Dangerous Death Row: Billy Tracy | World’s Most Evil Prisoners | Forensic Files

SAM DOUGLAS: In the United States of America, the world's most murderous prisoners
are locked behind bars. The state with the highest number of inmates is Texas, and one of them is arguably the deadliest of them all--
Billy Joel Tracy. MARK ADCOCK SR: Billy Joel Tracy is at a level of evil like almost no one before.
Human life means absolutely nothing to him. - He viciously attacked a 16-year-old girl.
LYNN LAROWE: He choked her. He tried to smother her with a pillow. He beat her into unconsciousness.
Once she was subdued, Tracy basically dropped her out of a window. Billy Joel Tracy is an opportunist.
He waits, and he plans. And it's like a cat waiting to pounce. SAM DOUGLAS: Even behind bars, Billy Joel Tracy
poses a threat to everyone. PAUL BRITT: I don't think he had any consequences for anything.
I mean, honestly, when I grabbed him, I thought I grabbed the devil for a minute.
SAM DOUGLAS: His reputation is that of a cold, calculated killer. KEN DAVISON: He hammered on him with a 20-inch slot bar,
caved in the back of his head, and then threw him down the stairs. LYNN LAROWE: I don't know if you can design a prison that's
so restrictive that he won't find a way to defeat the security and kill someone.
SAM DOUGLAS: Tracy currently sits on death row awaiting his final punishment. PAUL BRITT: Billy Tracy deserves the death penalty
every day and twice on Sunday. - Some people don't believe in the death penalty.
I think the death penalty was made for Billy Joel Tracy. [theme music] SAM DOUGLAS: The Texas Department of Criminal Justice
has 104 prisons, known as units, spread out across the state. The Barry Telford Unit, which opened in 1995,
houses the most dangerous and volatile inmates. - The Telford Unit is a maximum security prison, and it houses
approximately 3,000 offenders. - The Barry Telford Unit houses inmates from G1 to G5.
It's a classification level for inmates. And then you have administrative segregation offenders.
The worst of the worst would be a way to describe the prisoners that are in ad seg.
JAMIE MORGAN KANE: They put you in administrative segregation when you have been deemed to be a threat to the institution,
safety and security of staff or inmates, or both. MARK ADCOCK SR: They're allowed out one hour per day,
and they're placed by their cells into an individual recreation room. MARK ADCOCK JR: It's loud.
It's chaotic. You deal with inmates with severe psychological issues. You deal with inmates who have just given up on everything.
They will hurt you if they have the chance. SAM DOUGLAS: One prisoner who spent most of his time in ad seg because he's
classified as extremely dangerous is Billy Joel Tracy. LYNN LAROWE: He managed to get a hold of a welding rod
that he converted, you know, probably sharpened it to a point, and he used that to stab
a guard in the shoulder. PAUL BRITT: He can play a part where you kind of trust him a little bit,
and you think he's a good guy. And I think he played that part a couple of times
and convinced people that he wasn't as dangerous as he was, and that's when people got hurt.
SAM DOUGLAS: No one is safe when he takes a dislike to you. LYNN LAROWE: Tracy slipped a hand free of his cuff
and continued to deliver blows into his head and face like one would wield a hammer.
KEN DAVISON: How he could just beat somebody until they're lifeless and then walk back to your cell
like you just went out for a smoke. LINA HAJI: Tracy is probably one of the most dangerous
individuals on this planet. He's shown sexual violence. He's shown physical violence.
What makes Tracy so evil is that when you look at his victims, it really appears
that no one is off limits. SAM DOUGLAS: Billy Joel Tracy was born on November 30, 1977,
in Wisconsin. While still an infant, his parents moved him to Dallas, Texas. LYNN LAROWE: Billy Joel Tracy didn't have
the most perfect upbringing. His parents both suffered from mental health issues.
There were allegations of physical abuse. There may have been a lack of emotional support for him.
