The Jeff Davis County Sheriff’s Office says the murder charge against Daniel “Danny” Sullivan is being dismissed as investigators continue examining the 2018 killing of his wife, Sophia Sullivan, a case marked by a mistrial, years without a retrial and documented failures by the original law enforcement investigation.
Sheriff Victor Lopez announced the development in a statement, saying “new developments in the investigation” prompted the dismissal. The department did not explain what those developments were.
“This remains an active and ongoing investigation,” the Sheriff’s Office said, adding that no additional information would be released because of the continuing investigation.
Sophia Sullivan, 31, a Marfa ISD educator, was found stabbed to death inside her Fort Davis home March 16, 2018. She had been stabbed more than 40 times. Sullivan’s 7-year-old son, the only known eyewitness, identified his father as the masked man who killed his mother, according to testimony and records detailed in subsequent reporting. Danny Sullivan has maintained his innocence.
Sullivan was arrested and charged with murder in 2018 and went to trial in Jeff Davis County in 2019. The jury deadlocked 9-3 in favor of conviction, resulting in a mistrial.
After the mistrial, the murder charge remained pending, and prosecutors could have tried Sullivan again. For years, 83rd Judicial District Attorney Ori White said he intended to retry the case, but no second trial was held.
As recently as February 2024, White said he “fully” intended to retry Sullivan. Sophia Sullivan’s parents said at the time that White had promised after taking office in 2020 that another trial would be a priority, but they complained of years with little or no communication from his office. White previously discussed possible retrials in the spring, summer and fall of 2023, but none occurred.
The Sheriff’s Office’s announcement now says the charge is being dismissed “at this time,” while emphasizing that Sophia Sullivan’s death remains under investigation. The announcement does not say whether prosecutors could seek charges in the future or identify what evidence prompted the change.
Original investigation plagued by mistakes
The dismissal comes eight years after an investigation that has been extensively criticized for basic law enforcement failures that deprived prosecutors — and Sullivan’s defense — of potentially important evidence.
The Texas Observer documented a series of mistakes by the Jeff Davis County Sheriff’s Office under then-Sheriff Bill Kitts and by Texas Ranger Jeff Vajdos. Jurors interviewed after the mistrial said those failures weighed heavily on the case.
Kitts, then-Chief Deputy Jerry Walker and Constable Clay Woods initially concluded that Sophia Sullivan had been killed shortly before her body was discovered because the blood at the scene appeared fresh. Investigators therefore obtained surveillance footage covering only the hours immediately preceding the discovery.
Evidence later indicated Sullivan likely had been killed roughly 15 hours earlier. By then, potentially valuable surveillance footage that could have shown vehicle movements during the relevant period was gone.
Another major failure involved Danny Sullivan’s trailer in Odessa, where he stayed while working away from Fort Davis.
Neither the Sheriff’s Office nor Vajdos promptly obtained a warrant to search it, despite Sullivan being the suspect, the murder weapon being missing and Sophia Sullivan’s cellphone never being found. By the time authorities obtained a search warrant months later, the trailer had been sold.
Walker acknowledged the failure at trial, calling it an “oversight.” Jurors later told the Observer they were astonished that investigators had failed to search such an obvious potential source of physical evidence.
The problems extended further. Vajdos acknowledged waiting months to contact important witnesses, while then-District Attorney Sandy Wilson said the Texas Ranger never reviewed body-camera footage from the crime scene despite her requests that he do so. Investigators also never recovered Sophia Sullivan’s cellphone.
The failures became a central component of the defense at Sullivan’s 2019 trial. Jurors who spoke with the Observer afterward described struggling with the lack of physical evidence — evidence that, in some instances, investigators had failed to seek or preserve.
New sheriff inherited troubled case
Lopez took office in January 2025 after Kitts retired. He won the Republican nomination by a single vote following a recount and faced no Democratic opponent.
Lopez had worked in law enforcement for more than a decade but had relatively limited experience running an agency or supervising an investigation of this magnitude when voters elected him sheriff. Before taking office, he had served several years as a Hudspeth County sheriff’s deputy, about four years as a Jeff Davis County deputy and most recently as a patrol officer with the Marfa Police Department. His previous work included school resource duties, narcotics investigations and some administrative responsibilities.
The Sullivan case is therefore not a failure that originated under Lopez. The critical evidence-gathering mistakes documented at trial occurred years before he became sheriff.
His administration, however, now bears responsibility for determining what can still be learned from an eight-year-old homicide after evidence was lost, never collected or allowed to disappear.
Lt. Robert Orr has been leading the renewed investigation. Earlier this year, Orr said he had spent months reviewing the case and described himself as a “fresh set of eyes” who was following the evidence without preconceived conclusions.
The department recently launched a public campaign asking anyone with information about Sophia Sullivan’s killing to come forward. Its latest announcement again directs tips to Orr.
Sheriff’s Office faces separate civil rights scrutiny
Lopez’s department is also operating under scrutiny over more recent conduct, including the treatment of Big Bend Reporter publisher David Flash at a June 27, 2025, Jeff Davis County Commissioners Court meeting.
Chief Deputy Adriana Ruiloba grabbed, handcuffed and forcibly removed Flash after he attempted to photograph her during the public meeting, according to video reviewed by The Texas Tribune. Flash can be heard repeatedly saying he was not resisting. He was detained and cited for disorderly conduct.
The charge was later dismissed.
Flash filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Jeff Davis County, Lopez, Ruiloba and other officials in January. The suit alleges a broader pattern of retaliation, unlawful detention and excessive force connected to his reporting and criticism of county government. The defendants have denied wrongdoing or sought dismissal of claims against them.
Several significant claims have survived motions to dismiss. A federal magistrate judge recommended allowing excessive-force, retaliation, false-arrest, conspiracy and state-law claims against Ruiloba to proceed, while recommending that a civil rights conspiracy claim and a bystander-liability claim based on alleged excessive force proceed against Lopez. U.S. District Judge David Counts subsequently adopted the recommendations concerning Ruiloba. The rulings allow the claims to proceed and are not findings that the defendants ultimately violated Flash’s rights.
The Sheriff’s Office did not respond to the Tribune’s requests for comment about the 2025 confrontation.
The department’s handling of the Sullivan investigation will now determine whether investigators can overcome mistakes made under the previous administration or whether the loss of evidence during the original investigation has permanently limited the possibility of a successful prosecution.
Sophia Sullivan’s family has already obtained a civil judgment. An Ector County judge in 2023 awarded her mother $7 million in a wrongful-death lawsuit against Danny Sullivan. The civil judgment is separate from the criminal prosecution, and Sullivan has continued to deny killing his wife.
For now, nearly eight and a half years after Sophia Sullivan was killed, there remains no criminal conviction in her death.
The Jeff Davis County Sheriff’s Office asks anyone with information to contact Lt. Robert Orr at 432-207-2280.
