The Army recalled a soldier to active duty to try him for murder

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True Crime stories have taken America by storm in the past decade, but there was one person who started it all and still does it best: Nancy Grace.

A former prosecutor, Grace has been at the forefront of true crime since the mid-1990s, shining a light on America’s most fascinating and divisive real-world court cases. When cable news was still trying to figure out how best to bring 24-7 coverage to viewers, Nancy Grace was already gaining a cult-like following for her persistent and dedicated coverage that kept us all begging for every detail. 

Now, on Fox Nation’s “Crime Stories with Nancy Grace,” she’s diving into today’s most heinous crime stories and bringing her perspective as a former prosecutor to Fox Nation viewers. One case Grace analyzes particularly well is the story of the Eastburn family, highlighting how the U.S. military stepped in to bring justice to an Air Force family torn apart by a brutal double murder when no one else could. 

In 1985, U.S. Air Force Capt. Gary Eastburn had a promising career as an Air Traffic Control Officer. He was married to his wife Katie for 10 years, in which they had three children; Kara, Erin and Jana. At the time, Kara was 5 years old, Erin was 3 years old and baby Jana was just 22 months. 

In May 1985, Capt. Eastburn was in Montgomery, Alabama training for a new position that would move the Eastburns to England for work as a liaison with the Royal Air Force. On May 7, Katie placed an ad in a local paper, looking for a home for the family’s English setter. The ad was answered by U.S. Army Sgt. Timothy Hennis, who picked up the dog that day. 

Four days later, Katie did not answer the call her husband usually made at the same time every day. On May 12, a neighbor and a police officer walked over to the Eastburn house to check up on the family. They found Katie stabbed to death and sexually assaulted. Five-year-old Kara was also stabbed to death, and 3-year-old Erin was beaten to death. Baby Jana was alive, but dehydrated and alone. 

Police combed the house for evidence, finding someone had tried to clean up the scene of the crime. They found fingerprints, hair and blood on the walls of the bedroom. Gary Eastburn returned home and told investigators that Katie was also robbed of her cash and ATM card. 

Most importantly, a witness came forward saying he saw a man leave the Eastburn house early in the morning, carrying a trash bag into a white Chevrolet Chevette. The witness was able to give police and local media a sketch of the man -- a sketch that closely resembled Sgt. Timothy Hennis. 

The evidence against Hennis mounted quickly. After giving police samples of blood, saliva and hair, as well as an alibi that he was taking his family to his in-laws’ house at the time of the murder, detectives discovered that he was short on his monthly rent payments and had a history of passing bad checks. 

Hennis’ alibi fell apart when his ex-girlfriend told investigators that he had visited her on the night of the murders, arriving unexpectedly. It was also discovered that Hennis dry cleaned a jacket similar to the one worn by the man seen leaving the Eastburn house that morning. His neighbors also stated he was seen burning items in a barrel that same morning. 

After the witness identified Hennis in a police lineup, he was arrested for the crime. Over the summer of 1986, Hennis was tried and convicted of murder and rape, for which he was given the death penalty. But two years later, the conviction was overturned by an appeals court, claiming the jury was unduly influenced by video of the crime scene. 

At his retrial, defense attorneys presented evidence that the hair at the scene did not match Hennis or the victims, and that a local man who resembled Hennis, had a similar jacket, and had a habit of walking around the neighborhood at all hours had been present that morning. Hennis was found not guilty at his retrial. In the aftermath of the trial, Hennis retired from the Army.

In 1986, DNA testing was still a young science and the semen extracted from Katie Eastburn’s remains was not tested, but it still existed as evidence. In 2006, the DNA was tested and found to be a match for Hennis. But the Double Jeopardy clause of the Constitution of the United States says that a person cannot be tried twice for the same crime. That’s where the Army came in. 

In an unprecedented move, the Army recalled Hennis to active duty two years after retirement and immediately arrested him for capital murder. The Army’s legal argument was that the Uniform Code of Military Justice allows for military personnel who had been tried in a civilian court to be court-martialed, even if found not guilty. 

Hennis attempted three times to appeal the decision to be tried in a military court, but was rejected each time. The DNA evidence presented at his court-martial was damning. Hennis was convicted and sentenced to death. Today, Timothy Hennis is one of just four men on the U.S. military’s death row.

Catch stories like these on Fox Nation’s “Crime Stories with Nancy Grace,” streaming now with a free subscription for active military and veterans.