{"id":111233,"date":"2026-01-05T12:21:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T12:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/111233\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T12:21:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T12:21:07","slug":"alleged-serial-killers-body-will-be-exhumed-from-texas-grave-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/111233\/","title":{"rendered":"Alleged serial killer\u2019s body will be exhumed from Texas grave. Here\u2019s why"},"content":{"rendered":"

The body of an alleged serial killer and convicted rapist buried in a Texas national cemetery will be exhumed. <\/p>\n

Fernando Cota, a Vietnam War veteran and a prime suspect in the murder of six women, will be disinterred from Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery under legislation sponsored by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn<\/a>, a Texas Republican. Cota was buried at the San Antonio cemetery in 1984. <\/p>\n

Cornyn initiated the legislation following a request from the son of one of Cota\u2019s alleged victims. It was not immediately clear when the body will be exhumed or where it will be moved.<\/p>\n

\u201cFort Sam Houston National Cemetery is a sacred resting place for more than 170,000 respected veterans and their loved ones, and it would be a slap in the face to each one of them to allow Fernando Cota, a convicted rapist and alleged serial murderer, to remain buried amongst such heroes,\u201d Cornyn said in a statement.<\/p>\n

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Cota was drafted into the U.S. Army<\/a> in the mid-1960s and fought in the Vietnam War. Upon returning home, he faced multiple sexual assault allegations and was suspected in the murder of six women in San Jose, Calif., Cornyn\u2019s office said in a news release.<\/p>\n

In 1975, Cota was convicted of attacking a nurse by binding and raping her while living in El Paso<\/a>, according to news stories<\/a> at the time. He was released on parole in 1983 from a Texas prison. <\/p>\n

One year later, Cota was stopped by police in California for erratic driving. When officers asked to look inside his van, he told them he was a \u201cvery sick man\u201d and shot and killed himself, news stories said. Police found a wooden box in his van with the body of 21-year-old Kim Marie Dunham, who had gone missing the day before.<\/p>\n

Following Cota\u2019s death, police found a small cell in his home outfitted with handcuffs, leg shackles and a peephole where he allegedly tortured victims. Detectives used fingerprints on the wall to identify the other women, who were strangled, stabbed or beaten to death, Cornyn\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n

Investigators also found fake ID cards, a false police badge, women\u2019s blouses, six pairs of women\u2019s shoes and fliers looking for roommates, which Cota posted at San Jose State University. <\/p>\n

People convicted of certain crimes are now barred from burial in national cemeteries, but that law went into effect after Cota\u2019s burial in 1984. <\/p>\n

\u201cA convicted rapist should not be buried with honor among our nation\u2019s heroes,\u201d U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz<\/a> R-Texas, who co-sponsored the legislation, said in a statement. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The body of an alleged serial killer and convicted rapist buried in a Texas national cemetery will be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[294,3309,7883,27,29,28,12450],"class_list":["post-111233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-crime","tag-john-cornyn","tag-ted-cruz","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-veterans-and-military"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}