Tommy Witherspoon
KWTX Managing Editor
Waco, Texas
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Tommy Witherspoon is a longtime newspaper journalist who began his career at the Corsicana Daily Sun in 1980.
He worked 39 years at the Waco Tribune-Herald before joining the staff at KWTX as managing editor in March 2022.
Tommy is a native of Weatherford, Texas, and graduated from the University of North Texas with a journalism degree.
He has three sons.
Updated: 14 hours ago
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A Waco man was sentenced to life in prison without parole Wednesday night for sexually abusing at least three children, including two family members.
Updated: Mar. 28, 2023 at 6:05 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A 12-year-old boy reluctantly testified Tuesday that Perry Dwyane Dixon, a family member, sexually abused him for years and threatened to beat him if he reported it.
Updated: Mar. 28, 2023 at 5:45 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Police say the killing happened during a drug robbery.
Updated: Mar. 28, 2023 at 2:19 PM CDT
|By KWTX Staff, Tommy Witherspoon and Jasmine Lotts
Authorities are working to clear a wreck on I-35 northbound near Tokio Road.
Updated: Mar. 27, 2023 at 4:27 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Testimony is set to begin Tuesday morning.
Updated: Mar. 27, 2023 at 4:02 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Testimony is set to begin Tuesday morning in the trial of a Waco man charged with sexually abusing two young family members over the course of several years.
Updated: Mar. 24, 2023 at 1:51 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A Waco man jailed earlier this week in an alleged 2020 sexual assault of a woman while posing as a bounty hunter is back in jail.
Updated: Mar. 23, 2023 at 6:15 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon and Jasmine Lotts
McLennan County D-A Josh Tetens has made curbing juvenile crime a top priority.
Updated: Mar. 22, 2023 at 5:25 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A new Netflix documentary debuting Wednesday hopes to inform a new generation about the tragedy and to reveal a human side from conflicting perspectives.
Updated: Mar. 22, 2023 at 1:05 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A retired truck driver from Waco whose wife was killed in an April 2020 drunken driving incident was placed on probation.
Updated: Mar. 21, 2023 at 6:31 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Prosecutors are seeking life in prison for a 23-year-old Waco man who shot his girlfriend during an argument.
Updated: Mar. 20, 2023 at 5:38 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
The former assistant police chief for the city of Bellmead has filed a lawsuit against the city and its manager.
Updated: Mar. 20, 2023 at 12:33 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
The father has been placed under an immigration detainer and is expected to be deported after he serves his prison term.
Updated: Mar. 16, 2023 at 5:36 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
The woman is seeking unspecified compensation for lost wages and compensatory and punitive damages in her suit.
Updated: Mar. 16, 2023 at 4:33 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A Waco man who police say shot another man after an argument at a store in August 2021 was indicted on a murder charge Thursday.
Updated: Mar. 16, 2023 at 4:22 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A former Waco man currently serving 40 years in prison for sexually abusing a child in Johnson County was sentenced to 25 years in prison Thursday in the sexual abuse of a family member in McLennan County.
Updated: Mar. 16, 2023 at 4:07 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A Hewitt man arrested three years ago with multiple images of child pornography at his apartment was sentenced to eight years in prison Thursday.
Updated: Mar. 16, 2023 at 2:50 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A Troy police officer who shot a woman who reportedly tried to back over him last year was cleared of wrongdoing Thursday, while the woman was indicted on felony charges.
Updated: Mar. 15, 2023 at 5:23 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
For the second time in two years, a federal judge has dismissed breach of contract lawsuits filed by two Baylor University students seeking refunds and other compensation after pandemic-related shutdowns by the university.
Updated: Mar. 15, 2023 at 4:32 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
An eight-time convicted felon was sentenced to 30 years in prison Wednesday for badly beating a homeless man with a 3-foot metal pipe in August 2019.
Updated: Mar. 15, 2023 at 4:11 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
If the former mayor completes the program, the charge formally will not be filed and essentially dismissed.
Updated: Mar. 15, 2023 at 3:39 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A 34-year-old Eddy man remains in the McLennan County Jail after his arrest Tuesday on charges he molested a young family member.
Updated: Mar. 14, 2023 at 5:38 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
The incident involved the ex-girlfriend of one of the suspects, an arrest affidavit states.
Updated: Mar. 14, 2023 at 3:07 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A man who served 15 years in prison in a shooting that left another man paralyzed pleaded guilty to murder in the same incident after the shooting victim died.
Updated: Mar. 13, 2023 at 7:26 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
The attorney who defended Marian Fraser says there was no way her client could get a fair trial in Waco.
Updated: Mar. 10, 2023 at 5:23 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Former day care owner will have to serve at least 25 years in prison before she can seek parole.