LINA HAJI: When you have a dysfunctional household as a child, there's already a built-in instability
in your life. You're not sure where you're safe or where you're unsafe. You likely don't have a lot of structure
or direction or rules. It has the capability of completely changing the trajectory of your life.
- In his adolescence, Billy Joel Tracey's mother institutionalized him in a psychiatric hospital.
He didn't seem to really have any clear indicators of a serious mental condition that
would warrant hospitalization, but his mother put him there. LINA HAJI: If your family has shown you
that societal norms don't matter, by the time you're 12 years old and you're in a psychiatric hospital,
there's a huge potential for you to already be rebellious. SAM DOUGLAS: After spending his early teenage years
making repeat visits to the hospital, Tracy eventually returned to live with his parents,
but in 1994, at the age of 17, his mother kicked him out. - He had to try to earn his own way.
He had to find a place to live. - To have a 17-year-old with such a dysfunctional childhood
come out of a psychiatric hospital, be kicked out by his mother, and now he's essentially still
a child being thrown into the real world, that's a recipe for disaster. SAM DOUGLAS: Just a few months later, Tracy had
his first run-in with the law. LYNN LAROWE: He was facing felony charges. He threatened a witness in the case.
The most serious crime for which he was convicted at that point was retaliation.
That can involve taking some sort of action against somebody in, basically, retaliation for something
that they've done that you didn't like. SAM DOUGLAS: After serving 20 months of a three-year sentence
for the crime, Tracy was paroled in July 1996, returning to live in Dallas, where
he found himself an apartment. One evening, he invited a friend over for drinks,
who brought with him his girlfriend, 16-year-old Kasey Kuhn. - He invited Kasey Kuhn and her boyfriend
over to his apartment to, you know, drink beer, smoke weed, and just generally hang out.
Throughout that evening, Billy Joel Tracy had been making some sexual remarks to Kasey.
She just sort of blew him off. She felt safe with her boyfriend there. SAM DOUGLAS: Later that night, Kasey and
her boyfriend left Tracy's. Kasey returned home where she lived with her mom. LYNN LAROWE: She was in her bedroom.
She was dressed for bed, and she heard some tap-tap tapping on the window. And it was Tracy.
She told Tracy, you know, go away, but Tracy was able to gain access to her bedroom.
He began disrobing, took off his shoes, took off his shirt. And she pled with him to leave, but he began to assault her.
He choked her. He tried to smother her with a pillow. He beat her into unconsciousness.
LINA HAJI: He is showing signs of narcissism. His needs come first before anybody else's.
There's also an element of a need for control and power here. Because this is her private home.
This is her bedroom. This is her body. And yet none of that factors into his decision making.
SAM DOUGLAS: Thinking Kasey was dead, he dropped her out of the bedroom window and jumped out after her.
He picked her up and carried her to his car, placing her in the passenger seat footwell
before driving off towards Rockwall County. LYNN LAROWE: Billy Joel Tracy realized at some point
that Kasey was still alive. He stopped the car, assaulted her again, and then he drove her to a wooded area
where we believe he was planning to kill her and conceal her body. It's in the middle of the night,
and as he's out there in the woods, just by chance, a couple of patrol officers happen to see the car parked
at the side of the road. PAUL BRITT: My name is Paul Britt, and I was a city of Rockwall police officer in 1998.
I think I was about six months in on being on my own when I came up on Billy Tracy.
I was on night shift. It was 4:13 in the morning. I was driving north on Ridge Road
and happened to see a white Kia Sportage parked off in a field next to the railroad track.
And so I pulled in behind it, let dispatch know I was there. As soon as I opened the door and stepped out, I
heard someone say, "Help me." And I had never heard something almost so forlorn and just desperate.
I mean, it still makes my hair stand up just thinking about it, because I can hear it still.
And I popped my flashlight up and looked into the tree line over by us, and I saw Billy Tracy.
SAM DOUGLAS: Tracy approached Officer Paul Britt. LYNN LAROWE: Tracy lunged at him.
