Verna Dennis biography: 10 things about Fort Worth, Texas prison ministry volunteer

Erica Diaz Mendoza Lao

Oct 10

Verna Lee Johnson Dennis was an American woman from Ridglea Hills, Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas, United States. She was a prison ministry volunteer.

Dennis co-owned a beauty salon in Fort Worth. Here are 10 more things about her

She is one of the children of Wynema Drury.
She was 24 years younger than her husband Frank Stanley Dennis, who was born in Paris, Lamar County, Texas.
She has a son who attended Southwestern University in Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas. His roommate was Michael Puryear, who was born in 1977.
On October 27, 1972, she and Frank got married.
In 1973, she gave birth to Rebecka Dennis.
She drove a 1993 Acura Legend.
On November 6, 1995, her husband Frank died in Tarrant County at age 78. After his death, she began visiting the John M. Wynne Unit, a men's maximum security prison in Huntsville, Walker County, Texas as a part of a prison ministry. She became engaged to an inmate in the unit.
On August 9, 1997, she went to the Wynne Unit and visited the inmate she was engaged to as part of a scheduled prison ministry appointment. She was last seen leaving the prison.
On August 10, 1997, friends went to her residence in Ridglea Hills for a Bible study and prayer meeting and found her dead. In the kitchen sink, police officers found a steel pry bar, which was used to strike her in the head 23 times. A butcher knife was also used to cut her throat.
She died at age 56. Tens of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry were missing from her residence when she was found dead. Also missing was her 1993 Acura Legend, which was found in the parking lot of a 24-hour Kmart in San Antonio, Texas in September 1997. Her killer is still unknown.