Former APD officer VonTrey Clark pleads guilty to capital murder

VonTrey Clark was charged in the murder of Kyle Police crisis counselor Samantha Dean and her unborn child in 2015. 

BASTROP COUNTY, Texas - A former Austin Police Department officer charged with hiring a hitman to execute his girlfriend and unborn baby has pled guilty to capital murder.

VonTrey Clark, 36, was charged in the murder of Kyle Police crisis counselor Samantha Dean and her unborn child in 2015.

Clark was sentenced to life in prison with no parole.

Dean’s body was found behind a vacant shopping center along Highway 71 west of Bastrop on Feb. 3, 2015. She was shot three times in the head.

Dean was seven months pregnant with a baby girl whom she'd named Madeline. The baby did not survive.

Clark initially pled not guilty in 2015. Investigators say Clark conspired with several others to kill Dean because she refused to have an abortion.

In 2015 the hired hit-man told detectives that Clark paid him and another man $5,000 to kill Dean because she wanted Clark to pay child support for the baby. Clark then took Dean’s body to Bastrop and staged the murder scene.

Police also linked two others to Dean's death.

Clark was placed on restricted duty at APD in July 2015 due to the department's internal investigation into Dean's murder, then was fired after he failed to cooperate with the investigation and left the country without permission from the department. Clark's attorney says he went to Indonesia for health reasons.

Clark was extradited from Indonesia in 2015 after he arrived on an American Airlines flight through Jakarta. He was then arrested in Bali based on a red notice from Interpol.

Suspected triggerman Freddie L. Smith was arrested for his involvement back in September. Kevin Watson, another suspected accomplice, has already pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing.