A 50 year old Forth Worth, TX man is standing trial this week for the accusation of a murder he allegedly committed when he was just a teenager, thirty years ago. Melvin Lavine, 61 at the time of his murder, was a pawnshop owner known in the community for the compassion he showed his customers, was gunned down in his home on March 13, 1983. Lavine was asleep in his bed next to his wife when a suspect shattered the glass of the homes back door, ripped the phone cord out of the wall, and before shooting Lavine four times, demanded money of the couple. After the invasion and murder, the suspect(s) stole Lavines wife’s purse and fled the house.
Fort Worth detective Sarah Jane Waters submitted a glass shard for analysis that was gathered in 1983 from the Lavine residence, located in the 2300 block of Colonial Parkway. Waters was later informed that the DNA on the glass shard matched the DNA profile for Bewley, a man being held in the Taylor County jail on suspicion of DWI.
On Tuesday, Bewley’s former cellmate testified that Bewley told him that he believed he would never get caught.