The two began to struggle physically. Tracy was a young 20-year-old man in excellent physical
condition with training as a boxer, prison fights under his belt, and he's fighting with a police officer
who was pretty young himself. PAUL BRITT: I think at the time I was 30 or 31. I just remember we were fighting,
and I had called for backup and didn't hear anything. We weren't like going to sit down between rounds.
We threw punches for six minutes. We threw kicks for six minutes. He cut me. I have a little divot right there.
And I could feel the blood starting to run down. I was scared I was going to die,
and that's when my sergeant showed up. SAM DOUGLAS: Tracy immediately fled into the woods.
Paul was ready to give chase, but stopped when he saw Kasey Kuhn move. PAUL BRITT: I thought she was already
dead, just almost a ghost. I've never seen anybody like that before, and I've seen a lot of stuff.
I just remember her whole nightgown was coated in blood, and I really only remember seeing,
like, one tooth in her mouth. And her face was swollen beyond belief. SAM DOUGLAS: Kasey was rushed to the hospital
and a manhunt for Billy Joel Tracy began. Alerts were issued throughout the Rockwall area
whilst a helicopter was deployed to track him down. LYNN LAROWE: Tracy was on the run,
and he hid in a variety of places. He was just breaking into houses. During the day, he would slip in, and he would steal cash.
He would steal jewelry. He would take some food. SAM DOUGLAS: 11 hours later, Tracy
was discovered hiding in a house in Rockwall, 55 miles away from the scene of the attack in the woods.
- He had hidden in a closet. I mean, he'd even, like, made himself a little pallet
to sleep on, and was discovered when the homeowner and her daughter came home one afternoon.
He did not attack them, but obviously they alerted authorities. SAM DOUGLAS: Tracy ran out of the house
and along a road through the neighborhood, with authorities hot on his tail. PAUL BRITT: At 3 o'clock, dispatch
called me and said, we got him, and that he took off and was a straight shot. People were chasing him across to the other house where
he climbed onto the roof. LYNN LAROWE: Law enforcement has surrounded the house.
Rather than surrender, Tracy shouted, "Bye-bye," and did basically, like, a backflip off of the house,
falling and injuring himself. PAUL BRITT: There was a tree. There was a freshly tilled flower bed surrounded
by concrete everywhere. And he hit the tree and the freshly tilled flower bed. SAM DOUGLAS: Tracy was arrested and taken into custody.
Miraculously, 16-year-old Kasey survived. LYNN LAROWE: She was unrecognizable after that attack.
She had a broken orbital bone around her eye. There were cigarette burns on her ankles and feet.
She was beaten and bruised. They had to put a metal plate in her face. LINA HAJI: What she went through
was absolutely horrific. There's no doubt in my mind that it will probably affect
her for the rest of her life. SAM DOUGLAS: 20-year-old Billy Joel Tracy was placed
in Rockwall County jail. He was charged with the kidnapping and aggravated assault of Kasey Kuhn,
as well as assault on Officer Paul Britt. - He was a straight pain in the ass in the jail.
He would make human waste bombs. He would pee and put feces in cups, throw it at people.
He would try to fight the jailers. He would throw things at them and just wear out the call button in the dispatch of the jail.
SAM DOUGLAS: Six months later, in July 1998, Tracy's trial began. Officer Paul Britt was brought in to testify.
PAUL BRITT: I just stared at him. He didn't want to look at me. I think he never expected to be caught.
And he's mad that he got caught and he couldn't beat me. SAM DOUGLAS: Billy Joel Tracy was sentenced
to two life sentences for the attack on Kasey Kuhn and an additional 20 years for the attack on Paul Britt.
He was sent to Allred prison unit based near the town of Wichita Falls. - There's no denying that Texas has
one of the most scary prison systems in the United States. There are units that don't have air conditioning,
and in the summertimes in Texas, the stifling heat is killing inmates. They are tough, and the worst of the worst wind up in them.
