WACO, Texas (KWTX) – A nine-time convicted felon who shot and killed his cousin in April 2023, stuffed her body into a large storage container, drove to Robinson and set it on fire was sentenced to life in prison Thursday.

Jurors in Waco’s 19th State District Court deliberated about 40 minutes before heeding prosecutors’ pleas to put Derek Joseph Daigneault behind bars for the rest of his life.

The jury deliberated about 35 minutes before convicting the 29-year-old career criminal in the shooting death of his 26-year-old cousin, Mandy Rose Reynolds, whose body was set on fire in a plastic container near a subdivision on Heston Circle. just east of Interstate 35. Reynolds’ body was burned beyond recognition and police identified her after catching Reynolds’ dog, a white Labradoodle named Titan, who was left at the scene and refused to leave the scene. found Reynolds’ body.

The dog was microchipped, allowing investigators to identify Reynolds as its owner.

After visiting Judge Roy Sparkman sentenced Daigneault to life in prison, Reynolds’ mother, stepfather and older brother gave victim impact statements, recounting how Reynolds’ violent death had devastated them.

As Reynolds’ brother spoke, Daigneault shouted across the courtroom, accusing the brother of a crime.

Sparkman admonished Daigneault not to speak, but Daigneault continued to address his cousin, who was speaking from the witness stand.

After Reynolds’ brother finished his statement, court officers quickly escorted Daigneault out of the courtroom. However, a skirmish quickly broke out between Daigneault’s brother-in-law, mother and sister, who watched the four-day trial from one side of the courtroom, and Reynolds’ side of the family, who sat on the other side.

Court deputies, investigators from the district attorney’s office and other officers present rushed to separate the families before handcuffing Daigneault’s brother-in-law, MK Herzberg, after he punched someone on the side of the Reynolds courtroom.

Herzberg was released about 30 minutes later and allowed to leave the courthouse without charges being filed against him.

As officers took Daigneault to jail, he told a KWTX reporter that he wanted to make a statement. He reiterated that his cousin had committed a crime. When asked: “What about you?” Daigneault said, “I guess I’m just a murderer.”

In their closing statements Thursday, prosecutors Ryan Calvert and Alyssa Killin told jurors that even if Daigneault was not a nine-time convicted felon, with convictions dating back to when he was 15, he deserves a life sentence for what he did to Reynolds. .

“As I told the jury, if they didn’t know anything else about Derek Daigneault other than what he did to Mandy Rose Reynolds – shooting her in the head, driving her body here to McLennan County and setting her on fire like she was a piece of garbage), if that’s all they knew about him, that alone would have been enough to justify a life sentence,” Calvert said after the trial.

“But once we got to the punishment phase, the jury learned that he had been in trouble all his life, that he was a multiple convicted felon, that he had been to prison in Kansas before for violent crimes, they even found out that He had shot another. individual as a minor,” Calvert said. “He is simply an extremely violent individual and cannot be trusted with the safety of this or any other community. So we felt that life was the only fair verdict.”

Daigneault’s attorney, Jason P. Darling, thanked the jury for the effort they put into it. He said Daigneault, who must serve at least 30 years in prison before being eligible for parole, will appeal.

Calvert said he appreciated the efforts of police investigators in Robinson, San Marcos and Wichita, Kansas, for their role in bringing Daigneault to justice.

Daigneault was on felony probation with a warrant out for his arrest when he convinced Reynolds to drive from San Marcos to Kansas to pick him up. Reynolds allowed Daigneault to stay with her in an apartment in San Marcos for about a month before he shot her in the head, put her body in a blue container, drove to Robinson and set the container on fire with an accelerant.

Investigators tracked Daigneault to Wichita, Kansas, where he led police on a high-speed chase for about 30 minutes, sideswiping a police cruiser before crashing into another car. He fled the accident and ran into a busy grocery store, causing shoppers to run to their cars as police stormed the store in pursuit.

Police found him hiding behind some cans on a bottom shelf after a brief search of the store.

During punishment phase testimony, prosecutors showed that Daigneault has prior felony convictions for aggravated robbery, attempted aggravated robbery, aggravated assault, possession of methamphetamine, attempted interference with law enforcement, criminal discharge of a firearm in a residence, fleeing officers, aggravated assault and criminal offenses. possession of a weapon by a felon.

He was sentenced to just over nine years for the incident in Wichita that led to his arrest for Reynolds’ murder, in which he fled from officers before wrecking Reynolds’ car.

Prosecutors showed he was in possession of Reynolds’ Honda Accord; his grandmother’s gun, which turned out to be the murder weapon; his dog, Titan; and his phone, with which investigators tracked his whereabouts.

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