sketch of a man seen riding his bicycle in the area where Adleman was last seen jogging. On Aug. 8, 1997 Burton is identified and brought in for questioning.
Sheriff’s records show Burton initially denied knowing anything about Adleman’s murder. After being confronted with inconsistencies in his story, Burton gave a confession.
“She was asking me did I know about God? She said, ”I forgive you." She told me to just leave," read a signed confession from Burton that was taken four hours after his initial statement to detectives.
Trial, punishment, appeal
Burton was convicted in 1998 of capital murder and sentenced to death.
“I think what made this ultimately a death case was to be looking your killer in the eye and saying, ‘I forgive you, I forgive you.’ That makes this case different,” said Reiss.
Court records show during a prison classification interview Burton was asked about the murder and replied “just something he couldn’t help.” Burton’s punishment was overturned in 2001 when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted him a new punishment trial.
“During closing arguments the prosecutor made an improper argument regarding if the jury returned a life sentence, when he could be eligible for parole. It was something that the prosecutor just could not comment on,” said Reiss. “I don’t think there was any ill intent on the prosecutor’s part, it was just something that kind of slipped but the damage was done at that point.”
Burton also later claimed his confession was coerced.
“I have absolutely no reason to believe that Arthur Burton’s confession was coerced, and he certainly in open court, when he was retried for this offense, he acknowledged that he did it. So, it’s kind of hard to argue years later that my confession was coerced, when years later you’re in open court acknowledging you did it,” said Reiss.
In 2002, a second jury sentenced Burton to death.
‘Bird is going home’
On Aug. 7, 2024 Burton was executed in Huntsville. During a final statement, Burton thanked those who supported him and said “To all the people I have hurt and caused pain, I wish we didn’t have to be here at this moment, but I want you to know that I am sorry for putting you all through this and my family.”
Burton then said ‘Bird is going home.’ Adleman’s widower, Mark Adleman, her son Geoffrey, and brother, Robert Buquoi witnessed Burton’s execution. Mark Adleman’s wife, Herlinda Wilkinson, and Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg also witnessed Burton’s execution. The family did not make any statements after the execution.
Burton’s brother, Michael Burton, witnessed the execution and also did not make any public statements afterward.
“He said he was sorry, but he did not admit, on the gurney, as to what he did,” said Ogg. “I just can’t tell you the impact that it makes on people’s families; they’re never the same. But after tonight, at least, the justice process and all the legal fighting is over.”
An enduring message
On the banks of White Oak bayou, near the spot where she was killed, is a memorial to the life of Nancy Adleman. Hidden from view from the near-by street are two benches, a cross and several messages of love etched into bricks laid between the benches.
One brick reads, ‘In memory of Nancy. Loving wife, devoted mother. Choose joy.’
