Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton helped secure three consecutive life sentences against Pablo Figueroa, age 62, for a murder Figueroa committed over 42 years ago in Brownwood, Texas.

In April, 1981, Dona Mae Inlow made the short drive from her home at 1701 Coggin Avenue to her business, Inlow’s Shoe Service, at 114 E Chandler.

The 72 year old opened the doors to her boot and shoe shop like any other Monday in the history of the store’s 40+ years in Brownwood.

She worked through the morning and then headed down the block to have lunch at The Muffin, a popular little diner that was always packed with Howard Payne University students. Inlow walked out the door and was never seen, alive, again.

The next morning, Tuesday, April 28th 1981, a young lady working at the Brownwood Health Food Store noticed something unusual. She headed over to Inlow’s to let her know that the back door to her store was open. She knocked on the front door and, although the door was unlocked, she received no response.

She quickly went to fetch another one of the neighboring business owners and, together, they went back to investigate.

Just behind a small partition that separated the main area of the store from the supply and work area, they discovered the battered body of Inlow.

The young lady ran back to her shop and alerted the police at 9:18 AM.

The first officer arrived at 9:30 AM to a grisly scene.

Inlow’s last moments had been horrific. She suffered a large, blunt force wound to her head. She had been strangled, but the ultimate cause of death was found to be several stab wounds to her upper-left chest. One of those stabs being so brutal that it shattered one of her ribs and pierced her lung causing severe internal bleeding.

Upon autopsy, Dr. Gardner Thomas (chief pathologist at Brownwood Regional Medical Center) ruled that Mrs. Inlow had been murdered at approximately 1:30 PM on Monday, April 27th.

She had fought with her attacker, causing several scratches to her own neck while trying to pry his hands from her throat. It was theorized that the weapon used to stab Inlow was, most likely, a broken broom handle. The murder weapon was not at the scene and was never found.

It was also found that Inlow had been sexually assaulted. Although she had been found fully clothed, evidence of the assault was found during her autopsy. Semen found inside of her panty hose, hairs and blood was collected.

The investigators’ immediate reaction was that Inlow was killed during the commission of a robbery as the cash register was both open and empty and her purse was also missing. It was unknown how much money might have been in the register at the time.

The Brownwood Police Department, Brown County Sherriff’s Office and the Texas Department of Public Safety (which includes the Texas Rangers) were all involved with the investigation. 14 suspects were identified, although only one of those persons of interest had ever been, publicly, named.

Eventually, it was surmised that just before closing, Inlow was attacked and dragged into the back storeroom.

There, her skull was fractured, and she was strangled with a mop handle, sexually assaulted, and stabbed multiple times. Her killer then cleared out the cash register and left her there to die.

Although suspects were developed over the years, the case ultimately went cold. In 2001, samples from Inlow’s pantyhose were submitted for DNA testing.

A profile was developed and eventually submitted to Combined DNA Index System (“CODIS”).

In 2019, Texas law enforcement were notified of a hit matching Figueroa, whose profile was uploaded to CODIS after being federally convicted of conspiracy to smuggle illegal aliens. Additional testing confirmed the hit, and after further investigation, Figueroa was indicted in December 2022 for the capital murder of Inlow.  

Upon completion of his federal sentence, Figueroa was transferred to Brown County in September 2023 to await trial. After approximately a year of litigation, Figueroa’s counsel approached prosecutors seeking a deal.

Negotiations led to a plea bargain resulting in guilty pleas for capital murder, aggravated robbery, and aggravated rape, each coupled with a life sentence to run consecutive to each other, waiving presentencing time credits, and waiving future challenges to the convictions.

The Office of the Attorney General’s Criminal Prosecutions Division, represented by Assistant Attorneys General Natalie Tise and Matthew Ottoway, assisted District Attorney Michael Murray of the 35th Judicial District and First Assistant Elisha Bird in this capital murder prosecution.

Earlier this month, and forty-two years after Inlow’s murder, Judge Mike Smith of the 35th District Court of Brown County, Texas, accepted the plea bargain and Figueroa’s guilty pleas and imposed three life sentences to run consecutive to each other.

Henry Lee Lucas, who was apprehended in 1983 for murdering 11 people between 1960 and 1983, claimed to have killed more than 600 people – including Inlow – but was excluded as Lucas was determined to be in Jacksonville, Florida on April 27, 1981.

The Office of the Attorney General assisted local prosecutors upon request, including an additional investigation conducted by Sergeants Joe Baca and David Fugitt of the Criminal Investigations Division.

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