According to an update from the Texas Department of Public Safety, a 62-year-old man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for the homicide of an Odessa woman, which occurred over forty years ago.
In 1982, Velma Nesset was assassinated. The 64-year-old was reported missing while walking to work at the Permian Mall, and her corpse was subsequently found in a culvert. She had been sexually violated and murdered, as evidenced by an autopsy.
An initial suspect was apprehended and admitted to the crime; however, a 1983 trial resulted in acquittal as a result of insufficient evidence and a fraudulent confession. Subsequently, the case was left unsolved for nearly four decades.
DPS determined that Nesset’s case was eligible for advanced DNA testing in 2020. This resulted in the authorities apprehending Billy Wayne Ludwigson.
Ludwigson was apprehended in Denver, Colorado, by the Texas Rangers and the Odessa Police Department in July 2020. According to the Department of Public Safety, he admitted to the homicide. Ludwigson would have been twenty years old at the time of the homicide.
In October 2020, he was extradited to Texas and indicted on homicide charges. Ludwigson entered a guilty plea on August 9, 2024. According to the Department of Public Safety, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a court in Ector County.
The DPS’ Sexual Assault Kit Initiative provided funding for the advanced DNA testing. The Department of Justice/Bureau of Justice Assistance provides funding for the program. The Department of Justice/Bureau of Justice (DOJ/BJA) allocates funding to agencies throughout the United States in order to address unresolved sexual assaults and sexually-related homicides.
