BROWNWOOD, Texas — The suspect in a decades-old cold case murder has been sentenced to three consecutive life sentences in connection to the death of Donna Mae Inlow, 72, in Brownwood.
On Wednesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced his office helped secure three consecutive life sentences against Pablo Figueroa, 62, for Inlow's April 1981 murder. The Office of the Attorney General’s Criminal Prosecutions Division, represented by assistant sttorneys general Natalie Tise and Matthew Ottoway, helped district attorney Micheal Murray of the 35th Judicial District and first assistant Elisha Bird in the capital murder prosecution.
In April 1981, Inlow was working in her family’s shoe store in downtown Brownwood. Just before closing, she 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. The following morning, a neighboring shop owner, concerned because Inlow’s shoe store had not opened for business, found her mutilated body and called authorities.
Even though 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 convicted of federal charges of conspiracy to smuggle illegal aliens. More testing confirmed the hit and after more investigation, Figueroa was indicted in December 2022 for Inlow's capital murder.
When he completed his federal sentence, Figueroa was transferred to Brown County in September 2023 to await trial. After approximately a year of litigation, Figueroa’s defense 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 future challenges to the convictions.
Earlier in February, and 42 years after Inlow’s murder, 35th District Court of Brown County, Texas Judge Mike Smith accepted the plea bargain and Figueroa’s guilty pleas and imposed three life sentences to run consecutive to each other.
The Office of the Attorney General helped local prosecutors on request, including an additional investigation conducted by Sgts. Joe Baca and David Fugitt of the Criminal Investigations Division.
