HOUSTON — A Houston man who pleaded guilty to a cold case murder, aggravated assault and engaging in organized criminal activity was sentenced to 50 years in prison on Wednesday.
Editor's note: The above video originally aired on July 23, 2024.
Joshua Sinclair Owens, 35, was charged with murder in 2023 after a DNA match through an FBI database linked him to the 2008 strangulation and sexual assault of 48-year-old Marsha Lynn Mitchell. The victim's body was found dumped in a field on Reed Road near Highway 288 on June 11, 2008, Houston police said. Construction workers at a nearby site found her body but the case remained cold for 15 years.
“We’ve got a message for everyone who thinks they’ve gotten away with murder: We don’t forget,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said. “And for everyone involved with bringing contraband in the jail, we’re watching.”
“It was important to get justice for his victims and their families, but it also shows defendants that even if you committed a crime 16 years ago, we will still go after you,” Assistant District Attorney Sepi Zimmer said. “And it shows families that we never forget their loved ones or their cases. We continue to work to get justice for victims, even if it’s a cold case.”
In 2022, Owens was charged with aggravated assault of a family member for attacking his girlfriend.
While awaiting trial on the murder and assault charges, Owens masterminded a scheme to sell drugs to other inmates in the Harris County Jail. He made almost $30,000 in his jail commissary account by selling the drug-laced papers. The money was confiscated and Owens was charged with organized criminal activity.
“This defendant tried to profit from bringing poison into jail,” Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Smith. “He committed crimes when he was out free and continued to commit crimes when he was behind bars, and we were able to hold him accountable for his actions.”
Prosecutors said Owens' cousin, Nathanael Campbell, and his stepsister, Lativia Armiss Bailey, also face charges of engaging in organized crime through money laundering. They're accused of transferring the drug profits from Owens' CashApp to his commissary account.
Owens was sentenced to 50 years in prison for each crime but Ogg said the sentences will run concurrently. He can't appeal as part of his plea agreement.
3 others charged in drug-smuggling scheme
In unrelated cases, two other people, former jailer Robert Robertson and defense attorneys Ronald Lewis and Jason Johnson were arrested and charged with smuggling fentanyl-laced papers into the jail. Johnson also faces child porn charges.
All three cases were uncovered after Sheriff Ed Gonzalez launched an ongoing investigation into a series of fentanyl overdoses and deaths inside the jail.
