Tyler man confesses to sexual assault of minor

TYLER — An investigation into a Tyler man for child pornography reopened a 2020 “suspended” sexual assault of child case. According to our news partner KETK, Austin Wayne Odell, 38, was arrested on possession of child pornography and sexual assault of a child on Aug. 3. According to an affidavit, a peace officer with the Texas Department of Public Safety obtained 99 videos and four images of child porn that were downloaded in 2023 from devices connected to an IP address that traced back to Odell’s address.

On Aug. 31, 2023, the officer executed a search warrant at Odell’s residence where he seized multiple devices but reportedly did not find any child porn. Later, the officer reportedly learned that Odell went out of town and took his computer with him.

The officer then spoke with Odell on Sept. 19, 2023 where he allegedly admitted to downloading child porn from torrent sites where he searched “child” and “teen.” He allegedly admitted to have also deleted items from his desktop computer. A second search warrant was then obtained for Odell’s residence and his devices were then analyzed by a specially trained technician. The technician reportedly found that 23,940 files had been deleted on the day the first search warrant was served. 3,376 files were then deleted the day the second search warrant was served. The computer reportedly contained the names of numerous deleted files that appeared to be child porn.

The officer investigating the case also learned that on Oct. 2020 a child was interviewed by the Smith County Sheriff’s Office where she said Odell had sexually assaulted them. However “the case was eventually suspended.”

During the course of the child porn investigation, the officer questioned Odell about the child assault allegations where Odell reportedly confessed to sexually assaulting the child several times. Odell is now being held in the Smith County Jail on a $600,000 bond.