After an exhaustive search for a suspect in the brazen slaying that had so far yielded few leads, investigators finally got their break Sunday and identified William Francis Kenny, 64, as the man behind the April 3 attack. Shortly before they were set to announce publicly they were searching for Kenny, they learned he had killed himself the day after the lawman's death. Kenny shot himself in the head about 8 a.m. April 4 near Ben Taub General Hospital with a gun just like the one he used to kill the lawman, police said. "The man was a coward -- a coward in life and death," said Montgomery County Sheriff's Lt. Tim Cannon, Greenwood's close friend since middle school. "This just proves it."
The incident ended a saga that gripped Houston for the last week, but raised nearly as many questions as it answered. Kenny's animus appears to have originated from a Valentine's Day incident in 2012 in which his estranged father-in-law called police to say Kenny had threatened him, according to court documents. No charges were filed against anyone, but the incident nevertheless appeared to consume him. He wrote letters to the judge in his divorce case and posted rambling grievances on a website,
www.fryroad.com, against dozens of officials -- including Greenwood -- from the Harris County Sheriff's Office, the District Attorney's Office and the County Attorney's Office.
William Francis Kenny, left, and Assistant Chief Depty Clinton Greenwood
Greenwood was one among those included on what one investigator termed a "hate list" that accused them of failing to take action against deputies who responded to the 2012 call without questioning the father-in-law's allegations. "HCA (Harris County Administration) conspired to cover-up co-worker crimes by framing an innocent citizen," Kenny wrote on the website. He told the judge that "a police cover-up occurred and a criminal is going unpunished," in a letter sent just one day before his divorce was finalized. He does not appear to ever have met Greenwood, noting on the website that he had made numerous failed attempts to contact Greenwood, who later oversaw the sheriff's internal affairs division. "I'm thankful no other officers were injured, or we had to confront the guy," said Steve Marino, chief deputy at the Precinct 5 Constable's Office, another close friend of Greenwood's. "And that the family doesn't have to endure a trial."
Greenwood is survived by his widow, Leatha Greenwood, and their four children. They have said little publicly, asking for privacy in the case. A man who identified himself as Kenny's brother apologized to Greenwood's family. "I just wanted to express our condolences to the family of Constable Greenwood," John Kenny told reporters Monday outside his northwest Harris County home, where William Kenny had lived briefly. "We're so very sorry, our thoughts and prayers go out to him. I don't know what to say. We're in shock, too."
MORE