Bastrop, Tx–This week marks the 26th anniversary of the unsolved murder of Bastrop County environmental activist Vicky Wharton, 31. Her body, with two dozen or so stab wounds, was found beside a rural road off FM 1704 south of Elgin on Feb. 6, 1984. Investigators at the time believed she died sometime the previous night.
Despite a flurry of publicity and investigation over the following weeks, no one has ever been charged, arrested or tried for the crime. Wharton was a leading organizer in efforts to stymie lignite strip mining plans first at Camp Swift, in Fayette County and later at the Steiner Ranch north of Bastrop. She was a founding member of the Central Texas Lignite Watch, the mother or grandmother of subsequent environmental organizations in Bastrop and neighboring counties. She was also a founding member of the Sayersville Historical Association focused on the rural community where she lived between Bastrop and Elgin on the banks of Big Sandy Creek.
The initial investigation into the murder was hampered by inter-agency rivalries during the 1984 primary election race for Bastrop County sheriff. In the late 1980s former sheriff Con Kiersey occasionally talked about reviving the investigation, but nothing occurred as a result. Still later Chief Deputy Sheriff Ronnie Duncan did reopen the case, but the only result was to clear a few possible suspects who had been the subject of early interest.
When Chief Deputy Charlie Littleton replaced Duncan in the sheriff’s department last year, he promised to look into the Wharton murder again. Littleton said recently that the only ongoing effort to solve the case is a regular check of DNA evidence preserved at the time against a growing data base of similar evidence gathered by law enforcement agencies in the years since. A Texas Ranger remains assigned to follow any new information, said Littleton.