Private detective reopens case of Texas man stabbed 24 times, left in ditch 45 years ago

The last time Priscilla Kevil saw her brother was on July 8, 1977, when Robert Matt Kevil Jr. and the family had dinner in their parents’ home in White Settlement.

A week later, the body of the 30-year-old man was found in a ditch just off Interstate 35W in far north Tarrant County, just south of the Denton County line.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled that the used-car salesman had been stabbed 24 times on his chest, back, neck and arms.

On Friday, it will be 45 years since Robert “Robby” Kevil was killed in Tarrant County, and no one has ever been charged in what his family believes is one of the most disreputable murder investigations of a cold case in Texas.

Within months after his brutal slaying, several of Kevil’s family members believe detectives with the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office stopped the investigation, leaving it unsolved for four decades.

“We all understood that Robby’s case had been swept under the rug,” his sister said in a recent interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

In Tarrant County, since 1960, there have been more than 100 cold cases involving murders in the unincorporated parts of the county, Fort Worth, Arlington and other cities in the area.

A majority of the cold cases have investigation notes, witness statements, handwritten incident/offense reports and photographs of the crime scene, but Kevil’s case has only the medical examiner’s report, according to Priscilla Kevil and private investigator Matt Budjenska with ELN Investigations in Richardson, who the family hired in 2020 to delve into the case.

Budjenska believes the investigative files were “lost” for one reason or another.

“We do not have a record of this victim in Tarrant County,” said Robbie Hoy, public information officer with the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office.

Hoy said the sheriff’s office is searching for details on the case because no one who was with the department in 1977 is still working there now.

Before the investigation picked up in 2020, Priscilla Kevil said it was stopped in 1977 just months after her brother was stabbed to death.

Family members had been told that detectives with the Sheriff’s Office would conduct the investigation, giving Robby Kevil’s parents and other family members hope for answers, she said.

They never got those answers.

Family members were told that the case files had been lost and the investigation was nonexistent.

Budjenska’s two-year investigation, which included interviews with more than 40 people and trips to at least two states, provided these details on the case:

Born and raised in Tarrant County, Robby Kevil was a son, brother, father and friend to many residents.

He was married four times, and he was divorced at the time of his murder in 1977.

“Everyone loved him,” Priscilla Kevil said. “He just wasn’t happy.”

In 1977, Robby Kevil lived with his parents in White Settlement, spending his spare time in west Fort Worth, playing cards and country-western dancing.

“Oh, he was quite a dancer,” his sister said. “Girls left notes on his vehicle wanting to know where he would be dancing next.”

Robby Kevil was a gambler and worked as a used-car salesman at Jimmy’s Used Cars in Fort Worth.

Budjenska tracked down and identified two witnesses who saw Robby Kevil the same night he was killed, both saying he was at the Speakeasy, then a Fort Worth club off Camp Bowie Boulevard.

One witness said Robby Kevil acted strange, and unusually optimistic, saying something like, “I’m good. I got this.”

Another friend of Robby Kevil noted seeing the White Settlement man leave the club with an unidentified man, get into Kevil’s car and leave the area.

His body was found outside Fort Worth city limits, about 25 miles northeast of where he was last seen. His vehicle was found the next day parked at the Pepper Tree Apartments, 2840 Las Vegas Trail in Fort Worth.

Robby Kevil was found with his wallet, an address book, his identification and photos of his daughter and stepdaughter. Robbery was ruled out because he had money on him.

In 1977, relatives of Robby Kevil hired a private investigator, but his work was stopped after two unidentified men made threats and demanded that the family shut it down, according to Budjenska’s investigation.

The family ended the first private detective’s investigation to avoid any other tragedies.

Robby Kevil’s parents died several years later, but his sister, Priscilla Kevil, decided to reopen the investigation and hired Budjenska in 2020.

Priscilla Kevil brought handwritten notes from her parents, and some typed out pages of everything she could think of that was relevant to the case. Immediately after her brother’s death, Priscilla had searched for the truth by questioning individuals and even poking around at bars that her brother had frequented.

“Visiting bars and asking questions to people that Robby associated with was a way to get answers and to try and understand,” she said. “We knew Robby was gone, but almost nothing else. We had no idea why, or what happened.”

Budjenska said he found out that no case files were at the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office, and he got the same answer from the Fort Worth police and White Settlement police.

“If nothing else, I can establish a record of investigation for this case, something the family can point to and find some consideration in, that it wasn’t just forgotten,” Budjenska said.

Budjenska researched crimes in Tarrant County in the 1970s, pulled the files that TCSO had for homicides in 1977 and tracked down investigators and criminals.

The private investigator visited and documented the location where Robby Kevil’s body was found.

Budjenska also learned of a unique law enforcement group in the county, the Tarrant County Organized Crime Intelligence Unit, otherwise known as the “Metro Squad.” The group consisted of officials from the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office, the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office, Fort Worth police and surrounding Tarrant County law enforcement agencies.

The squad, which was disbanded by 1976, became notorious for its work with illegal gambling and bookmaking in Tarrant County.

Throughout Budjenska’s investigation, there were two men who were consistently mentioned: Jimmy William Lawyer of Kennedale and Ivan Laird Hutchinson Jr. of North Richland Hills.

The private investigator discovered that Robby Kevil owed Jimmy Lawyer, who Kevil worked for back in the 1970s. Lawyer died in 1985.

The “Metro Squad” arrested Lawyer in 1972, charging him with bookmaking.

Several witnesses reported that Kevil had skimmed money from Lawyer’s car lot or had failed to follow through on the typical “Tote-The-Note” used-car dealer scheme of repossessing vehicles after a payment is missed.

Lawyer may have been known as a used-car dealer, but other witnesses knew him as a bookie, according to Budjenska’s investigation.

Budjenska learned Lawyer operated out of multiple locations, one of which was an apartment at the Pepper Tree Apartments in Fort Worth, where Robby Kevil’s vehicle was found the day after his body was located.

The other man who Budjenska discovered in his investigation was Ivan Laird Hutchinson, who went by Laird or Hutch and had been a friend of Robby Kevil since they were kids. Hutchinson died in 2015.

Hutchinson and Robby Kevil grew up in White Settlement and went to school together.

Budjenska noted that Hutchinson was Lawyer’s right-hand man, his partner in whatever Lawyer became involved in the 1970s and 1980s. A year after Robby Kevil’s death, Hutchinson was arrested and sentenced to 20 years in prison for a robbery in Oklahoma. He served just a few months before he was released.

Hutchinson and Lawyer worked schemes after his release from prison, according to Budjenka’s investigation.

In 1985, after Lawyer’s death, the next name that appeared on Tarrant County records for Lawyer’s residence was Hutchinson’s.

Hutchinson and Lawyer were never charged in Robby Kevil’s murder, and there are no law enforcement files identifying them as persons of interest in connection to the investigation.

Budjenska said he found answers in the case and that witnesses provided circumstances to Robby Kevil’s death, but he did not release the details.

Family members of Hutchinson and Lawyer could not be reached for comment.

Priscilla Kevil and other family members are certain about one thing in Robby Kevil’s case: they believe for whatever reason, the files on his case were purposely swept under the rug.

“So much time had passed, and it was time to delve in, before it was too late,” Priscilla Kevil said when asked why she wanted to restart an investigation in 2020. “We thought time may allow people to open up and be more apt to talk.”

Priscilla Kevil said Budjenska and ELN Investigations spent countless hours researching and investigating her brother’s case.

“After so many years without answers, we are thankful for the closure,” Priscilla Kevil said. “I feel confident that his story can be told.”