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: 9 minutes ago
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A former Mexia State School employee charged with punching a disabled school resident and breaking his nose was found not guilty Tuesday.
Updated: 3 hours ago
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Aguilar was named in an 11-count superseding indictment with aiding her boyfriend, who investigators believe killed Guillen.
Updated: 21 hours ago
|By Tommy Witherspoon
The former police chief of the defunct Lott Police Department has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the city of Lott.
Updated: Nov. 28, 2022 at 3:43 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon and Chantel Ropp
A Waco man who shot and killed his girlfriend in 2020 in what police described as a fatal escalation of domestic violence was sentenced to 55 years in prison.
Updated: Nov. 18, 2022 at 3:54 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Of the 24 departments that participated in the Food for Families drive this year, nine departments met their goal.
Updated: Nov. 18, 2022 at 3:23 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A former security guard from Hewitt who had thousands of images of child pornography on his home computer pleaded guilty.
Updated: Nov. 17, 2022 at 4:14 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A Waco teen who authorities say unleashed a crime spree last year that included burglary, kidnapping, carjacking, robbery and assault was sentenced to 25 years in prison Thursday.
Updated: Nov. 16, 2022 at 10:13 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A McLennan County jury trying to decide if a former restaurant worker sexually assaulted a family member deadlocked, forcing a mistrial.
Updated: Nov. 16, 2022 at 6:13 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
McLennan County commissioners on Wednesday approved the results of the Nov. 8 general election, including totals for the Precinct 2 commissioner’s contest.
Updated: Nov. 15, 2022 at 6:19 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
The former owner of Miss Pepper’s Day Care pleaded guilty in May to one count of injury to a child and seven counts of endangering a child.
Updated: Nov. 15, 2022 at 3:04 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A former McLennan County woman who killed her husband 27 years ago because she thought he was an “espionage spy” and possessed by a cult member’s body will remain in a mental hospital.
Updated: Nov. 14, 2022 at 5:21 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider an appeal by the city of Waco and McLennan County in lawsuits filed by bikers arrested in the 2015 Twin Peaks shootout.
Updated: Nov. 11, 2022 at 4:54 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A candidate for Precinct 2 McLennan County commissioner is asking that mail-in ballots for Tuesday’s general election be re-examined and that certification of election totals for his race be delayed because of operational irregularities by the signature verification committee.
Updated: Nov. 10, 2022 at 5:00 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Leonard David Newman, 32, was indicted by a McLennan County grand jury on multiple first- and second-degree felony counts that could put him in prison for the rest of his life.
Updated: Nov. 10, 2022 at 4:18 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A Waco teenager who said he was trying to clear a jammed pistol when it fired and caused the death of a University High School two-sport athlete in May 2021 was indicted Thursday.
Updated: Nov. 10, 2022 at 3:28 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
An Arlington man who posted a video of a woman performing a sex act on him on a social media site pleaded guilty Wednesday to a state jail felony charge.
Updated: Nov. 9, 2022 at 4:43 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A Waco man was jailed Tuesday on allegations he sexually assaulted a girl who was younger than 14.
Updated: Nov. 8, 2022 at 10:56 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Josh Tetens, who thrashed one-term McLennan County District Attorney Barry Johnson in the Republican primary, equaled that polling dominance over his Democratic opponent.
Updated: Nov. 8, 2022 at 1:30 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
The suspect has been jailed 618 days. At $80 a day, his incarceration cost McLennan County taxpayers $49,440.
Updated: Nov. 7, 2022 at 4:29 PM CST
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A Robinson man who works part time as a Little League umpire was about to be released from jail on bond last week before McLennan County sheriff’s deputies filed more serious charges the next day alleging continuous sexual abuse of child.
Updated: Nov. 4, 2022 at 5:30 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Deputies also are searching for a woman they allege lured the victim to the home where he was shot and robbed.
Updated: Nov. 4, 2022 at 4:59 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A three-judge panel reinstated - at least temporarily – the lawsuits of about 90 bikers whose civil rights cases were dismissed last year by U.S. District Judge Alan Albright of Waco.
Updated: Nov. 3, 2022 at 4:17 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Dianne Hensley expects the case ultimately will be reviewed by the Supreme Court of Texas.
Updated: Nov. 2, 2022 at 5:04 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A 79-year-old China Spring man was arrested Tuesday in McLennan County.
