Dallas police identify suspect in slaying of 87-year-old woman in her east Oak Cliff home

Dallas police have identified a suspect in the slaying of an 87-year-old woman remembered as “a God-fearing” person who was found dead in her east Oak Cliff home late Tuesday.

Andre Stefan Buggs, 58, is wanted in connection with the killing of Anita Daniels Thompson in the 4100 block of Fortune Lane, near Marsalis and Ann Arbor avenues, police said.

Buggs is 6-3 and about 218 pounds, police said. He is considered armed and dangerous.

Officers found Thompson’s body about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday on the floor of her home, police said. She died from homicidal violence, they said.

Oletha Morrow, Thompson’s daughter, said she recognized Buggs and that her mother had known his family for more than 40 years. She said she was “numb and hurt” after seeing that he is the suspect.

“I don’t hold anything against his family. His mother was good to my mom,” Morrow said. “They had been friends for years.”

Anyone with information on the case may contact Detective Phillip Wheeler at 214-671-3686 or phillip.wheeler@dallascityhall.com and refer to case No. 119886-2021.

Break-in before slaying

The day before Thompson’s body was discovered, she called police about an attempted home invasion, according to Morrow. Nobody was sent to the scene.

It was July 5, and Dallas police had been grappling with a surge of calls and violence on Independence Day that included 16 people shot, five of them fatally. Over the holiday weekend, the department received 4,850 calls for fireworks and gunfire, Police Chief Eddie García said.

Thompson had called to report that the window on her back door had been smashed open, Morrow said. Police confirmed to that Thompson called Monday to report criminal mischief.

Spokesman Brian Martinez said Thompson “was offered the option to expedite the call or have an officer respond to take the report.

“The caller chose the option for an expeditor to take the call over the phone,” which is why an officer wasn’t sent to the scene, Martinez said.

Morrow said she doesn’t understand what police mean by expediting a call. Her mother had only told her that no officers showed up despite her call, Morrow said.

“All I know is that police didn’t go out,” Morrow said. “They maybe could’ve gotten fingerprints then, you see what I’m saying? And it could’ve been the same person. I don’t know.”

Morrow said she asked a neighbor to check on her mother about 3 p.m. Tuesday because she hadn’t heard from her since the morning. The neighbor discovered Thompson’s body and alerted Morrow and police.

“My mother did not deserve to die like that,” Morrow said. “She was a good person, and I just don’t know. I can’t explain — I don’t understand it myself. I just don’t understand why somebody would kill her.”

Morrow said police at the scene told her it was a brutal murder. She said she went through the home and found her mother’s empty wallet and her checkbook splayed out on top of her dresser. Her credit card was still in the wallet, and a large sum of money had been removed, Morrow said.

Morrow said a broken window at Thompson’s home had been boarded up before the slaying. She said she found no signs of forcible entry the day her mother was slain, and said the killer may have had a key.

‘A good person … a tragic death’

Anita Thompson had deep ties to the Dallas area. She moved here in 1959 and joined New Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, where she was an active member who sang in the choir, Morrow said.

She had two children — Morrow and a son, whose death preceded Thompson’s — and multiple grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews. She was a single parent for several years and loved her family, Morrow said. She had lived alone, though she had a nurse who would check on her every so often.

“She was a good person that died a tragic death,” Morrow said. “A God-fearing woman that provided for her family, loved her family and her kids. There was nothing my mother wouldn’t do for me and my brother and her grandkids.”

Morrow said her hope now is that police find her mother’s killer.

“I’m not gonna let it rest,” Morrow said. “I’m not gonna be the one to sit down and let it go into a cold case.”