The Cold Case episode where we first meet Scotty is based on the true Texas Cadet Murder

By: Start TV Staff     Posted: June 11, 2019, 4:53PM

It's a real case that shocked Texas at the end of 1995: A young girl killed by a couple, simply because the boyfriend boasted he had cheated with their victim. And to this day, it's still unclear if the tryst ever happened.

Known as the Texas Cadet Murder, what we do know is this. Diane Zamora and David Graham were high school sweethearts who planned to wed immediately after graduation. Instead, Graham gave a ride home to a girl he knew from his high school track team, Adrianne Jones, and afterward, he claimed to Zamora that during this ride, he had sex with the other girl. This threw Zamora into a jealous rage, and the story goes that she insisted Graham had to kill Jones to make right.

According to confessions from the couple, who were arrested in 1996, Graham invited Jones out, and Zamora hid in his trunk. Once they reached the destination of the planned murder, Joe Pool Lake, Zamora popped out of the trunk and asked Jones if she really slept with her boyfriend. Zamora claimed that Jones confirmed the affair did occur, after which, her confession reported that she bludgeoned Jones on the head with weights. When Jones tried to run, Graham and Zamora's initial confessions said that Graham pulled the trigger on the handgun that killed the fleeing victim.

Jones died that December night in 1995, but Graham and Zamora went on with their lives, him joining the Air Force Academy and her the Naval Academy. It was only when Zamora confessed to their crime to her Navy roommates that investigators caught on and arrested the couple the following September.

That's when their stories started changing, each half turning on the other to claim that person was solely responsible. It was then that Graham made the astounding claim that the affair the entire murder was predicated upon never even happened. Because Graham's story changed (and Zamora's too), it was difficult to trust either, but after separate trials, both were convicted of the murder.

Drawing from this senseless tragedy came the Cold Case episode "Love Conquers Al." It's a notable episode for fans for a different reason: It introduced Scotty Valens as Lilly Rush's new partner. As Lilly reopens a case dealing with the death of a college athlete, she must also deal with her cocky new partner frustrating her investigation, but in her case, there was one important difference: an innocent man was behind bars, charged with the murder. When it came to the Texas Cadet Murder, the only innocence to be spoken of was that stolen from the young track star so cruelly slain.

Watch Cold Case on Start TV

Every day at 3 PM and 12 AM Eastern/Pacific