On Friday, police said that Bayside, Texas, teen, Kirsten Fritch, was stabbed to death. She’d been missing for several days before her body was discovered. Her boyfriend is still in custody, but isn’t yet charged with her murder.
The Houston Chronicle reports that an Amber Alert was placed on 16-year-old, Kirsten Fritch, after police discovered her missing from her Bayside home earlier this week. Her mother, Cynthia Morris, 37, and sister, Breanna Pavlicek, 13, were found inside the family home, dead from gunshot wounds, on Tuesday. Kirsten’s 21-year-old boyfriend, Jesse Dobbs, who’d recently moved in with Kirsten, was also missing.
RT #KirstenFritch age 16 #AmberAlert teen abducted after mom & 13 y/o sister shot dead by suspect Jesse Dobbs #Baytown #Texas #TX pic.twitter.com/ccDDBWxzyN
— Locate The Missing (@MissingCases) November 9, 2016
On Wednesday, authorities located Dobbs sitting inside a Texas City bar, allegedly soaked with sweat and with no shoes on. They immediately took him into custody for resisting arrest. He remains a person of interest in the case. So far, he’s been uncooperative, but with the assistance of the FBI, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and numerous volunteers, detectives found Kirsten’s body in an underbrush area, only 1,000 feet from the bar where Dobbs sat.
The Galveston County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Kristen died from a sharp force injuries to “the abdomen, the chest, and the neck.” Detectives still haven’t said what kind of weapon was used, but it seems to be consistent with knife wounds.
Click 2 Houston reports that surveillance footage showed Dobbs at the far end of the bar when police discovered him. They rushed to the suspect with flashlights shining on him while one officer pointed a gun at him. A few officers fell while struggling with Dobbs, but they eventually cuffed him, picked up, and carried him outside. According to Baytown Police Lieutenant Steve Dorris, detectives still have a lot of work to do before they can officially charge Dobbs with murder.
WATCH LIVE: Jesse Dobbs faces murder charges after body found in Texas City identified as Kirsten Fritch https://t.co/NTqvjx9KUu pic.twitter.com/v44fcKM5eb
— KPRC 2 Houston (@KPRC2) November 10, 2016
“While we hope to be able to file them (murder charges) at some point, we still have a lot of work to do before we can officially do so. This may take several days as we are essentially working two scenes and two cases that are effectively linked together and we want to make sure we have everything right.”
After learning about his arrest, Dobbs’ ex-girlfriend, Dallas Hay, opened up about her relationship with him. The pair share two young children and she even talked to him while he attempted to evade capture.
Jesse Dobbs’s girlfriend Kirsten Nicole Fritch pictures https://t.co/dNMFQYYmQB pic.twitter.com/VvJgVVs0qb
— China News (@ChinaNews86) November 10, 2016
“I said, ‘Where’s the girl? Where’s the girl?’ and he said, ‘What girl?’ He acted surprised like he didn’t know what had happened, but then again, Jesse is a good liar,” said Hay.
She also said that while Dobbs was rude and abusive towards her, he generally treated others with respect.
“Towards me, he was very rude and hateful and abusive, but he was very nice to other people.”
Hay finally built the courage to leave Dobbs earlier this year after police arrested him for assaulting her. She said she packed up her belonging and moved to Louisiana with her two children. Dobbs continued to harass her, pleading to move in with her and the kids. Hay stood firm and wouldn’t take him back, but she feels that had she stayed in Texas, Kirsten Fritch and her family may still be alive today.
“He would ask if he could stay with me and live with me and he missed his family. Even though it’s not my fault, I feel like it’s my fault because if I would’ve stayed, he probably wouldn’t have hurt them.”
Kirsten Fitch’s grandmother, Barbara DeRamus, told police that she had a “bad feeling” about Dobbs from the first time she met him. DeRamus indicated that Dobbs started dating her granddaughter after they met in an online chat room, and he quickly moved into her family home, despite Cynthia Morris’ wishes to get him out.
“He just seemed like a lowlife,” said DeRamus, shortly before Kirsten Fritch was found. “I thought what was Kirsten doing with this idiot….I believe he murdered my daughter [Cynthia Morris] and my innocent 13 year old granddaughter. I hope he rots in jail.
Dobbs remains in jail on a $50,520 bond. Murder charges are expected to follow.
Kirsten Fritch was a student at Goose Creek CISD’s Robert E. Lee High School. The school district sent out a letter after her death, hoping to provide solace to the parents and students affected by the tragedy.
“We do not know why these things happen, we can only try our hardest to deal with that we do know. This family has suffered a tremendous loss that few of us can comprehend. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.”
[Featured Photo by the Bayside Police Department]