WACO, Texas — A Kansas man was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday after being found guilty of the murder of his 26-year-old cousin in 2023, according to the McLennan County District Attorney's Office.
Derek Daigneault, a 29-year-old from Wichita, Kan., was convicted of shooting and killing Mandy Rose Reynolds, whose body was found burning in a field in Robinson.
Robinson police responded to a reported brush fire along Heston Circle on April 5, 2023. When officers got there, they found Reynolds' body, which was burned beyond recognition but later identified through dental records by a medical examiner. Reynolds' dog was found nearby and barked frantically at officers. The dog was later microchipped and found to have belonged to Reynolds.
Robinson police learned Reynolds had lived in San Marcos, Texas, and contacted San Marcos police about Reynolds. San Marcos police went to Reynolds' apartment and found it empty, with all of her possessions completely removed. Reynolds' black Honda Accord was also missing. SMPD ran the vehicle through a license plate reader database and found it was somewhere in Wichita, Kan.
The Wichita Police Department was contacted to be on alert for Reynolds' car. WPD spotted her car on April 8, 2023, tried to pull it over and a high-speed chase (reaching speeds over 100 miles per hour), which lasted nearly 30 minutes. Reynolds' car, which was being driven by Daigneault, ultimately crashed into another vehicle and he ran away on foot.
Daigneault ran into a nearby grocery store, the DA said, and hid on a shelf behind canned goods.
Wichita police found a handgun in the driver's seat of the floorboard of Reynolds' car, which matched the shell casing found inside the large plastic container burning with Reynolds' body, the DA said.
San Marcos police also obtained surveillance footage from a Walmart that showed Daigneault purchasing a large plastic container – identical to the one Reynolds' body was burned in – a shovel and a gas can on the morning of April 4, 2023.
The medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Reynolds determined her cause of death to be a gunshot wound to the head.
The Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Lab also confirmed the bullet found in Reynolds' body and the shell casing found by Robinson police were both fired by the handgun found in Reynolds' car in Wichita.
Daigneault will spend life in prison after being convicted on Nov. 7 for Reynolds' murder, according to the DA.
“The keys to this case were a heroic and loyal dog named Titan and extraordinary cooperation between law enforcement agencies in multiple jurisdictions and states. That combination has delivered justice for Mandy and safety from a violent and dangerous criminal,” assistant district attorneys Ryan Calvert and Alyssa Killin said in a press release.