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Mary Kathleen Rodriguez (5 of Spades, Texas)

August 19, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In the week between Christmas and New Year's 1990, 26-year-old Mary Kathleen Rodriguez was beaten to death inside the rental house in West Odessa, Texas, where she worked as a live-in nanny for a married couple and their two young daughters. The detective who arrived at the scene, Carl Rogers, knew immediately that this was not a robbery. The violence was personal, done in rage. But three and a half decades later, the case remains unsolved—not because investigators lack a theory, but because the evidence they have never quite reached the threshold for a courtroom.

Kathleen's boyfriend, Billy Vincent, discovered her body on the Sunday after Christmas. He had not heard from her for a couple of days, so he drove to the house on Clendon Avenue. When no one answered, he called the couple she worked for, Edda and Eddie Bryant, who were visiting family in Sweetwater, Texas, two hours away. They told him about an unlocked window in the back and gave him permission to climb through. Inside, he found Kathleen lying face down on a bed in the middle bedroom, fully clothed in her favorite green outfit. There was a large pool of blood around her head, an overturned end table, an electric iron on the floor with blood on it, and a half-full Sprite bottle. There was no sign of forced entry anywhere in the house.

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (01:47) **The Case of Mary Kathleen Rodriguez** - Introduction to the 1990 murder of a 26-year-old nanny in West Odessa, Texas, and the central questions that remain.
  • 2 (03:21) **Discovery of the Body** - How Kathleen’s boyfriend, Billy Vincent, found her dead after not hearing from her for days.
  • 3 (06:58) **The Crime Scene and Autopsy** - Details of the murder scene, the victim's condition, and the medical examiner’s findings.
  • 4 (10:02) **The Mysterious Iron** - The most likely weapon was an iron, which was bloodied and found out of place, yet the couple gave conflicting stories about where it belonged.
  • 5 (11:03) **Investigating the Boyfriend** - The initial focus on Billy Vincent, Kathleen’s married boyfriend who found her, and why he was quickly cleared.
  • 6 (12:54) **The Bryant Family** - The complicated living arrangement with the Bryants, who were facing financial strain and a potential eviction.
  • 7 (14:56) **Cracks in the Alibi** - The alibi checked out, but key details about the departure from the house did not match between Edda and Eddie.

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Guests on this episode

Carl Rogers

Show Notes

Our card this week is Mary Kathleen Rodriguez, the 5 of Spades from Texas.

For more than three decades, the question of who killed 26-year-old Mary Kathleen Rodriguez has hung over the town of West Odessa, Texas. Known as Kathleen to those who loved her, the live-in nanny was found brutally beaten to death inside the home of the couple she worked for.

Although the case has changed hands from one detective to another, the original facts of the case remain the same. There was no sign of forced entry, meaning Kathleen almost certainly knew whoever came to the door that night. And the one person who could have been on the other side of that door is still at large.

  • If you lived in or near the 1000 block of Clendenen Avenue in West Odessa, Texas, in December of 1990 and have information regarding the death of Mary Kathleen Rodriguez, please reach out to the Criminal Investigation Identification Department of the Ector County Sheriff’s Office at 432-335-3050. You can also submit a tip anonymously to Odessa Crime Stoppers at 432-333-TIPS (8477) or at https://www.333tips.org/.

 

View source material and photos for this episode at: thedeckpodcast.com/mary-kathleen-rodriguez

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