Cynthia Gonzalez left her Arlington home on Sept. 16, 1991 and wasn鈥檛 seen alive by her family again, according to police.
The next day, Gonzalez鈥檚 ex-husband reported her missing. On Sept. 22, 1991, her body was found. She was shot multiple times and then left on private property off County Road 313 in Johnson County. Her body was already decomposing. Investigators identified her with fingerprints.
Now, more than 34 years later, Arlington police have arrested 63-year-old Janie Perkins and charged her with one count of capital murder.
Perkins was arrested Nov. 6 in Azle by members of the U.S. Marshals North Texas Fugitive Task Force.
Police Chief Al Jones said the investigation is finally coming to a close because of students at UT Arlington.
Perkins was identified as a suspect by students in the UTA Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Police partnered with the university at the start of the fall semester, selecting 15 students for a special class on cold case investigations.
Those students were assigned to one of three groups, each looking into a different Arlington cold case. They were given access to everything in the investigation except physical evidence.
Natalia Montoya, one of the students in the group, said it took months of digging through police writeups, lab reports and witness statements to identify Perkins. When the pieces started lining up, she became a clear suspect.
Perkins was one of Gonzalez鈥檚 friends, according to police. Witnesses said they would regularly spend time together, but that the two women shared a romantic partner who, several weeks before the murder, told Perkins he was ending his relationship with her to be with Gonzalez.
Homicide detectives in the original case suspected Perkins, who couldn鈥檛 provide an alibi for the night Gonzalez went missing. The case files showed she failed two voluntary polygraph tests when asked if she killed Gonzalez and even told investigators she was glad she was dead.
Polygraphs aren鈥檛 admissible in court, though, and Perkins maintained that she wasn鈥檛 involved in the killing, police said. She wasn鈥檛 charged until the students at UTA grew suspicious of her.
All the groups in the class were assigned cases along with current Arlington homicide detectives. Montoya said her group wrote up some questions about Perkins to send to the detectives. When they heard back from detectives, it wasn鈥檛 with answers to those questions.
It was the news that Perkins had been arrested based on their work.
鈥淭his morning, I got the arrest warrant written and issued and our U.S. Marshals Task Force is currently outside of Janie鈥檚 house in Azle, Texas, waiting to take her into custody,鈥� the detective told the students.
The news was met with applause from the class and tears from the group working the case.
It was emotional, too, for Gonzalez鈥檚 daughter. Jessica Roberts was six when she last saw her mother.
She told reporters after a news conference Monday that she鈥檇 heard of Perkins but didn鈥檛 know her. The news that police made an arrest left her feeling 鈥渙verwhelmed, shock, excitement, just a mixture of everything,鈥� she said.
鈥淭he grief never subsided,鈥� Roberts said. 鈥淚t came in waves year after year and not even just for me but for other family members as well and friends of my mom.鈥�
Gonzalez knew police hadn鈥檛 given up on investigating the case 鈥� in 2024 it was assigned to a current homicide detective for review. But Arlington doesn鈥檛 have detectives dedicated to cold cases. Homicide detectives pick up cold cases to investigate between current cases.
Roberts didn鈥檛 find out UT Arlington students were reviewing cold cases for police until a couple of weeks ago, she said. Even then, she didn鈥檛 know her mother鈥檚 case was among those until police contacted her to share the news that they鈥檇 made an arrest.
鈥淚 was shocked to get the phone call that not only was my mom鈥檚 case already presented to this program, that it had been solved,鈥� Roberts said. 鈥淚 was just beside myself, and I only found that out last Thursday. It has been a process, and I am still processing this.鈥�
Roberts said she鈥檚 thankful to the students who aided investigators.
鈥淚 am so proud of these students at UTA and I am so thankful for what they have done and the time that they鈥檝e spent and the effort they鈥檝e put into this case,鈥� Roberts said. 鈥淭his has been a working case for 34 years and so many people have been involved in this case, not just these students but friends and family members.鈥�
This is the first semester students at UT Arlington have partnered with police to investigate three cold cases and the first of those cases in which the students' work has helped to lead to an arrest.
Got a tip? Email James Hartley at jhartley@kera.org or follow James on X @ByJamesHartley.
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