- I believe there are about 100 different prisons in the state of Texas, probably one of the largest
in the United States. LYNN LAROWE: At the Allred unit, Billy Joel Tracy at first
was allowed to live in general population. Tracy began to really show that assaultive side,
and he kept winding up in administrative segregation. He would just get into altercations with an inmate.
If they had a dispute over something, it would wind up physical. As for the staff, he would make their lives
a living hell by doing things like flooding his cell. I think he just was generally menacing.
- This is not somebody who's going to say, well, I got caught, I'm in prison. I should now change who I am.
For somebody with a criminal mindset, that's only going to flare up more. If anything, it gets exacerbated.
Because now you're in a controlled environment, so now you're angry because you're not free.
You're being told what to do all the time. You're in a confined space. Prison for most people is a deterrence, not for Tracy.
JAMIE MORGAN KANE: Inmates take great pleasure in guards' discomfort. It was not unusual back in the day
when we had Zippo lighters and lighter fluid for guys to squirt lighter fluid on the back of a guard's
uniform as he walked by, and somebody down the road would throw a match and set him on fire.
- Tracy committed at least 27 assaults. It was just misconduct after misconduct, misbehavior
after misbehavior. When you are serving a life sentence, I think it was pretty easy for Tracy to look at,
what have I got to lose? SAM DOUGLAS: Following an attack on a correctional officer, Tracy
was transferred to the Clements Unit in Amarillo. - He would behave for long enough
to get into a less restrictive environment within the prison. But once in that less restrictive environment,
it was only a matter of time before he did something that left someone injured. In November of 2005, while at the Clements Unit,
Billy Joel Tracy was in general population, and the inmates were all sort of milling about,
outside of their cells. Officer Katie Stanley is simply walking by doing her job,
and Tracy just leaps on her and is just pummeling her, brutally attacking Officer Stanley.
SAM DOUGLAS: Tracy stabbed 39-year-old Katie Stanley with a shank multiple times, puncturing
her lungs and leaving her fighting for her life. - He lost the knife in her body.
He proceeded to kick and stomp on her, leaving shoe imprints on her face and body.
He attacked her. And then he tried to throw her over that railing, but was unable to do so, I think, before he ran off.
She was so covered in blood that when her fellow officers arrived to render aid to her, they didn't know if they were
treating a man or a woman. That's how messed up she was physically. SAM DOUGLAS: When questioned about his motivation
behind the attack, Tracy said that his toothpaste had been confiscated. LINA HAJI: This is a woman in a position of authority who's
capable of telling him what to do, when to do it, how to do it. He already has a hatred for women.
He's already violent. He already hates authority. So a female correction officer is really
the perfect target for him. - I believe Tracy intended to kill Katie Stanley. Tracy has a penchant for picking out
people he deems to be vulnerable, people he thinks he can for sure get the upper hand with.
SAM DOUGLAS: Despite her injuries, Officer Stanley made a full recovery, continuing to work
as a correctional officer. Tracy was transferred to the Robertson Unit in Abilene.
LYNN LAROWE: The prison began to handle him even more carefully. Billy Joel Tracy's life was lived completely
in administrative segregation. He had these security designations that were there to put the correctional officers on alert,
that he was an extremely dangerous inmate, and that he should be handled with caution
and not by an officer alone. SAM DOUGLAS: For the attack on Officer Stanley, Tracy was sentenced to an additional 45-year prison term.
- Tracy is capable of behaving when he wants to behave and then waiting for the exact moment to pounce,
when he can attack and do the most damage. SAM DOUGLAS: Now locked up in solitary confinement,
Tracy was no longer seen as a major threat until he found a way to attack again.
- In January of 2009 while at the Robertson unit, Correctional Officer Brian Lomas
was there to transport Tracy back from the shower area to his cell when Tracy attacked Officer Lomas with a weapon he had
constructed from plastic disposable razors that inmates are given to use. He slashed him all over his face.
