Eighteen years. That’s how long Edric Wilson spent behind bars for a murder that prosecutors now say may not have been his at all. And now, authorities in Harris County, Texas, are reopening the case that sent shockwaves through a Houston community—and reached into the family tree of one of the country’s most recognizable spiritual figures: Pastor Joel Osteen.
The brutal killing of 84-year-old Johnnie Daniel, great aunt to Osteen and aunt to his mother, Dodie, rocked the neighborhood in 2006. She was found beaten to death inside her home, a copy of the New Testament and a pencil placed carefully on her chest. Nearby, a claw hammer wrapped in a blood-soaked towel. It looked ritualistic, almost staged—but there was no forced entry. No signs of robbery. Just violence and silence.
Back then, investigators thought they had their man. Wilson, just 29 at the time, was arrested months later after a DNA sample from an unrelated stabbing incident placed him in a national database. That sample seemed to match DNA found under Daniel’s fingernails. Case closed, right?
Wilson was declared incompetent to stand trial in 2009, and from that moment, the legal process turned into a hamster wheel of evaluations, treatment waitlists, and procedural backlogs. The trial never came. And worse, the DNA evidence—once touted as ironclad—was never re-evaluated. Until now.
Last year, in a sweeping review of long-dormant cases, prosecutors took another look at Wilson’s DNA match. The new results? Far less convincing. What once was said to be a one-in-73-million match is now closer to one in 15,830. And while that still sounds like slim odds, forensic experts say it could indicate an accidental match. In short: not nearly enough to uphold a capital murder charge.
Wilson was quietly released in March. By April 3, the case against him was officially dismissed.
Now, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office is starting over. The murder investigation has been reopened, and this time they’re looking at it with fresh eyes—and hopefully fewer assumptions. Officials have made it clear: the case is “very much active,” and they’re determined to deliver real answers to Daniel’s family.
For Joel Osteen, who has yet to comment publicly, this story hits close to home. Literally. His mother, Dodie Osteen, remembered her aunt as a kind, generous woman with a deep faith. And the community remembers her as a gentle soul whose final moments were anything but peaceful.
This case is a stark reminder of the system’s capacity to misfire—of how easy it is for someone to be swept up and held without trial, of how evidence that once seemed undeniable can start to unravel under new scrutiny. As DA Sean Teare put it, “There were failures at every level.”
So here we are. Nearly two decades later, and the search for justice—for the truth—is finally getting another chance. The system may have failed the first time, but the hope is it won’t fail again.
