Allegations against suspected serial killer stun those who knew him

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Accused serial killer Jamie Walter looked solemn and said little as he made his first official court appearance Friday morning. Clad in an orange jumpsuit, he listened to the charges that he's accused of killing two homeless men.

"Very brutal, and seemingly senseless and bizarre to some extent," said prosecutor Justin Wood. "We're trying to piece together why this could have happened."

Wood also confirmed what Eyewitness News first reported, that Walter is suspected of killing his own father, Steve, though he has not been charged in that case.

Meanwhile, in the Spring Branch neighborhood where Walter roamed the streets panhandling, the news that investigators believe he killed his own dad is just sinking in.

"That was his son who killed him?" asked an astonished Henry Rodriguez. He often scrapped for cans with the elder Walter and Donald Fleming, one of the other men the younger Walter is accused of killing. "Steve's son? Jamie something. What was his name, Jamie Walter?"

Rodriguez described the elder Walter as someone who rode around Spring Branch in a red bicycle. Often, he would ride up to Sammi Albayati's trailer, and sold whatever he collected.

"I think he's kind of sick, when somebody kills somebody," said Albayati, who also met the younger Walter a number of times when he panhandled nearby.

Prosecutors believe the younger Walter killed the two homeless men, his own dad, and could be responsible for at least one additional murder. His court appointed attorney says there are two sides to every story.

"He was in tears, very remorseful, and very sad in how this occurred," said Jim Stafford, who was appointed as defense attorney for Walter.

"While in juvenile, he was in mental wards, and given medication at the early age of 15. When he was in the Texas Department of Corrections, he was housed in mental wards."