A search of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice offender database revealed no trace of Michael Lloyd Self. Was he finally paroled after all these years?

I hope so. I always thought he was innocent.

I guess so. I don't know what website you mentioned.

He died almost 20 years ago.. Unfortunately, he was never exonerated. Sorry about bumping an ancient thread

Cops seek leads on 1971 mystery torso

09:02 AM CST on Monday, January 28, 2008

By Scott E. Williams / The Daily News

GALVESTON — In 1971, the disappearance of two Webster girls last seen on 61st Street in Galveston launched an investigation that ended in an arrest and the discovery of a skeletal torso in a Pasadena bayou.

More than 36 years later, investigators say they believe the wrong man was convicted, and the torso did not belong to the missing kid police had identified.

Sharon Shaw and Rhonda Johnson, both 14, had come from Webster to Galveston in summer 1971 to surf. The pair was last seen alive Aug. 4, 1971, waiting for a friend to pick them up on 61st Street. The friend later told investigators the girls were gone when she arrived.

In early 1972, police found the girls’ skulls in Turner Bayou, a month apart. However, months earlier, in the same area, a torso had turned up. Police ascribed the remains as belonging to Phillip Manning, a 13-year-old boy from Pasadena who had gone missing weeks earlier.

A few months ago, police learned that Manning, now 49, was alive and well. At 13, he had left home with a trucker, who had offered to make him an apprentice, of sorts. However, months later, Manning abandoned the truck driver, who was abusive.

At 14, Manning joined the U.S. Army, even though he was four years below the age requirement. When his true age was discovered more than a year later, he was discharged and sent home, although he ended up in Louisiana. After a lifetime of moves and brushes with the law, Manning now lives in Austin.

Galveston police detective Fred Paige said that Manning’s life prompts the question, “Whose bones were those?”

Paige said he and other investigators with a variety of agencies believed that the torso likely belonged to Sharon Shaw or Rhonda Johnson. However, he also said detectives wanted to be certain. He asked that anyone with information on the remains call the police at 409-765-3702.

Webster resident Michael Self ultimately received a life sentence in the girls’ killings, but police now believe he was innocent. Self died in prison more than 20 years ago.

The Webster investigator in the case that led to Self’s conviction was Tommy Deal, who would later be sentenced to federal prison for bank robbery.

Simple math makes this seem questionable.

The 2008 article says "Self died in prison more than 20 years ago". The UM broadcast on his appeal aired in 1992, and presumably was taped around that time. He looked like he had a pulse then.

I'm not saying that he couldn't be dead, just that this date is probably not correct.

The name Michael Lloyd Self rings a bell, but this case doesn't. What exactly were the details of this case? And how did they zone in on self for the murders?

And if he died, I wonder what he died of. Wasn't he kind of young?

Simple math makes this seem questionable.

The 2008 article says "Self died in prison more than 20 years ago". The UM broadcast on his appeal aired in 1992, and presumably was taped around that time. He looked like he had a pulse then.

It had to be a clerical error when the article said that he died "more than 20 years ago." Unless I'm misremembering, Michael Self was interviewed in the segment, and the segment was filmed in the early 1990s; it was shown during the 1992-93 season, if I remember it right. That was less than 20 years ago.

Found this lengthy article and I don't think he was ever released. The last sentence of the article said Self died in 2000 of heart failure.

http://policenewsonline.com/html/gcpnoct06.pdf

Thanks for the article. I never saw his final appeal segment so I didn't know that it was filmed during the 90s. Anyway, it's too bad he was never exonerated. :(