DNA Evidence Convicts Suspect in Vicious Brownwood Capital Murder Cold Case

BROWNWOOD, Texas — After over four decades since the brutal murder of Donna Mae Inlow, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has announced a significant breakthrough in the case with the sentencing of Pablo Figueroa, age 62, to three consecutive life terms.

In a joint effort between the Office of the Attorney General’s Criminal Prosecutions Division, led by Assistant Attorneys General Natalie Tise and Matthew Ottoway, and District Attorney Micheal Murray of the 35th Judicial District, justice was finally served for the 1981 murder that shook the small town of Brownwood, Texas.

In April 1981, Donna Mae Inlow, 72, was viciously attacked and killed in her family's shoe store in downtown Brownwood. The assailant fractured her skull, strangled her with a mop handle, sexually assaulted her, and stabbed her multiple times before looting the cash register and fleeing, leaving Inlow to be discovered the next morning by a concerned shop owner.

Despite years of investigation and suspects developed, the case went cold until 2001 when DNA samples from Inlow's pantyhose were submitted for testing. A breakthrough came in 2019 when a DNA hit matched Figueroa, whose profile was in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) due to a prior federal conviction.

Following Figueroa's transfer to Brown County in September 2023, negotiations ensued between his counsel and prosecutors, resulting in a plea bargain. Figueroa pleaded guilty to capital murder, aggravated robbery, and aggravated rape, each carrying a life sentence to be served consecutively.

Forty-two years after Inlow's tragic death, Judge Mike Smith of the 35th District Court of Brown County accepted Figueroa's guilty pleas and imposed three consecutive life sentences.

The Office of the Attorney General provided crucial assistance throughout the investigation and legal proceedings, including additional investigations conducted by Sergeants Joe Baca and David Fugitt of the Criminal Investigations Division, upon request from local authorities.