Baytown Man Gets 45 Years In Prison For Girlfriends Murder

GALVESTON, TX — A Baytown man who pleaded guilty last month to the brutal murder of his 16-year-old girlfriend in 2016 was sentenced to 45 years in prison. Jesse Dobbs, 23, who confessed to stabbing Kirsten Fritch at least 60 times in November 2016, testified during the punishment phase of his trial on Monday about the events leading up to the brutal stabbing.

During his two hours of testimony, Dobbs shared the sordid tale of his early life that included a neglected childhood, drug addiction, and a criminal past involving crimes for sexually assaulting minors, according to a Houston Chronicle report.

Dobbs said he began dating Fritch shortly after she messaged him through Facebook. He testified that she was different from other girls he’d dated because she didn’t hold his criminal past against him.

Dobbs said that on Nov. 8, 2016, he and Fritch were out driving after she and her mother had a big argument, and were planning to run away together.

While they were together, Dobbs said he received a call from a friend who asked him if he knew that Fritch was the subject of an Amber Alert.

The friend also told him that Fritch’s mother and sister had been found shot to death, and he was a person of interest.

Police discovered the bodies of her mother, Cynthia Morris, 37, and Fritch's 13-year-old sister Breanna Pavilicek inside their Baytown home, while responding on a call for a welfare check. Both Morris and Pavilicek had been shot to death and the family's cream-colored 2008 PT Cruiser, along with Fritch, were missing.

Dobbs said when he asked Fritch about the shootings, she began acting strange, the Chronicle reported. The couple separated and agreed to meet back up in the woods near Texas City, and he would call a friend for advice on what to do next, Dobbs recalled.

When they met up later, Dobbs said Fritch became angry and confessed that she’d killed her mother and sister, and threatened to pin the murders on him if he ever left her.

Dobbs said Fritch promised no one would believe him because of his criminal past, referring to him as a “rapist.”

Dobbs said when she said this, he snapped and pulled out his knife and stabbed her dozens of times. The attorneys in the case provided closing arguments and the case was turned over to the jury for deliberation late Monday.

The jury returned their verdict Tuesday morning, sentencing Dobbs to 45 years in prison and a $10,000 fine for the murder. Dobbs remains a person of interest in the shooting deaths of Morris and Pavilicek.

READ ALSO: Baytown Man Pleads Guilty To 16-Year-old Girlfriend's Murder

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