Convicted of capital murder: Pfeiffer gets life sentence in Frisco friend’s death

Posted by thejudge in May, 2016

Original Article by William Taylor, Frisco Enterprise on May 20, 2016

As Juan Rodriguez lay dying in the breezeway at his Frisco apartment complex on Aug. 1, 2015, two neighbors attending to him heard his final words, “Tym Pfeiffer shot me.”

A Collin County jury deliberated for two hours this  week before finding Tymothy Pfeiffer, 34, guilty of capital murder in the death of a man described as his longtime friend.

With prosecutors not seeking the death penalty, Pfeiffer’s conviction came with an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole.

Pfeiffer was identified in an announcement from District Attorney Greg Willis as a Frisco resident, but police officers had earlier identified him as living in Richardson.

He and Anthony Murphy, now 32, of The Colony, were indicted on capital murder charges in October.

The announcement from Willis tells how Pfeiffer had planned a robbery, knowing the 36-year-old Rodriguez kept large sums of money in his apartment.

Pfeiffer bought a gun off the street and he, along with two associates, drove from Farmers Branch to Rodriguez’s apartment in Frisco. Pfeiffer went up to Rodriguez’s apartment, shot Rodriguez once in the chest, took his phone and wallet, and fled back toward Farmers Branch.

Rodriguez’s neighbors at the Wade Crossing Apartments in the 9300 block of Wade Boulevard called 911 and told Frisco police officers the dying man had named his killer.

According to the DA’s office, Frisco Police Department investigators identified Pfeiffer using police reports he had been named in and later learned that within an hour of the murder, one of Pfeiffer’s accomplices had pawned Rodriguez’s phone and attempted to use the debit card.

Frisco police investigators located Pfeiffer two days later in Dallas, where he was arrested by a Dallas Police Department SWAT team, Sgt. Brad Merritt said.

“It was truly a team effort by all involved that brought this case to a quick resolution,” Frisco Police Chief John Bruce stated at the time, praising the cooperation between his department and Dallas police.

Investigators also used cell phone mapping software to place Pfeiffer inside Rodriguez’s apartment complex at the time of the murder, according to the announcement from Willis.

The announcement also notes a recorded phone call from the jail between Pfeiffer and his brother. The brothers engaged in a coded conversation that, when translated, showed that Pfeiffer was at the scene of the murder.

Assistant Criminal District Attorneys Ashley Keil and Thomas Ashworth prosecuted the case, aided by District Attorney Investigator Robin Laughon. Judge John Roach, Jr. presided over the case.