Woman charged in man’s ’04 beating death

Houston Chronicle—August 13th, 2009

Clarence Payne had known Samantha Lynne Lange since she was a young girl in their east Harris County neighborhood of Cloverleaf, and when she grew up to be a woman with problems he tried to help.

Lange repaid him, authorities say, by killing him in his sleep five years ago. On Wednesday she was charged with capital murder, culminating an investigation that began on June 2, 2004, when the 88-year-old Payne was found bludgeoned to death with a brick in his home in the 14600 block of Brownsville.

Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia announced the case against Lange, 39, at a news conference Thursday morning. Garcia said he has recently put investigators to work on long-unsolved cold cases, in part to help the victims’ families find closure. In this instance, there was enough evidence to go to court.

Lange, 39, is in prison on an unrelated firearms charge, according to Harris County records. Garcia said she also is suspected in the death of Shirleanne Pasquinel, 58, who was killed in February 2005 in the same neighborhood. Like Payne, Pasquinel had tried to help Lange, a known drug user, investigators said. Pasquinel had let Lange live at her home.

Investigators declined to disclose details of her slaying because it is still under investigation and charges have not been filed.

Investigators described Payne’s killing as brutal, and said Lange stole items from his house.

“It’s one thing for someone you don’t know to come into your home and savagely beat you,” said Lt. Rolf Nelson. “It’s a very different thing for an acquaintance who, according to everyone, you took care of to come into your home and savagely beat you with the object being nothing more than to get something from you. That’s pretty cold.”

Payne’s son, Dale, said it was a relief to know an arrest has been made.

He said he and other family members had tried to convince his father to stop trying to help Lange turn her life around because they knew her troubles. He thanked Garcia and his cold-case investigators.

“We still miss him,” he said.