Abilene man sentenced to 5 years for New Year’s Day homicide

ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – An Abilene man has been sentenced to serve 5 years in prison in connection a homicide that happened on New Year’s Day 2023.

Robert McClure received a 5 year prison sentence Thursday from the same jury who found him guilty of Manslaughter after 11 hours of deliberation at the end of a week-long trial that took place in Taylor County. He was initially charged with murder but found guilty of the lesser charge. McClure’s sentence and conviction is connected to the death of Ashley Rapp.

Rapp was run over outside her home on the 3100 block of College Street on January 1, 2023.

Court documents claim a witness called police and reported she heard a woman screaming for help and saw a man dragging something near a pickup outside Rapp’s home. This witness also said she heard the woman screaming that “he was going to run her over”.

When officers arrived at the home, the court documents state they found Rapp lying in the street suffering from injuries consistent with being run over. There were also tire marks in the driveway leading from Rapp’s body and fresh blood in the home. She later died at the hospital.

During the investigation, the documents state officers learned McClure was staying at Rapp’s home and that they had been at a local restaurant together earlier that evening. There was also surveillance footage showing McClure’s truck leaving Rapp’s home the night of her homicide.

The documents reveal that McClure had an extensive history of family violence against Rapp previous to this incident, resulting in multiple Emergency Protective Orders and bond restrictions in the past, however, there were no active orders at the time of the homicide.