Jacksonville Man Arrested for 1989 Slaying of West Texas Teen

ODESSA (AP) – A Jacksonville man has been arrested in the stabbing death of a West Texas teenage girl 26 years ago. Thompson Ward Stricklen Jr., 52, is in Ector County Jail in Odessa jailed on murder and sexual assault charges. Bond is set at $350,000. Wendy Burdette was 15 when her body was found in an Odessa field in 1989. She had been raped and her throat was cut. A Texas Department of Public Safety report matched Burdette’s DNA with a sample taken from Stricklen as part of his sex-offender registration. Odessa police Cpl. Steve LeSueur told the Odessa American that Stricklen was previously a suspect in the stabbing but police had too little evidence to arrest him.