Murder Suspect Blaming War Flashback has No Military Record

ANGELINA COUNTY — A homeless man who claims to have drowned a friend by accident last month while thinking about Vietnam has no military record. Winfred Kilgore, 55, has no evidence of a military record. Kilgore faces a murder charge in the death of 48-year-old Joy Bybee, who drowned beneath a Lufkin bridge. Kilgore spent five days in custody before telling Lufkin Police detectives his actions caused Bybee’s death. Both he and Bybee were living on the streets of Lufkin at the time of her death.

Kilgore told Lufkin detectives in an Aug. 22 interview that he and Bybee had been talking about their military days and showing off how long each could hold their breath under water when he accidentally killed her. Kilgore said they took turns holding each other down and that, while she was under water, he blanked out, thinking about Vietnam. When he came to, she was dead, he told detectives. Bybee’s boyfriend found her body Aug. 11 beneath the bridge between Timberland Drive and Chestnut Village.

Kilgore remained in the Angelina County Jail on a collective $260,000 bond, charged with Bybee’s murder and tampering with evidence.