Man, woman face off for parental rights of twins

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- There is an unusual custody fight going on in downtown Houston. A mother claims she is the mother of twins, even though they are not genetically hers.

The father says the woman who gave birth to the twins is actually just a surrogate and has no genetic link to the babies. However, the woman says she gave birth to the infants and she never agreed to be just a surrogate, that she wanted to co-parent the twins with McMurray.

Cindy Close never expected to be in court, battling for parental rights to the twin boy and girl she gave birth to earlier this year.

"They're trying to say I'm never the mother of my children, and I am their mother. No matter how it turns out, I am their mother. I gave birth to them, I loved them when they were inside my body. I planned to raise them," Close said.

But Monday afternoon, Close and her lawyers faced off against the children's biological father, Marvin McMurray. McMurray's attorneys say since the children were fathered by him with donated eggs, Close has no genetic link to the children, and is not their mother.

"My children are involved, and they're minors and we're in litigation," McMurray told Eyewitness News.

"But you don't think Ms. Close should have any relations with your children?" we asked him.

Attorney Sarah Arvidsson stepped in and said, "We're not going to give any comments at this time, just due to the very sensitive nature of these proceedings and that we're in the middle of litigation, thank you."

The case is drawing national attention because the basic argument hinges on what the definition of a mother is. Close says even though she and McMurray had no romantic involvement, they had agreed to co-parent the twins. But McMurray's attorney disagrees, though she won't discuss her arguments to us.

"These are children, live human beings, and nothing says that their best interest would be served by being in the media," McMurray's attorney, Ellen Yarrell said.

Both sides are arguing their case in Judge Bonnie Hellum's court. But to Cindy Close, the argument is a simple one.

"If they decide I'm not the mom here, it could affect could moms everywhere who want to use donor eggs," she said.

After a four-hour court hearing, Cindy's claim of motherhood remained in limbo, with only the promise of another day in court.

"We'll know next month. She doesn't know her status with the kids she gave birth to," Close's attorney, Grady Reiff, said.

For now, Close visits the twins daily at the home of McMurray's partner.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Twins accused in mother's murder appear in court

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Twin brothers accused in their mother's murder made their first court appearance Wednesday morning.

Edwin Larry Berndt and Edward Christian Berndt, both 48, are charged with murder in the death of their mother, Sybil Berndt. Prosecutors say Sybil Berndt fell back in January in the house she lived in with Edwin and Edward and laid on the floor for three days without being administered medical care or food. After neighbors called for a welfare check, Houston police officers found her body and took the brothers into custody. The issue of the brothers' mental state was not brought up in court this morning, but both the defense lawyer and prosecutor talked about mental evaluations when we interviewed them. "A lot of evaluation needs to be done in that regard for those two men," said defense attorney Robert Scardino. "Obviously, we're going to want them to do some type of mental evaluation," said prosecutor Samantha Knecht. The judge kept the brothers' bonds at $500,000. (Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

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Dead twin's DNA helps ID Texas body in barrel

  HOUSTON -- Forensic scientists used the DNA of a Houston woman killed in 1990 to identify her slain twin sister whose skeletal remains were discovered stuffed inside a barrel at the home of her convicted killer husband two decades later, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

Stacie Anderson's gruesome remains were discovered Oct. 21 in the 55-gallon metal barrel at the home of Dennis Ray Anderson, the sheriff's office announced Tuesday. Stacie Anderson had not been seen since 1999 when she was 30 years old. Her husband never reported her missing.

After discovering her body, law enforcement officers sought Dennis Ray Anderson, 64, on charges of tampering with evidence. He killed himself Oct. 29 at a motel in Pensacola, Fla., and left a suicide note confessing to strangling his wife, the Houston Chronicle reported. The note said he killed her because he suspected she had stolen money and personal items from him.

Dennis Anderson was sentenced to life in prison for the 1972 slayings of Mabel McCormick and her granddaughter, Les Bowman, 3, during an antique shop robbery in Kountze. He was paroled in 1989.

Stacie Anderson's sister, Tracie De Ann Lutz, was slain in 1990 and her killing remains unsolved. Anthropologists and scientists at the Harris County Institute Of Forensic Sciences used DNA from Lutz's autopsy to identify her sibling's remains, Detective Shawn Carrizal said.

"I knew that was my only chance" to identify the woman in the barrel, he said.

Pathologists compared preserved tissue samples from Lutz to DNA extracted from Stacie Anderson's bones. The result was a positive match, said Dr. Jennifer Love, forensic anthropology director at the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.

Relatives of Stacie Anderson have expressed relief and appreciation for the positive identification, said Carrizal.

"Even the cousins that used to play with her when she was a kid always wondered about her because they thought she just went to California and never came back. They always thought she'd come back home. She never did," said Carrizal. "And once this came up, they just had a gut feeling that it was her in the barrel."

(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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