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Deadly Repairman: The Horrific Murder of Betty Jo McClain Thomas
Since having service personnel come to one’s home to repair appliances on the fritz is a part of life, most of us think nothing of opening our home to a perfect stranger with a clipboard and name tag. While these unavoidable interactions normally go off without a hitch, occasionally, someone who is up to no good takes advantage of the situation, with dire consequences for the unwitting customer.
In the early part of December 2019, eighty-three-year-old Betty Jo McClain Thomas contacted her cable company after her fax machine started acting up. Two weeks before Christmas, Spectrum service technician Roy James Holden showed up with the work order in hand. After making the necessary adjustments, he had gone on his way without incident.
The next day, December 12, Holden paid an unscheduled visit to Betty’s home in Irving, Texas, telling her that he needed to take another look at the fax machine. Since it was an ongoing problem, she hadn’t hesitated to let him in. As he tinkered around, she had gone into another room. When she returned unexpectedly, she found him trying to make off with her credit cards.