Doctors had to use over 200 stitches to put him back together. He's got scars from being slashed across the face
with razor blades. Officer Lomas's face will never be the same. SAM DOUGLAS: Tracy, now 33 years old,
was convicted of assaulting a public servant. Another 10 years was added on to his sentence.
Tracy was moved again, this time to the Hughes Unit in Gatesville. LYNN LAROWE: He's just racking up more and more time
as he's shifted from unit to unit to unit within the state of Texas. I can't imagine that that 10-year sentence
for assaulting Brian Lomas had really any impact on Tracy whatsoever. LINA HAJI: I think he probably wanted to kill,
but I also think that he wanted to inflict harm, pain, and torture. Whether he kills them or not is almost inconsequential to him.
SAM DOUGLAS: Billy Joel Tracy was now serving two life sentences plus an additional 75 years
for ongoing violent assaults. Following a failed prison escape in April 2014, Tracy was moved for a fourth time to the Telford Unit
based in New Boston, Texas. MARK ADCOCK JR: The Barry Telford Unit can house approximately 2,900 inmates.
There is an administrative segregation. There's general population. It's more known in the state as a rougher prison.
My name is Mark Anthony Adcock Jr. I was the video surveillance sergeant at the Barry Telford Unit where Billy Joel Tracy
was incarcerated. My father had worked there, and I was working on my criminal justice degree.
MARK ADCOCK SR: My name is Mark Adcock. I'm a former captain of corrections at the Barry Telford Unit.
I was pleased when my son went to work for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
MARK ADCOCK JR: We were one of the first prisons in the state of Texas to have full access
to video surveillance. But I want to say there's three to 400 cameras on the Barry Telford Unit.
The cameras are designed to deter dangerous activity from inmates. SAM DOUGLAS: Under the watchful eye of the security cameras and
Mark Adcock was 36-year-old Billy Tracy, who was being housed in ad seg in complete isolation.
- My first interaction with Billy Joel Tracy was he had gotten a disciplinary case for something
fairly minor, but I had to go get his statement. All offenders who come in, I look over their records,
so I was pretty well-versed in what he was capable of. MARK ADCOCK JR: Billy Tracy was not a very tall inmate.
I would say he's probably 5'8", 5'10". But he was very hulking, very muscular, very fit.
Probably not a lot of body fat content on him-- worked out a lot. LYNN LAROWE: He had probably spent
a total combined number of years in administrative segregation. What did he have to do for 24 or 23 hours a day?
It really seems to me that he used his time to work out, bulk himself up, get very, very strong,
and to think of new and inventive ways to attack and assault. SAM DOUGLAS: Working alongside the Adcocks was
Officer Timothy Davison, a 47-year-old father of two from Chicago. KEN DAVISON: My name is Ken Davison.
I'm the brother of Tim Davison. My brother and I were very close growing up. Tim was my younger brother by nine years.
And we would go fishing, and we would take my daughters camping, and we spent a lot of
time together. He was a man of honor, and he loved his children. He was the type of person that would give
you the shirt off his back. He would help you in any way he could. SAM DOUGLAS: Tim had relocated to Texas
after securing a job as a correctional officer at Telford prison. His brother, Ken, was already working there teaching inmates.
One of Tim's colleagues was Mark Adcock Jr. MARK ADCOCK JR: I was an instructor in the training course, so I met him right at the beginning
of his training. You could tell that he was just a decent, good human being. And then after he got through with training,
he went to work on my dad's shift. MARK ADCOCK SR: Mr. Davison came to my shift,
and he was a quiet man. He never complained. He always showed up for work on time, ready to work,
and he was always eager to learn. He was a joy to me to work with. - Tim had never worked in a prison before.
It was long hours. They were 12-hour shifts. He just constantly talked about spending time with his kids,
and I got the sense that Tim was enjoying his job and that he had a passion for helping people.
SAM DOUGLAS: While working in ad seg, the solitary confinement section of the prison,
Tim had had fleeting interactions with Tracy. On the morning of July 15, 2015, Tracy was in the exercise yard.
