Chima Benson, Final Victim
Credit: CBS | ©CBS
On February, 10, 2009, Dale Devon Scheanette, dubbed the "Bathtub Rapist," was executed by the State of Texas for the rape and murder of Wendie Prescott on December 24, 1996. He was charged, but never tried for the identical rape and murder of Christine Vu on September 17 of the same year.
The women were raped, strangled, bound with duct tape and found in half-filled bathtubs. The two women lived in the same apartment complex. Dale Devon Scheanette was suspected of five other rapes within the same area.
At his execution, Scheanette only said, ''My only statement is that no cases ever tried have been error-free. Those are my words. No cases are error-free.'' He was executed by lethal injection and died nine minutes later. At 6:21 p.m., February 10, 2009, Scheanette was pronounced dead.
Big Brother 11 Houseguest Chima Benson was Scheanette's last victim. She managed to fight him off, as she told the other houseguests, and he was caught shortly thereafter.
The first victim, Christine Vu, was found by her boyfriend. There were no signs of forced entry and very little to go on. Three months later, Dale Devon Scheanette raped and killed again within the same apartment complex. In both cases, one fingerprint was found and the semen taken from the bodies matched. The police knew they were now looking for a serial killer.
It was three years later that Chima was awoken in her dorm room by a masked man. After he beat and raped her, he fled. The semen taken from her matched the serial killer. Chima's rape brought attention back to the cold case and new fingerprint technology was used to identify Scheanette. He had lived at the apartment complex where the murders had taken place, but as he did not have a criminal record, he escaped further scrutiny.
Scheanette was charged in August 2000, sentenced to death in January 2003 and executed this February.
Chima told her fellow Big Brother 11 houseguests that she had to have two facial surgeries because the attack had been so brutal.
For more behind the scenes information: www.squidoo.com/cbsbb11
Sources:
Crime News 2000 : "Bathrub Rapist Executed" 2-10-09
Cold Case Files, Episode 90
The women were raped, strangled, bound with duct tape and found in half-filled bathtubs. The two women lived in the same apartment complex. Dale Devon Scheanette was suspected of five other rapes within the same area.
At his execution, Scheanette only said, ''My only statement is that no cases ever tried have been error-free. Those are my words. No cases are error-free.'' He was executed by lethal injection and died nine minutes later. At 6:21 p.m., February 10, 2009, Scheanette was pronounced dead.
Big Brother 11 Houseguest Chima Benson was Scheanette's last victim. She managed to fight him off, as she told the other houseguests, and he was caught shortly thereafter.
The first victim, Christine Vu, was found by her boyfriend. There were no signs of forced entry and very little to go on. Three months later, Dale Devon Scheanette raped and killed again within the same apartment complex. In both cases, one fingerprint was found and the semen taken from the bodies matched. The police knew they were now looking for a serial killer.
It was three years later that Chima was awoken in her dorm room by a masked man. After he beat and raped her, he fled. The semen taken from her matched the serial killer. Chima's rape brought attention back to the cold case and new fingerprint technology was used to identify Scheanette. He had lived at the apartment complex where the murders had taken place, but as he did not have a criminal record, he escaped further scrutiny.
Scheanette was charged in August 2000, sentenced to death in January 2003 and executed this February.
Chima told her fellow Big Brother 11 houseguests that she had to have two facial surgeries because the attack had been so brutal.
For more behind the scenes information: www.squidoo.com/cbsbb11
Sources:
Crime News 2000 : "Bathrub Rapist Executed" 2-10-09
Cold Case Files, Episode 90
Comments
Barton
(Guest)
(Guest)
09/21/2009
To any doubters, I knew Chima in high school and college, and lived in the adjacent apartments to where the previous murders took place. It is all very real, and was a very big deal in our area for quite some years.
bailey
(Guest)
(Guest)
09/17/2009
Chima went from no class to low class with her actions on the show.
leo
(Guest)
(Guest)
08/29/2009
i Remember this case from a journal years ago%21 But if i recall I believe Star Jones had something to do with the case on behalf of the members of the AKA Sorority.
Lucy
(Guest)
(Guest)
08/29/2009
Does anyone know if can view online that cold case file on Chima? I missed seeing it on A&E and was wondering if there was anyway to find that episode online. Thanks
Krystyn
(Guest)
(Guest)
08/28/2009
I watched this caseon cold case files yesterday, and was very surprised. You can tell she still has issues, and that is why she acts like a bad ass all of the time, and it is understandable after all that she went through. However, she had no right to say those things to Russell, making fun of his ear was just uncalled for, and she should have thought about her actions before she did what she did. She did not deserve the money, but I would like to see America give her the "3rd place" money, as long as Jeff and Jordan get the big prize money!
Vikki
(Guest)
(Guest)
08/27/2009
Holy crap...unbelievable. I'm so sorry this happened to her, but by watching BB, you can see that she still has issues from this unfortunate thing that no one should ever have to have happen to them.
sara
(Guest)
(Guest)
08/27/2009
wow, i just watched cold case files from a/e episode 90 and it is chima, what a woman.. she should have won bb and not thrown the mic in the hottub!
Steve
(Guest)
(Guest)
08/27/2009
I watch cold case files all the time and it is a 100% fact. it actually shows an interview with her describing what happened and doesn't hide her face at all. Even shows the pictures of her face from after the rape. It is 100% clearly Chima Benson from big brother.
Lisa
(Guest)
(Guest)
08/20/2009
Thanks very much, Judith.
Chima was actually named in the History Channel show (the UK version). Finding solid information to back up her story was VERY difficult because victims are rarely named. From what I can gather, this source has chosen to block the information. Whether it will be back out there in the future, I cannot know. When I found this source, the were not allowing you to visually watch the episode, but they had a link to the show transcript. It was that transcript which named Chima and gave the details of her attack and her attack being the break in the case the police needed to finally get the guy.
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