Jun. 10—David Wayne Denson pleaded guilty to the murder of his aunt Faye Lynn Paul during jury selection for his capital murder trial on Thursday.

Denson was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole by 3rd District Judge Mark Calhoon in exchange for telling law enforcement the location of his aunt’s body.

Jury section for the trial began mid-May in Houston County.

“The jury selection for the capital murder trial of David Wayne Deson had been in progress for several days when Mr. Denson offered to reveal the whereabouts of the remains of his victim, Faye Lynn Paul, in exchange for a plea of guilty and a sentence of life without parole.

“Myself, along with the prosecutors from the Attorney General’s office, Natalie Tise and Marie Primm, agreed to the possible plea if the defendant could in fact tell law enforcement where the body was located and if Fay was actually recovered,” said Houston County District Attorney Donna Gordon Kaspar.

Kaspar said that on May 30, Police Chief Clayton Smith and several officers with the Crockett Police Department, with the help of the Texas Rangers and several Houston County deputies, located and recovered Paul’s remains off of CR 1200 in Weches.

As part of the plea agreement, Denson addressed Pauls’ family and friends and gave an account of his crime, Kaspar said.

“Although the prosecution team believed a death sentence was the appropriate sentence for Mr. Denson’s action, we knew that getting Mrs. Paul’s remains to her family was very important to them and we are extremely happy that they can now lay her to rest properly,” Kaspar said.

Denson, 29, killed his aunt, Faye Lynn Paul, 79, of Crockett, in 2020.

The search for Paul began in early February 2020, after friends and neighbors had not seen her for several days.

Paul was with Denson on Feb. 12, 2020, at a Walmart in Crockett. Two days earlier, Denson had been released from jail after receiving 10 years probation for burglary.

In a state and nationwide investigation, officers with the Crockett Police Department and Texas Rangers followed up with multiple witnesses, collected a couple hundred items of evidence and video evidence.

In previous statements, Crockett Police Chief Clayton Smith said several areas, including the Neches and Trinity rivers, were searched for Paul’s body.

Police arrested Denson in Alamosa, Colorado, on felony charges of violating probation in late February 2020. At the time, police were not investigating him for the murder of his aunt, though they had sought him for questioning in her disappearance.

Denson was extradited and brought back to Crockett.

He was officially charged with Paul’s death in July 2020.