MARK ADCOCK SR: He had gone outside for his one-hour rec, and then his one-hour rec was over.
Mr. Davison handcuffed him and escorted him back toward his cell. And it was only, like, maybe 30 feet from the recreation
to his cell, and then right when he got to his cell, he had slipped out of his handcuffs somehow.
And that's when the attack started. They were fighting back and forth some, and then the slot bar that he held
fell off Mr. Davison's body onto the floor. And the offender was on top of Mr. Davison.
He grabbed the slot bar and started beating him with it. LYNN LAROWE: That metal tray slot bar
is a pipe about that big round, and it's about 16 inches long. You're talking about a piece of steel.
The pipe is used to insert into a hole next to a slot in the inmate's prison cell doors,
and it causes the little slot window to pop open. I mean, it's like hitting someone almost with a hammer.
It's brutal. It's a very effective weapon. - I don't know how many times he hit him.
I try not to think about it. - After beating him into unconsciousness, Billy Joel Tracy picked up Timothy Davison's body
and hurled it down the stairs towards a gathering crowd of other correctional officers
and then sprayed the air with pepper spray so that it would be difficult for them to walk up there.
- He just walked like he was taking a walk in the park up to his cell. He didn't slam the door.
He just shut it. So he was very calm. Mr. Davison was not a very big guy, so he chose him, I think,
because he thought he was going to be an easy target. SAM DOUGLAS: Tim Davison was rushed to the hospital
by helicopter. The prison was immediately placed on lockdown, and Tracy was taken to a secure holding cell.
Video surveillance sergeant, Mark Adcock Jr, was immediately called in. MARK ADCOCK JR: I got through the security checkpoint,
and they kind of briefed me, hey, this happened. Go lock down the cameras. Got on my camera system.
I backed up the time, and I looked at what happened. There was camera angles of here, here, here,
all angles of the camera. You could just see everything from six different angles
as it was happening. That's the first time that anybody had ever seen the incident.
So right now you got Billy Tracy-- he's being escorted up the stairs by Officer Davison.
He's holding on to him. He's going up to the thing, telling them to open the door.
And you can see when he's coming up those stairs that he's fidgeting with his right arm
behind his back. It's hard to say what he's doing, what he's not doing. He has handcuffs on.
- When the cuffs were put on, they were not double-locked as they're supposed to be.
And, you know, Tracy obviously has had decades of experience with handcuffs, and somehow he managed to defeat those cuffs,
slip a hand free. - And then he comes around, and when Davison turns his back to open his door, cell number 66,
he attacks him. It was the worst thing I'd ever seen. SAM DOUGLAS: For Tim's brother, Ken,
the day had started like any other. KEN DAVISON: July 15, 2015, I got up about 6 o'clock
in the morning, had a cup of coffee with my brother. He went off to work. Then late morning my phone rang, and it was my wife.
Somebody had told her that he was hurt, and I needed to go to the hospital to see him.
And it just all spiraled from there. I just thought maybe he had a knock in the head,
and he was going to be fine. We'd be laughing about it tomorrow. When I got to the hospital, I was there maybe 20 minutes,
and then I hear my hysterical wife screaming, running down the hallway, and said he was dead.
I just never thought that he would be dead. MARK ADCOCK SR: The staff, as well as the entire unit,
was absolutely devastated, devastated. It's heartbreaking to lose a fellow officer,
and to lose him in that way made it 100 times worse. - They got him to CHRISTUS St. Michael Hospital
in Texarkana, Texas, which is the closest medical facility there was. I think he was pronounced dead, you know, within an hour or so
of arriving at the hospital. His injuries were just too extensive. They were not survivable.
- They put seven pints of blood in my brother in the helicopter ride to the hospital, and it all poured
out of the back of his head. - What was the need in this? What was the purpose of this?
