DNA Testing Leads to Arrest in 1996 Cold Case Murder of Paris, Texas, Woman

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Crime Laboratory Division has successfully identified a suspect in the 1996 murder of 86-year-old Mary Moore Searight in Paris, Texas, after nearly three decades of investigation. On December 12, 2024, a Lamar County grand jury indicted 54-year-old David Paul Cady Jr. for Searight’s murder, utilizing modern DNA evidence testing to solve the long-unsolved case.

Searight was found inside her home on the night of August 18, 1996, by her unofficial caretaker. She had been sexually assaulted, beaten, and strangled. Though she was still alive when discovered, Searight was airlifted to a hospital in Dallas, where she succumbed to her injuries three days later. Searight, who owned and rented several properties in the Paris area, had been a well-known figure in the community.

At the time of the crime, Cady, then 25, was one of Searight’s tenants, living in a property on the same street. During interviews on the evening of the murder, Cady acted suspiciously, attempting to conceal a laceration on his right hand and offering inconsistent explanations about how he had sustained the injury. Investigators collected DNA swabs from Cady’s hand, but no significant breakthroughs were made in the immediate aftermath of the investigation.

In 2021, Searight’s case was flagged for further investigation under the Texas Rangers’ Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) program, funded by the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The program provides investigative support to agencies working to solve unsolved sexual assaults and related homicides. In 2023, as part of a fresh review of the case, investigators decided to submit Cady’s DNA swabs for further analysis under the SAKI program at the DPS crime laboratory in Garland.

The testing uncovered a breakthrough: Searight’s DNA was found on the swabs taken from Cady’s hand. This crucial evidence led to Cady’s arrest in February 2024, while he was already incarcerated in the Hopkins County Jail on unrelated charges.

Cady, now 54, has been charged with the murder of Mary Moore Searight and remains in custody.