Kansas man sentenced to life in prison for murdering and burning Mandy Rose Reynolds

WACO, Texas (KWTX) – A nine-time convicted felon who shot and killed his cousin in April 2023, stuffed her body in a large storage container, drove to Robinson and set her body on fire was sentenced Thursday to life in prison.

Jurors in Waco’s 19th State District Court deliberated for about 40 minutes before hearing prosecutors’ pleas to put Derek Joseph Daigneault behind bars for the rest of his life.

The jury deliberated for about 35 minutes before convicting the 29-year-old career criminal of fatally shooting his 26-year-old cousin, Mandy Rose Reynolds, whose body was set on fire in a plastic storage bin near a neighborhood on Heston Circle. just east of Interstate 35. Reynolds’ body was burned beyond recognition and police identified her after they caught Reynolds’ dog, a white Labradoodle named Titan, who was left at the scene and refused to leave the location where Reynolds’ body was found was found.

The dog was microchipped, allowing investigators to identify Reynolds as its owner.

After visiting judge Roy Sparkman sentenced Daigneault to life in prison, Reynolds’ mother, stepfather and older brother provided victim impact statements detailing how Reynolds’ violent death devastated them.

Derek Joseph Daigneault (left) and Mandy Rose Reynolds (right)(Photos: Tommy Witherspoon/KWTX GRAPHIC)

As Reynolds’ brother spoke, Daigneault shouted across the courtroom and accused the brother of a crime.

Sparkman warned Daigneault not to speak, but Daigneault continued to address his cousin, who spoke from the witness stand.

After Reynolds’ brother completed his statement, courthouse deputies quickly escorted Daigneault out of the courtroom. However, a skirmish soon broke out between Daigneault’s brother-in-law, mother and sister, who watched the four-day trial from one side of the courtroom, and Reynolds’ side of the family, who sat on the other side.

Courthouse deputies, prosecutors and other officers present rushed in to separate the families before placing Daigneault’s brother-in-law, Assemblyman Herzberg, in handcuffs after he took a swipe at someone on Reynolds’ side in the courtroom.

Herzberg was released about 30 minutes later and allowed to leave the courthouse without charges being filed against him.

As officers took Daigneault to jail, he told a KWTX reporter he wanted to make a statement. He reiterated that his cousin had committed a crime. When asked, “And you?” Daigneault said, “I guess I’m just a murderer.”

In closing statements Thursday, prosecutors Ryan Calvert and Alyssa Killin told the jury that even if Daigneault was not a nine-time convicted felon, with convictions dating back to when he was 15, he deserves a life sentence for what he did to Reynolds.

“As I told the jury, if they knew nothing about Derek Daigneault other than what he did to Mandy Rose Reynolds – shoot her in the head, bring her body here to McLennan County and burn her like a piece of trash – if that was all they knew about him, that alone would have been enough to warrant a life sentence,” Calvert said after the trial.

“But once we got to the penalty phase, the jury found out that he had been in trouble his whole life, that he was a multiple convicted felon, that he had been in prison before in Kansas for violent crimes, and they got there even found out that he had shot another. individual as a young person,” Calvert said. “He is simply an extremely violent individual, and he cannot be trusted with the safety of this or any other community. So life, we felt, was the only just judgment.”

Daigneault’s attorney, Jason P. Darling, thanked the jury for the effort they put into it. He said Daigneault, who must serve at least 30 years in prison before being eligible for parole, will appeal.

Calvert said he appreciated the efforts of police investigators in Robinson, San Marcos and Wichita, Kansas, for their role in bringing Daigneault to justice.

Daigneault was on probation for a felony and had a warrant out for his arrest when he convinced Reynolds to drive from San Marcos to Kansas to pick him up. Reynolds let Daigneault stay with her in a San Marcos apartment for about a month before he shot her in the head, put her body in a blue storage container, drove to Robinson and set the container on fire with an accelerant.

Investigators tracked Daigneault to Wichita, Kansas, where he led police on a high-speed chase for about 30 minutes, side-swiping a police cruiser before crashing into another car. He fled the wreck and ran into a busy supermarket, leaving shoppers searching for their cars as police chased the store.

Police found him hiding behind some canned goods on the bottom shelf after a brief search of the store.

During the penalty phase, prosecutors showed that Daigneault has prior convictions for aggravated burglary, attempted aggravated robbery, aggravated assault, possession of methamphetamine, attempted interference with law enforcement, criminal discharge of a firearm in a dwelling, fleeing officers, aggravated assault and criminal prosecution. possession of a weapon by a criminal.

He was sentenced to just over nine years for the incident in Wichita that led to his arrest for Reynolds’ murder, during which he fled from officers before vandalizing Reynolds’ car.

Prosecutors proved he was in possession of Reynolds’ Honda Accord; her grandmother’s gun, which turned out to be the murder weapon; her dog, Titan; and her phone, which investigators used to track his whereabouts.