Why did this get to this point? It makes you realize that this is a real job, and this is something that could happen every single day
in the United States. SAM DOUGLAS: 37-year-old Billy Joel Tracy had just brutally killed father of two, correctional
officer Tim Davison. He was now being held in a holding cell. MARK ADCOCK SR: We had staff monitoring him,
you know, 24 hours, constantly. And he was running his mouth how bad he was and how, you know, I'm going to do it again.
He wasn't remorseful or anything. SAM DOUGLAS: He was taken for questioning. - He doesn't attribute value to human life.
He's not capable of thinking, oh, my gosh, I just ended a man's life. What is his family going to think?
He has an inability to feel empathy or remorse. MARK ADCOCK JR: Billy Tracy knew what he
was going to do that morning. When he woke up, he knew he was going to, if he could,
and the opportunity presented itself, he was going to attack an officer. The reasons for that--
I do not know. SAM DOUGLAS: News of the murder soon reached the press. LYNN LAROWE: I was in the newsroom at my former job,
and we were all shocked. I believe this is the first time that a correctional officer with the Texas Department
of Criminal Justice had been killed in seven or eight years. It certainly had never happened at the Telford Unit,
not in my experience as a reporter. SAM DOUGLAS: Tracy was charged with the murder
of Tim Davison, whose death affected everyone in the community. KEN DAVISON: Timothy's funeral service,
it was heart-wrenching. It was humbling. It was about 3,000 or 4,000 people showed up for that.
There were people there that really cared. After his death, the governor asked for the flags
to be flown at half staff until he was laid to rest. They awarded him the Medal of Honor.
- He earned the right to have that type of funeral. Everybody was somber, and the community
was still in shock about it. Timothy Davison was a good man who was killed by a evil person, a coward, a opportunist.
SAM DOUGLAS: A grand jury indicted Billy Joel Tracy with capital murder. After two years of pretrial proceedings, his trial began.
Extra security was required to contain this unpredictable and volatile prisoner.
LYNN LAROWE: They installed a giant bolt to the floor underneath the defense table in the courtroom
so that they could shackle Tracy while he was sitting at the table so that he could not get up and run.
That's how concerned they were about his behavior. I think everybody expected him to be convicted.
I think the only question was, would the jury impose the death penalty, or would
they give him life without the possibility of parole? KEN DAVISON: Being in the same room with him, I don't know,
maybe I'm struggling for the right words. It's an emotion that people shouldn't have to have.
LYNN LAROWE: When I saw Billy Joel Tracy in a courtroom, it kind of made the hair stand up on the back of my neck,
I have to admit. Something about him-- he just gave off a vibe. Like, I'd sooner kill you than look at you.
MARK ADCOCK SR: He did not seem remorseful at all. He just sat there. He didn't really say nothing or had no emotion.
He just looked like he was at a movie or something, you know. LYNN LAROWE: Tracy's reasoning that he
gave for attacking Timothy Davison was that he claimed Davison owed him a cell phone and
that he had paid him $500 for it, but there was really no evidence to support that.
SAM DOUGLAS: The video surveillance footage of the attack was screened to the courtroom.
- When we pushed play to the time the video ended, you could feel, like, there was a different energy in the room.
They just witnessed something that nobody should have to witness, but they'd also--
I think it made the trial real at that point. LYNN LAROWE: It was very quiet, but
there was a palpable just sense of revulsion and of sadness. I can still see that video playing in my mind's eye.
It will never leave my mind. And it is one of the most, if not the most, disturbing piece of video footage I
have ever watched in my life. But you also heard a few gasps. Some of the jurors were literally
wiping tears from their eyes. KEN DAVISON: Heartbroken to watch that video. When you see somebody you love and care
for that they're so disfigured from a beating, nobody should have to go through that.
MARK ADCOCK JR: The Texas Department of Criminal Justice implementing the video surveillance system, and
it coming to the Telford Unit when it did, was one of the greatest things that could have happened as far as procurement of evidence
against an offender in probably TDCJ history. There's no way that somebody could look at that and be like,
I don't know if that's him. SAM DOUGLAS: After a five-day trial, Tracy was found guilty of capital murder.
