VIDOR, Texas — A Southeast Texas man will be sent to prison for 40 years for the 2023 murder of a disabled Orange County woman.
Russell Kinney was set to stand trial for murder in October 2024 before Judge Rex Peveto in 163rd District Court for the March 2023 death of Jenny Tittle Baxter, 45, of Vidor.
Kinney, whose trial had originally been set for this week, surprised prosecutors when he changed his plea to guilty on Monday, August 19, 2024.
Peveto sentenced Kinney to 40 years in prison as part of a plea deal. He could have faced from five to 99 years in prison had he been found guilty by a jury.
Prosecutors say they were pleased with the outcome.
"The family was good with it and of course, this was a situation where the autopsy report said homicidal violence was the cause and that's not something we see often," said Orange County prosecutor Krispen Walker. "In the end, this was an appropriate result considering the circumstances."
A lot of Jenny's family and friends, devastated by her murder, attended the sentencing and made victim impact statements, Walker told 12News.
"I was the first to give a victim impact statement. He walked like about an arm's reach away from me, and it was hard. I just put my head down," said Jenny's half-brother, Jim Baxter.
Jim tells 12News he's relieved to finally get closure and to see his sister's killer finally face justice.
"After a year and a half of knowing that she was gone and trying to work through that loss, seeing him for the first time was really hard," he said.
Kinney was in the Liberty County Jail on an unrelated charge when he confessed to investigators that he had killed Jenny, according to file stories.
Jenny, who used a wheelchair, was found under a bed in her mobile home at Denbow Mobile Home Park in Vidor on March 14, 2023 according to file stories. Investigators believe Kinney had dismantled her wheelchair.
Her body had been wrapped in plastic before being put under the bed and police believe she had been dead for several weeks when she was found, according to file stories.
A concerned neighbor reported Jenny missing and told Orange County deputies she had not seen Jenny or her caregiver since around Christmas.
Deputies learned from neighbors and Jenny's family that Kinney had been staying with Jenny in the mobile home and that he had not been seen at the home for at least three days.
Deputies filled a missing person report and searched the home but did not find Jenny.
A short time later, Jenny's family called deputies and reported that, while checking on Jenny's pets, they thought they found a body wrapped in plastic underneath a bed, according to file stories.
Deputies and Texas Rangers got a search warrant for the home and called in the Jefferson County Crime Lab to assist and found and removed her body from under the bed.
An autopsy days later confirmed that the body was Jenny's.
Investigators believed that Kinney had been using Jenny's phone to communicate with her family to convince them she was alive weeks after her death.
"People will go to great extends to try and conceal their crimes, trying to throw us off. If you walk in and don't see a wheel chair, you aren't looking for the pieces," Newton County Sheriff Colton Havard previously told 12News.
They also learned that Kinney had been staying with Jenny in the home for several months, according to a probable cause affidavit in the case.
The Orange County Sheriff's Office previously told 12News Kinney and Jenny were dating, but Jim says they were not dating. Jenny was just letting Kinney stay with her.
"That's when he started taking advantage of her on many different levels," Jim said.
Jim says Kinney's sentencing is closure for the family.
"I feel like there's justice there. For Jenny. As hard as it is with the loss and everything, I tend to believe she's in a better place. I like to think she's in a better place," Jim said about his sister.
While Jenny's loss is heartbreaking for the family, Jim says she'll never be forgotten.
"Jenny has such a bright and just irrepressible personality. I mean she filled up a room. So her memory will live with us for many, many years," said Jim.
Jenny was the daughter of the radio host, columnist and pilot, Gordon Baxter who died in 2005 at 81.
Kinney will be up for parole in 20 years. Baxter's family says they plan to attend future parole hearings in hopes of keeping him in prison.
This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.
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