Mail carrier was shot, set on fire, feds say. Texas man gets life sentence in killing
While a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier delivered mail along her route, she was ambushed by a Texas man and shot four times, according to a criminal complaint.
A 45-year-old man from Houston who pleaded guilty to the 2013 murder has just been sentenced to life in prison, federal officials say.
James Wayne Ham, pleaded guilty to the killing of the mail carrier on Monday, Dec. 6, more than eight years after her death, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Texas.
“USPS letter carriers are in our neighborhoods every day, delivering mail to homes and businesses across this country,” said Acting Inspector in Charge Dana Carter of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS). “The investigation and arrest of Ham for his shocking and heinous crimes against a USPS letter carrier was the highest priority for the USPIS. Our thoughts continue to be with the victim’s family and all affected by this senseless crime.”
Defense attorneys representing Ham, of Coldspring, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.
The investigation
The San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office was first alerted after receiving a 911 call on May 17, 2013 from the son of the mail carrier, according to court records. The son said he and his mother were on the phone as she was delivering her mail route when he heard a “pow, pow” or “bang, bang.”
He reported asking his mom what happened, and she said she thought she was shot, records show.
“The son began shouting into the telephone trying to communicate with his mother when he heard an unintelligible male’s voice over the telephone,” officials say. “The son then heard his mother say ‘Please don’t kill me, please don’t kill me.’”
That’s when the call disconnected. He then called 911 .
Responding officers found a Jeep Cherokee 4-door SUV “engulfed in flames” near where the postal carrier had been delivering mail in a rural community about 65 miles north of Houston, records show. Human remains were found in the passenger seat (it was a right hand steer vehicle used for rural USPS routes) and “several apparent bullet holes” were found in the vehicle.
Following Ham’s arrest, investigators say he decided to kill the mail carrier and then wanted to kill his estranged wife afterward. He and his wife were going through a divorce, records show, and Ham thought the mail carrier was “withholding his mail” and delivering it to his ex instead.
Officials say Ham had complained to the carrier’s supervisor on April 29, 2013 saying “if she did not correct the problem he would go over her head.” The supervisor spoke with the carrier about the complaint and did not believe Ham’s allegation was true.
A few weeks later, on May 17, officials say Ham loaded his rifle and took a bottle of lighter fluid and extra rifle shells to his hiding space along the tree line near the carrier’s mail route.
Shortly after she delivered his mail, Ham shot her about four times, records show.
“He then got in her vehicle and drove it the short distance to the water supply location and doused the vehicle with lighter fluid and set (it) on fire,” authorities said.
The woman was killed, and Ham wrote authorities a statement admitting what he had done, according to the release.
“Any murder against our citizens is egregious and intolerable,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery. “Even worse is someone who attacks our workforce while they are simply doing their job. This plea and sentence shows our determination to stand firm with our partners to ensure no one escapes justice for such vicious crimes.”
Man making bogus bomb threats to schools, hospital is arrested in Missouri, feds say
Texas man lied to get $1.6M in COVID loans for Lamborghini, truck and more, feds say
Indiana mom kidnaps woman in search for witness in her son’s criminal trial, feds say
