Jennifer Servo was originally from Columbia Falls, Montana, and knew that she wanted to be a TV news reporter from a fairly early age, with ambitions to be “the next Katie Couric.” Sadly, though she made some small headway toward her ultimate goal, her dreams would be horrifically snatched away by an unknown perpatrator.
Not long after graduating from the University of Montana in 2002, Jennifer was offered her first full-time position in television news, at KRBC-TV in Abilene, Texas. But only months later, on September 16th of 2002, Jennifer Servo was found dead in the bathroom of her apartment; she had been strangled and bludgeoned in the head.
There was no sign of forced entry, and no murder weapon to be found, which led investigators to surmise that she had probably known her attacker. Though Jennifer was found fully clothed, there were injuries consistent with sexual assault.
The two most scrutinized suspects at the time were her ex-boyfriend, former Army Ranger Ralph Sepulveda, who had moved with her from Montana to Texas; and a co-worker and friend named Brian Travers, who had a romantic interest in Jennifer, an interest which was not reciprocated.
The DNA of both men was found in the victim’s apartment, though because she was close with both of them, this fact wasn’t particularly significant. It should be noted, however, that no other DNA was recovered from the scene, perhaps suggesting that one of the two men was indeed the culprit.
Evidently, Jennifer had only been seeing Ralph Sepulveda for a short time before they moved to Texas together, and shortly afterward, Jennifer discovered that Sepulveda had a fiancée and a child back in Montana. Upon finding out this distressing information, Jennifer broke off their relationship.
Sepulveda reportedly hardly reacted when informed that Jennifer had been murdered, and though he agreed to cooperate with police at first, as time went on he refused to aid in the investigation, and would not take a polygraph test. Authorities were also unable to establish where he had been at the time of the murder.
Though investigators considered Sepulveda their prime suspect, Brian Travers raised some red flags as well. Travers admitted to police that he and Jennifer had been out on the night she was killed, but denied murdering her. In fact, he informed authorities that Jennifer had been afraid someone had been following them that evening.
According to police, however, Jennifer had made a call to her friend Dave Warren back in Montana after she returned to her apartment that night, and didn’t mention to him that she believed someone was following her; in fact, Warren said she sounded the same as usual.
Though it seems investigators are leaning toward Ralph Sepulveda as their prime suspect, the case remains unresolved. Abilene police are still working on the cold case, in the hopes that it will soon be brought to a close.
Crime Immemorial 