AUSTIN, Texas — After Jennifer Cave's murder, her mother, Sharon Sedwick, was determined to begin a journey of healing and hope – not just for herself, but for other families who also would suffer the soul-crushing loss of a loved one. That journey brought her to the State Capitol where Cave's death changed Texas law.
For Sedwick, finding out her daughter had been shot and stabbed, and her body mutilated, was overwhelming.
"They did these things to her body. To lose somebody and then to have them dismembered, that's almost more than some people could bear," she said. "I have never seen the pictures of the crime scene. It has been deemed for my mental health that is not a good thing."
Sedwick suffered another shock when she discovered desecration of a corpse was only a misdemeanor in Texas.
"Immediately after trial I started trying to find out what you had to do to get a bill passed," she said.
Sedwick turned to former State Rep. Juan Garcia for help.
"The insult upon the family is so overwhelming, so soul-crushing that we thought tampering should be lifted to a felony," Garcia said.
Garcia co-authored the Jennifer Cave Act, which would turn desecration of a human corpse from a misdemeanor to a felony. He invited Sedwick to testify before lawmakers about her daughter's murder.
"You could hear a pin drop," he said. "That resonated for everyone in that room for the entire legislative body in a way that doesn't happen very often. It's an issue that cut across all party lines; there's nothing Democratic or Republican about respecting a family in the aftermath of the murder of their child."
In 2007, Gov. Rick Perry signed the legislation that made desecration of a human corpse a felony. The law also offers counseling to jurors subjected to graphic images or testimony during trials.
Sedwick hopes the Jennifer Cave Act can be used in a recent Texas case – the murder and dismemberment of Army Specialist Vanessa Guillen. Twenty-two-year-old Cecily Ann Aguilar is charged with one federal count of conspiracy to tamper with evidence. She confessed to helping her estranged husband mutilate and dispose of Guillen's body.
"To dismember a corpse is a lot more than tampering with evidence, and these DA's have this law in their lap," Sedwick said.
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