FORT WORTH – A 19-year-old Burleson man who pleaded guilty to killing his classmate has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Dakota Birdwell, 18, was found lying face up in the parking lot of Life Fellowship Church in the 600 block of Little School Road in Kennedale on Nov. 5, 2014. {{more}}Police have said the shooting followed a dispute over money owed for some fake methamphetamine.Cody Wayne Basinger will have to serve at least half of his sentence before he becomes eligible for parole.?This is a clear example of a senseless crime,? said Tim Rodgers, the Tarrant County prosecutor who presented the state?s case. ?Dakota Birdwell?s mother is without her son because of the selfish choices made by this defendant, and Cody Wayne Basinger now has the next 25 years to think about his choice to end the life of someone he considered ?a good friend?.?A bag containing what was believed to be methamphetamine was found in Birdwell?s pants pocket by an investigator with the Tarrant County medical examiner?s office.An arrest warrant affidavit gave this account:While Kennedale police were at the church parking lot investigating the slaying, a 17-year-old who identified herself as Birdwell?s girlfriend ran up and told officers that her boyfriend was missing. She said Birdwell had left the previous night with a friend whom she knew only as Cody. She said Cody drove a red Mercury Cougar.A neighbor of the church told police that he had heard a loud pop between 12:30 and 1 a.m. and saw a small red car pull out of the parking lot. He thought the vehicle had backfired.
In a cellphone next to Birdwell?s body, Kennedale police found a phone number for Basinger and several incoming calls and text messages from Basinger?s phone talking about two motels.Kennedale police interviewed an 18-year-old friend of Birdwell who said that he, Birdwell and another friend drove to motels on the night of Nov. 4 to meet Basinger for a drug deal. Birdwell returned with four bags of methamphetamine and told the friends that he owed Basinger $85.One of the friends said the substance in three of the bags was not meth. Birdwell called Basinger and told him that he was going to give back the fake meth but would keep the one with the real drug. The friend told police that Birdwell left alone to meet Basinger early on the morning of Nov. 5, but never returned.Detectives later interviewed a friend of Basinger who said that Basinger had showed him a handgun just days before Birdwell was killed. And hours after Birdwell?s body was found, Basinger told a friend that Birdwell had deserved to die, according to the affidavit.
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Mitch Mitchell, 817-390-7752
