This is an updated story originally published on September 15.
Defendant says he was told new DNA evidence cleared him, but what was tested is unknown
Murder charges were dropped Tuesday in the case of Daniel Merrill Sullivan, who was accused of stabbing his wife Sophia Sullivan to death in their Fort Davis home in March of 2016.
Sullivan’s attorney, Jim Darnell, said Thursday that prosecutors brought the case back to a Jeff Davis County grand jury on Monday with new evidence in the case, and the grand jury declined to keep the original indictment and instead said it would not indict now because of a lack of evidence against Sullivan and new evidence presented. Grand juries are not open to the public, so there’s no information available on the proceedings.
“My attorney told me that DNA evidence had come back and that it cleared me,” Sullivan said by phone Tuesday. However, Sullivan said he knows nothing about what was tested, nor does he have any information about the “new developments” the local sheriff cited in his announcement of the dismissal on Facebook this morning. The wording of the announcement indicates investigators likely are looking for someone else responsible for the murder, as it calls it a “cold case” and an “active and ongoing investigation.”
“Due to new developments in the investigation, the charges against Daniel Sullivan are being dismissed at this time,” Sheriff Victor Lopez posted.
Darnell said he also does not know what evidence was tested for DNA.
“Sophi,” as she was known to friends and family, was a popular Marfa ISD teacher. In the early morning hours of March 16, 2018, she was attacked by a masked assailant who brutally stabbed her at least 40 times in her bedroom in front of her 7-year-old son. Daniel, who was then working as an electrician in Odessa on weekdays and returning to his family on weekends, discovered Sophi that evening, with his son still on the bed near her lifeless body. After initial miscalculations, authorities estimated the time of death around 4 a.m., and Daniel found her around 6:50 p.m.
What ensued next was interviews with the son taped on video and what the son had told neighbors, that his father was the killer. Daniel disputes this and says bodycam video from officers arriving at the scene shows otherwise, that the son said it was not his father. This reporter previously was denied access to the videos by the district attorney, but the footage was shown at the trial, and the son offered testimony that the killer was his father.
Adding to the evidence against Daniel was testimony from Sophi’s friends that painted Daniel as a controlling husband and that Sophi was planning to leave him.
Three jurors in that trial refused to convict Daniel, leading to a mistrial and Daniel’s release on bond. (The vote to convict was 9 to 3, although one of the jurors told her peers she was open to considering a guilty verdict through continuing deliberations.) Daniel has lived in Illinois since that time, and his conditions of release prohibited him from any contact with his son, who lives in Texas with his grandmother. The jurors previously interviewed by this reporter pointed to significant mistakes by law enforcement as one reason they didn’t see enough solid evidence in the case. Investigators never searched the RV Daniel was living in during the week.
Daniel admitted to this reporter that there was a window of time from his last proven location in Odessa around 8:16 p.m. for him to jump in his car, drive to Fort Davis — a two-and-half-hour drive — kill Sophi, then flee back to Odessa when he checked in to work at 8:38 a.m. the next morning. “I would have to leave right then, then go to work the next day, be completely cool in composure, and work with people,” he told the Texas Observer in a 2023 article about the case.
With no murder weapon found at the scene and Sophi’s phone missing, Daniel — and several jurors and trial observers — found it incomprehensible that sheriff’s deputies and a Texas Ranger assigned to the case didn’t immediately get a search warrant and scour the RV for evidence.
Danny also said a search of his car was lackluster. “Her blood would have been all over my car,” he said Tuesday. He previously said if officers had been smarter and more thorough, it would have actually bolstered his defense if they didn’t find any evidence. “They didn’t search the RV, and they claimed they couldn’t do it,” he said. Now, maybe people will start to believe me. They were trying to frame me.”
A follow-up Thursday Facebook post from the Jeff Davis Sheriff’s Office noted: “The charges against Daniel Sullivan were recently dismissed due to a lack of evidence connecting him to the crime. In all investigations, when there is a lack of evidence to prove otherwise, the benefit must go to the accused. Arrest and trials cannot be based on speculation, suspicion, and small-town rumors. Any future charges in this case will be based on evidence.”
“We ask the public be patient while we continue to pursue all leads in this case,” the statement said. “We will not rush the investigation due to social media posts or for any other reason.”
While “new evidence” certainly was considered by the grand jury, it’s not clear how Daniel’s indictment and trial with substantial evidence — although all of it, except the son’s testimony, was circumstantial — in 2019 now is termed lack of evidence seven years later.
Daniel said he questioned the DA’s attorney about the DNA but was told nothing of substance, but the prosecutor said he would follow up with him in the next week or so. Daniel said he has no idea what is next. He assumed his conditions of release would be dropped. On Thursday, Darnell confirmed the conditions of release will be dropped. He also noted that technically investigators could continue a case against Daniel, because the dismissal was “without prejudice,” meaning Danny could be charged again. “But in reality, it’s unlikely,” Darnell said.
Court transcripts show that Department of Public Safety forensic lab technicians tested multiple items of Danny’s clothing (taken when he was arrested the following Monday after spending the weekend at the sheriff’s office and a hotel) that showed no blood. DNA tests were done on a piece of paper collected from Sophi’s nightstand (with only Sophi’s DNA), a lighter found on the floor next to her (which had DNA from both Sophi and Danny), a kitchen knife with Sophi’s DNA from a speck of blood on the knife, and Danny’s pocket knife (which had DNA from Danny and an unknown individual.
In a podcast, Crime Junkie, which aired a video segment on the case last week, host Briana Whitney made inquiries into the dismissal for a video update, and she reported that Jeff Davis Sheriff’s Lieutenant Robert Orr told her the new DNA evidence was from items collected at the original crime scene, which had been stored in an evidence vault.
A source close to the case that asked not to be named, because they couldn’t verify their information on DNA testing, said they knew that investigators had found a knife in the field behind the Sullivan’s house, which possibly could be an item tested.
“I’m in total shock,” Sophi’s mom, Theresa Blain, said Tuesday. She said she’s worried Daniel will try to contact his son, who has recovered from the traumatic incident to live a good life, advancing from home schooling early to attend college this fall.
No one from the DA’s office had contacted her about the impending dismissal, and Blain was caught completely off guard when she learned of it from the Sentinel. Sophi’s father, Chuck Sabey of Illinois, said he had a heads-up previously from the DA’s office that something was being tested, but he was not notified about a dismissal decision.
In fact, Phil Baker, an assistant DA for Ori White’s 83rd Judicial District, told the Sentinel previously that he, along with an investigator, had looked at the case in depth for six months and was pursuing a new trial in the fall. White had for years promised a new trial without anything advancing.
As the prospect of a new trial looked dimmer and dimmer, Blain filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Daniel and won $7 million in damages, although she hasn’t received any money from Daniel since that May 2023 verdict.
Baker, with the DA’s office, responded to a request for comment by text stating he could not comment on an active investigation. Sheriff Lopez did not respond to requests for comment.
The Jeff Davis County Sheriff’s Office is asking anyone with any information on the case to contact Orr at 432-207-2280 or investigator.orr@jeffdaviscounty.texas.gov.
