A jury convicted Kosoul Chanthakoummane in the 2006 murder of Sarah Ann Walker, a McKinney real estate agent that was found brutally assaulted and murdered in a McKinney model home, and after a lengthy appeals process, the State of Texas has executed him by lethal injection on Wednesday, Aug. 17.
Walker was found dead on the kitchen floor of a Craig Ranch model home at 5700 Conch Train in McKinney. Kosoul Chanthakoummane brutally bit, beat, and stabbed her 27 times. Before leaving, he stole her Rolex watch and ring, leaving police to suspect that robbery was his motive.
Death Penalty Action was requesting clemency for Chanthakoummane, citing evidence used to convict him that is no longer considered reliable in many courts.
“Chanthakoummane’s conviction relied on bite-mark analysis and witness hypnosis, two discredited forensic techniques, and statistically flawed DNA testimony,” according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
In 2017, a Collin County trial court heard an appeal on behalf of Chanthakoumanne regarding these claims. After reviewing the evidence, the court denied the appeal and concluded that newly tested DNA evidence would have been unlikely to change the trial’s outcome.
During the trial, Chanthakoummane’s defense attorney said he stabbed Walker. The attorney called the murder a robbery gone awry. Despite the conviction, Chanthakoummane has always maintained his innocence. He said he entered the home after having car trouble but never saw Walker, 40.
According to forensic reports, Walker was brutally assaulted before she was murdered. Teeth marks were evident on her body, and witnesses said they saw a man “of Asian descent” near the model home where Walker was found. Chanthakoummane is of Laotian heritage.
Awareness campaigns regarding Realtor safety have become more prevalent in years since Walker’s murder. Since Walker’s death, Houston Realtor Crystal McDowell was found murdered. Statistics show that 44 percent of Realtors choose to carry self-defense weapons, with 35 percent of men and 49 percent of women carrying a weapon or tool to defend themselves from an attacker.
