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Her Body Was Found At The Bottom Of A Lake in 2009. Now Her Landlord Is Charged With Murder.
Jimmy Wolfenbarger was arrested, charged with one count of murder, and has posted a $2 million bond in connection with the death of Holly Simmons.
A Texas man has been arrested for the 2006 murder of one of his tenants, a mother whose body was discovered at the bottom of a lake three years after her disappearance, authorities announced this week.
On May 12, Jimmy Wolfenbarger was arrested and charged with one count of murder in connection with the death of Holly Simmons, the Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office announced on Wednesday. The 46-year-old Buchanan Dam mother disappeared on Nov. 27, 2006 after she dropped off her teenage daughter at a bus stop.
On July 7, 2009, her body was discovered in a submerged aluminum boat in Inks Lake by a diver.
"Concrete bags had been placed over her, which had become waterlogged and hardened," the Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement.
According to the statement, Wolfenbarger was Simmons' landlord and lived in an RV park near the property where Simmons, a nursing technician, lived with her children.
“He often had disputes with Simmons regarding one of her two daughters," the statement says.
Wolfenbarger, who was recently named a suspect when the case was reopened in 2016, is suspected of strangling Simmons to death using “a wire, cord or similar ligature,” local media outlet KXAN reported.
On Wednesday, Wolfenbarger was released from jail after posting a $2 million bond. He had turned himself in the same day to the Lubbock County Jail after a May 3 indictment.
Simmons’ brother, Paul Wishman, and sister, Deb Sherwood spoke with KXAN, saying that they knew that Wolfenbarger was involved from the beginning.
“What we’ve been told over the past 15 years is he was the main suspect,” Sherwood said, “but there wasn’t enough evidence.”
The siblings reportedly said that they wish Wolfenbarger was behind bars.
“Hopefully he doesn’t get away, and hopefully they’ve got a good case, and justice will be served for her, her kids, her grandkids and the rest of the family,” Wishman said.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the Missing Persons Hotline at 1-800-346-3243 or the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-252-TIPS (8477).
