Trial date delayed in 1988 cold case revived by DNA

The murder trial for a Warren man believed to be tied to the 1988 slaying of a Silsbee woman has been pushed to at least Aug. 2.

The Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office confirmed that the July trial date has been rescheduled but was not able to confirm the exact reason for the change, which is not unusual in the summer months.

Police used DNA to link Daniel Andrew MacGinnis to the killing of Patricia Ann Jacobs, of Silsbee. Jacobs, 36, was reported missing Oct. 6, 1988, after she failed to return home from work the night before. Her body was later found in the Neches River in Port Arthur. An autopsy showed she had drowned but suffered blows to the head and had been in the water about 12 hours.

MacGinnis, already serving a life sentence in an unrelated crime, is now in his 60s.

DNA testing was not available to investigators at the time of the crime.