Naman Shrestha
When Robert Poynter, a recognized veteran firefighter, met his sudden demise in Royse City, Texas, in 2016, the entire community was left shell-shocked. More baffling truths about the case were uncovered when the detectives eventually determined that his wife, Chacey Poynter, was responsible for plotting the murder with her lover, Michael Garza. NBC’s ‘Dateline: Out of the Darkness’ delves deep into the entire ordeal and the investigation that followed, providing a detailed account of how Michael and Chacey lured Robert and shot him to death.
Michael Garza Was One of Chacey Poynter’s Lovers
Michael Glen Garza was born around 1979 and grew up alongside his brother, Matthew Garza. Working as a long-haul truck driver, he came across Chacey Poynter on Facebook in the summer of 2016. At the time, she was going through a rough patch in her marriage to Robert Poynter, a veteran firefighter. Michael began an intimate affair with her, who allegedly told him that Robert was violent and abusive towards her. Over the next few months, the two reportedly exchanged hundreds of texts. They also discussed getting rid of Robert for good. After Chacey and Robert returned from their vacation in Mexico, the former complained about her husband to Michael, who then texted her, “F him. No. I will shot(sic) that dude.”
According to reports, Michael and Chacey came up with a plot to kill the 47-year-old firefighter. Hours before carrying out the plan, the two spent the evening together at Michael’s place on September 9, 2016. That same night, Chacey lured her husband to a secluded area near County Road 2595, where Michael ambushed him with a shotgun and shot him in the head. As per Chacey’s account, she didn’t want Robert dead and thought that Michael would only scare him and demand that he leave her alone. She alleged that when she called 911 to report the incident, he grabbed her phone and threw it on the ground before fleeing the scene.
When the police interrogated Chacey about the incident, she initially claimed that Michael wasn’t in town at the time and had nothing to do with the crime. But later, she told the detectives that her lover was the shooter responsible for her husband’s demise and had planned the entire thing. On the morning of September 10, 2016, she was arrested for conspiracy to commit murder, while a manhunt was launched for Michael. However, two days after the murder, he turned himself in and was charged with Robert’s killing. When a farmer unearthed a camo shotgun less than a quarter mile away from the crime scene, the case against Michael got stronger as a search on the weapon came back to Michael’s brother.
Michael Garza is Serving His Sentence at a Texas Prison Facility
Less than two years later, on July 10, 2018, Michael Garza stood trial for shooting Robert Poynter to death, as he had pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. During his trial, he took the stand and implicated Chacey Poynter, claiming that he was busy tending to his sick cow, Oreo, on the family farm at the time of the murder. However, the jury didn’t buy his story, and on July 20, he was convicted of first-degree murder after two hours of deliberation.
He was then sentenced to 99 years in prison. A couple of years later, Michael and his defense appealed to get his conviction overturned, arguing that the trial court had erred in denying his motion for a mistrial. However, the Court of Appeals denied his motion and upheld the conviction. The 47-year-old killer is currently incarcerated at Mark W. Michael Unit in Anderson County, Texas, with his parole eligibility date scheduled for September 2046.
Read More: Joyce Pelzer: Where is the Killer Now?