Updated: Nov. 2, 2022 at 4:07 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
The former police chief of Rosebud was placed on felony deferred probation Wednesday for having improper sexual contact with a 14-year-old boy.
Updated: Nov. 1, 2022 at 5:34 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Baylor continues to argue some of the work by a law firm to assist its response to the scandal should not be disclosed to the plaintiffs.
Updated: Oct. 31, 2022 at 6:48 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
The murder trial of Kevin Darnell Wash was postponed Monday after prosecutors disqualified the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office from the case.
Updated: Oct. 28, 2022 at 4:07 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A deadlocked jury in favor of the defendant in a labor trafficking and sexual assault case caused a mistrial early Friday morning that led to a plea agreement in the case.
Updated: Oct. 28, 2022 at 3:18 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
The woman told police she swerved off the roadway while trying to plug in her cell phone and thought she hit a mailbox.
Updated: Oct. 27, 2022 at 6:35 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Two men were indicted Thursday in separate alleged drunken driving accidents that left three people dead and another man injured.
Updated: Oct. 27, 2022 at 6:09 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A Lacy Lakeview woman who police say was naked and covered in blood after breaking into her neighbor’s home, wrestling a gun away from her and shooting her in the head was indicted Thursday.
Updated: Oct. 26, 2022 at 7:08 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Jurors deliberated about an hour before rejecting Johnny Alvin Wilson’s self-defense claims and convicting him of capital murder.
Updated: Oct. 25, 2022 at 8:52 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Johnny Alvin Wilson told Texas Rangers he had a memory blackout after his father-in-law threatened him and he initially said he didn’t remember shooting his in-laws.
Updated: Oct. 24, 2022 at 6:21 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A Central Texas man is on trial for capital murder in the May 2020 killings of his in-laws.
Updated: Oct. 23, 2022 at 5:24 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Testimony is set to begin in the trial of Johnny Alvin Wilson, who is charged with killing his mother-in-law and father-in-law during a family cookout in May 2020.
Updated: Oct. 20, 2022 at 3:31 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
The Central Texas man was convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child.
Updated: Oct. 19, 2022 at 6:28 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
The jury of seven women and five men reported they were hopelessly deadlocked after four hours deliberating.
Updated: Oct. 19, 2022 at 5:19 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
The lawsuits were settled the week before the cases were set for trial.
Updated: Oct. 18, 2022 at 4:41 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Kevin Kuretsch has waited six years to get some help from county officials about trouble-making trespassers. He will have to wait a bit longer.
Updated: Oct. 18, 2022 at 3:49 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
The victim suffered cuts on her right hand and face and a shallow slashing wound to her neck, police said.
Updated: Oct. 17, 2022 at 5:19 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A Central Texas landowner says partiers, drug abusers, and armed convicted felons frequently use a private road to gain access to the Tradinghouse Creek Reservoir shoreline.
Updated: Oct. 17, 2022 at 5:01 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A Bruceville construction worker remains in the McLennan County after his arrest Saturday on charges he sexually abused two 9-year-old girls over a 13-month period.
Updated: Oct. 14, 2022 at 4:53 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Nicolas Jaimes-Hernandez’s 8-year-old son witnessed his father shoot and kill Monica Delgado Aviles and her two teenage children on Sept. 28.
Updated: Oct. 13, 2022 at 6:07 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Two convicted sex offenders who police say committed new offenses against young children were indicted Thursday in separate cases.
Updated: Oct. 13, 2022 at 11:46 AM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A woman who authorities say helped orchestrate a drive-by shooting that claimed the life of a Waco man in November 2020 was jailed Wednesday on a murder charge.
Updated: Oct. 12, 2022 at 12:24 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A 60-year-old New Braunfels man who shared pornographic images online with a deputy posing as a 16-year-old girl was placed on felony deferred probation Wednesday.
Updated: Oct. 10, 2022 at 5:37 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
The homeowner reported that three men entered his garage and robbed him at gunpoint.
Updated: Oct. 10, 2022 at 4:01 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
If the race for McLennan County district attorney were to be decided on the candidates’ abilities to raise and spend money, the Republican nominee holds a distinct advantage.
Updated: Oct. 9, 2022 at 5:23 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in Waco’s 54th State District Court in the capital murder trial of 39-year-old Johnny Alvin Wilson.
Updated: Oct. 5, 2022 at 4:54 PM CDT
|By Tommy Witherspoon
A construction worker who impregnated his former girlfriend’s daughter after sexually abusing her for five years was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday.
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