In the sentencing phase, the jury deliberated for less than an hour before sentencing
the 39-year-old to death. LYNN LAROWE: What else do you do with him? He is the textbook example of a case that, in Texas,
is ripe for the death penalty. Billy Joel Tracy was stoic when the verdict of guilt was read.
MARK ADCOCK JR: It was a good feeling. It's hard to say it wasn't a good feeling.
Happy. Everybody's hugging. Justice for somebody whose life was taken from them.
- Our family kind of all congratulated everybody. People felt relieved. We felt that maybe the healing process could start.
But you don't get your brother back, so Tim's gone for good. JAMIE MORGAN KANE: I think that if you
feel the person is so bad you can never, ever, ever, ever let him out again, I think the death penalty is
far kinder to them and far cheaper for society than to keep somebody on death row.
If they can't live in the society and you can't have them out of the society, what do you do with them?
SAM DOUGLAS: For those who knew Tim Davison, his death has had a lasting impact.
- I can't help but feel a little bit responsible because he worked directly for me,
and I made the rosters out that placed him that day on that pod. Every year on that date, I think
about it pretty much all day. KEN DAVISON: The loss of my brother is like a hole in my heart.
I feel so fortunate to be able to take my brother the weekend before he died up to see his daughters for the last time.
I got to snap one picture of him hugging his two daughters. It's such a tragedy to have him taken from you,
like, so suddenly that I don't know that you're ever totally healed from that. SAM DOUGLAS: Tracy is currently being held at the Polunsky Unit
in West Livingston, where he'll remain until his death warrant is issued. - The day of his execution, a moment, two or three seconds
after it, I'll say, OK, it's good now. But right now, he's still living on Texas taxpayers' dimes.
So he hasn't gotten what he deserved yet, but he's close. KEN DAVISON: I have two family members
that if we're allowed to go watch the execution, they would wish to be there. I have other family members that don't want to.
I'd like to have a front row seat. I just hope I don't die of old age first. MARK ADCOCK JR: If you look at Billy Tracy's MO,
every incident he's ever had in the state of Texas, always women, older guys, 16-year-old girls.
That's what he does. He's a coward. He's not a tough, strong man. - I believe that Billy Joel Tracy is
a danger to everyone he meets. He may act like he's your friend for a little while.
He may follow all the rules to a T, but eventually, he's going to strike. And he's going to strike with a plan,
and he's going to strike with a deadly plan. [theme music]

Having committed over 27 assaults on correctional officers, Billy Tracy is one of the most violent offenders on death row.

World’s Most Evil Prisoners is a chilling exploration of the terrifying offenders sentenced to a lifetime behind bars. Locked away, yet still driven by their twisted desires, these inmates delve into acts of torture, abduction, and homicide. Prepare to confront the criminals from the darkest facets of humanity.

Brief Summary

Billy Joel Tracy's violent history culminates in the murder of Officer Tim Davison after a brutal attack on a teenager.

Key points

The Deadliest Prisoner. Billy Joel Tracy, one of the most dangerous inmates, poses a threat even behind bars.
A Night of Horror. Tracy brutally assaults 16-year-old Kasey Kuhn in her home, leaving her for dead.
A Desperate Plea for Help. Officer Paul Britt hears a haunting cry for help during a night shift.
Tracy's Violent Escalation. Tracy attacks Officer Katie Stanley, leaving her fighting for her life.
A Life of Violence. Tracy racks up more time for ongoing violent assaults in prison.
Tragic Death of Officer Tim Davison. Correctional officer Tim Davison was brutally killed by inmate Billy Joel Tracy, shocking the community.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Billy Tracy deserves the death penalty every day and twice on Sunday.

Paul Britt on Tracy's punishment.

1:50WatchAug 10, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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