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Collin County murder victim's widow pleads guilty to separate murder
By Danny Gallagher, dgallagher@acnpapers.com
The widow of two murdered husbands, one from Princeton and the other from San Angelo, pleaded guilty in a Tom Green County courthouse to murdering her second husband.
Purdie Guerra Clark pleaded guilty last Wednesday to a first-degree charge of murder for poisoning her 60-year-old common-law husband, James "Bud" Phillips, in 2009, according to Tom Green County Courthouse records.
Her plea was part of an agreement with prosecutors from the Tom Green County District Attorney's Office in exchange for a 40-year state prison sentence, which she also received June 1 in the 119th Judicial District Court of Tom Green County, according to court records.
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| Purdie Guerra Clark |
Investigators took a sample of Phillips' blood and sent it to the Fort Worth Medical Examiner's Office for further examination. The medical examiner's office found poison in the blood sample and ruled it as the definitive cause of Phillips' death. San Angelo police detectives then obtained a warrant for Mrs. Clark's arrest, according to statements released by the San Angelo Police Department.
Officers arrested Clark in March 2009 in Collin County. Several Texas Rangers and Collin County's Major Crime Task Force received a tip about Mrs. Clark's whereabouts and set up a surveillance on the location. Officers spotted Mrs. Clark in the area and attempted to stop her, but she refused to comply with their requests. A short chase ensued and officers were able to stop her car within a few minutes without further incident, according to the statement.
Clark is still a suspect in the death of her previous husband, 41-year-old Kimberly Alan Clark of Princeton. Mr. Clark's body was found with two gunshot wounds to the head in September 2006 on the side of County Road 205 north of McKinney. Collin County sheriff's investigators noted that the body had been there for possibly three to five days prior to the discovery, as evidenced by the rate of decomposition.
Lt. John Norton of the Collin County Sheriff's Office said they have not received any evidence from Phillips' case to indicate Mrs. Clark's guilt in the 2006 murder case. He noted, however, that she remains a suspect in Mr. Clark's murder. No charges have been filed in connection with Mr. Clark's murder since 2006.
Allison Palmer, Tom Green County first assistant district attorney, said Clark killed Phillips by poisoning him on Feb. 16, 2009, by placing a lethal dose of strychnine in a bowl of ice cream he then ate. She said that Clark did not offer a motive for the crime she pleaded guilty to last week.
"Most cases are resolved by a plea of guilty and in most cases, we try to recommend a sentence that would achieve justice but eliminate the need for a trial," Palmer said.
Phillips' and Mr. Clark's cases don't have any apparent evidentiary connection other than their relationship with Mrs. Clark, but Palmer said she could not comment on whether or not that was the only connection between the two murders.
"I will say one thing," Palmer said. "What Purdie Clark did in 2006 could always come back to haunt her."
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