Baytown man pleads guilty to murdering 16-year-old girlfriend
BAYTOWN, Texas (KTRK) -- A Baytown man has entered a guilty plea in the murder of his 16-year-old girlfriend in 2016.
Jesse Dobbs, 23, reportedly stabbed Kirsten Fritch nearly 60 times, dumping her body in Texas City. He was arrested in a bar nearby, where he walked in barefoot and asked for a glass of water.
In court Tuesday morning, Dobbs entered a guilty plea. His punishment will be decided by a jury later this month.
Jyll Rekoff is the man's defense attorney and shared a statement on the plea with Eyewitness News:
"We will be presenting a mitigating defense in this case as to Mr. Dobb's punishment. It is our belief that this is a sudden passion homicide and after hearing all of the evidence in this case, we hope the jury will agree."
In charging documents, Dobbs told detectives that he killed the "fake" Kirsten.
"Kirsten is dead, I killed her -- not the real Kirsten but the fake Kirsten," the document stated.
Kirsten's mother, Cynthia Morris, was murdered days before Kirsten's body was discovered by searchers.
Morris and her 13-year-old daughter, Breanna, were found shot to death in their Baytown home. Baytown police say they are still investigating these murders, and consider Dobbs the main suspect.
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"Obviously he is really our only suspect in that case and that's not really based off of some preconceived notion, it's based on all of the evidence we've gathered," said Lieutenant Steve Dorris of the Baytown Police Department.
According to Lt. Dorris, there is no statute of limitations for either case and the department is taking their time to carefully collect evidence to ensure they can get a conviction.
Kirsten's grandmother said she had met Dobbs online just a couple of weeks before her murder.
Dobbs has two children from a previous relationship. He was charged with domestic violence against the children's mother, who said he was known to use methamphetamine.
