Police Find Homeless Man Sought in Woman’s Death

LUFKIN — Within minutes of local media outlets publicizing the Lufkin Police Department’s request for assistance in locating Winfred Kilgore, 55, a citizen notified the Department that Kilgore was in Jacksonville. That’s according to information from KETK, the Lufkin Daily News, and Lufkin police. Lufkin Police Department detectives were attempting to locate Kilgore as part of their investigation into the death of Joy Yvonne Bybee, whose body was discovered August 11 beneath a bridge at Chestnut Village shopping center in Lufkin. The detectives did not have information that suggested Kilgore was involved in the circumstances leading to Bybee’s death. But they say they did know Kilgore was with her the previous day and believed that he possessed information that would assist in determining her actions prior to her death.

Upon receiving information that Kilgore was in Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Police Department located Kilgore and notified him of the Lufkin Police Department’s investigation and need to speak with him. Kilgore waited at the Jacksonville Police Department until the detectives arrived from Lufkin and interviewed him.
According to authorities, because of the ongoing investigation into Bybee’s death, the details of Kilgore’s conversation with the detectives will not be released. But the detectives reported that they did receive additional information concerning Ms. Bybee’s actions prior to her death. Kilgore is termed an East Texas-area transient with past arrests in Beaumont and along the U.S. Highway 59 corridor between Longview and Polk County.