Updated: Mar. 10, 2023 at 3:44 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
The ninth day of former Waco day care owner Marian Fraser’s murder retrial bogged down Thursday afternoon after the judge expelled a juror for violating the court’s instructions and his oath as a juror.
Updated: Mar. 8, 2023 at 6:06 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Prosecutors rested their case Wednesday afternoon against former Waco day care owner Marian Fraser after calling the lead police detective in the case and reading portions of Fraser’s testimony from her first trial eight years ago.
Updated: Mar. 8, 2023 at 9:41 AM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Testimony from the baby’s parents, Loren and Perry Felton, and the child’s doctor, Patricia Wilcox, highlighted fifth-day testimony in Fraser’s murder retrial in Waco’s 19th State District Court.
Updated: Mar. 7, 2023 at 5:54 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Citing insufficient evidence, prosecutors dropped a murder charge against Leonard Brown, 23, in the December 2019 shooting death of Eric Lavelle Williams outside a Gurley Lane apartment complex.
Updated: Mar. 7, 2023 at 9:37 AM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Fraser, 59, is on trial in Waco’s 19th State District Court on a murder charge in the March 4, 2013, death of Clara Felton, who died from a toxic amount of diphenhydramine, an ingredient in Benadryl, while the baby was at Fraser’s Spoiled Rotten daycare at her home on Hilltop Drive.
Updated: Mar. 2, 2023 at 7:04 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Marian Fraser, 59, remains free on bond after her conviction and 50-year sentence from her first trial in 2015 were overturned.
Updated: Mar. 1, 2023 at 7:08 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Prosecution testimony kicked off Wednesday in the murder retrial of Marian Fraser.
Updated: Mar. 1, 2023 at 10:05 AM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Testimony in the retrial of former Waco home day care owner Marian Fraser is set to begin Wednesday morning after three grueling days of jury selection.
Updated: Feb. 28, 2023 at 5:58 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A Williamson County assistant district attorney has been suspended after her arrest in Hewitt on a suspicion of drunken driving charge and for being in an accident involving damage.
Updated: Feb. 28, 2023 at 12:35 AM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Four ATF agents and six Branch Davidians were shot and killed Feb. 28, 1993, during one of the largest law enforcement operations in the country at that time.
Updated: Feb. 24, 2023 at 5:37 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Prospective jurors in the retrial of former Waco day care owner Marian Fraser filled out questionnaires Friday and were told to return to court Monday for the start of jury selection.
Updated: Feb. 24, 2023 at 3:12 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Officials say Kinney Clinton Byrd, 55, was found dead in a vehicle about 11:15 a.m. Thursday with an apparent gunshot wound to the upper body.
Updated: Feb. 23, 2023 at 4:34 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A former Bellmead man who shot a Waco teenager in the head in 2018 when a drug deal on the parking lot of a local grocery store turned into a robbery was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday.
Updated: Feb. 22, 2023 at 6:17 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A three-time convicted felon with multiple convictions for domestic assaults was sentenced to maximum prison terms Wednesday.
Updated: Feb. 22, 2023 at 5:21 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A Waco man was sentenced to 10 years in prison Wednesday on charges he sexually abused two girls about 15 years ago and was nabbed with more than 25 grams of methamphetamine two years ago.
Updated: Feb. 22, 2023 at 3:57 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A Robinson man with a prior intoxication manslaughter and three driving while intoxicated convictions was arrested again Tuesday night on suspicion of drunken driving.
Updated: Feb. 17, 2023 at 11:53 AM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon and KWTX Staff
The teenager is accused of slashing a school police officer’s hand with a pair of scissors as officers tried to search his backpack for illegal substances.
Updated: Feb. 16, 2023 at 7:55 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
The man suffers from depression, anger-control issues and methamphetamine abuse, but is competent to face arson and deadly conduct charges.
Updated: Feb. 16, 2023 at 7:33 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A Waco man who sexually abused two Arkansas teenagers was sentenced to 50 years in prison Thursday.
Updated: Feb. 14, 2023 at 6:52 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
The punishment phase is set to begin Thursday morning.
Updated: Feb. 14, 2023 at 4:56 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Bryan Bruce has a history of mental health issues and is scheduled for a psychological evaluation.
Updated: Feb. 13, 2023 at 5:48 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Police say the assaults were videotaped.
Updated: Feb. 10, 2023 at 5:32 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
The owner of a Hewitt day care whose license was revoked by a state regulatory agency earlier this month is suing the agency, claiming her business was shut down without just cause.
Updated: Feb. 10, 2023 at 5:26 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A Speegleville man with a history of mental health issues held a gun to a cat’s head Friday morning during a remote court hearing.
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