Rob D'Amico
Investigative Journalist / Writer / Storyteller
much weirder than anyone's imagination."
- Hunter S. Thompson
My Work
An investigative serial podcast for Texas Monthly: Shane and Sally
On July 4, 1988, 16-year-old Shane Stewart and 18-year-old Sally McNelly went out for the night in the West Texas town of San Angelo. They watched the fireworks, stopped for burgers, and drove to the lake outside of town. They were never seen alive again. Reporters Karen Jacobs and Rob D’Amico pick up the cold case of two murders that have haunted their family, their friends, and generations of investigators.
A Victim’s Father in an Infamous Cold Case Yearns to Know More — Who Killed My Son?
Recent work:
Preschool Funding Loophole has Tax Dollars Going to Religious Schools. Who Benefits? (Austin Chronicle, October 27, 2023)
One Day on the Border: 8,900 Migrants Arrested, and More on the Way (Stringing, New York Times, September 22, 2023)
Y’ALL AND ORDER How the incarceration capital of the Western world drove down crime as ministers look to implement Texas-style justice (Stringing: The Sun UK, October 21, 2023
Witnessed: Borderlands Podcast
The true story of a sheriff in Marfa, Texas, who joined with a rogue outlaw to smuggle tons of cocaine into far West Texas.
Criminal Justice
Investigations and prosecutions of homicides involving alleged domestic violence are uneven across Texas.
News / Texas History
Inside the arguments, lawsuit, and angry outbursts that are dividing a key authority on historical matters.
Border & Immigration
Two brothers arrested in connection with the shooting of migrants face scrutiny in a small Texas town.
News / Arts
Marfa Invitational has suffered IRS troubles and board member shuffling, but founder Michael Phelan is counting Sleeping Figure a victory.
Criminal Justice
Many poor Texans are being short-changed on their right to be represented by a defense attorney in cases with potentially life-changing consequences.
Features/News
A Marfa man is waging war against the Texas distillers claiming the right to make sotol outside of its ancestral home.
One of my favorites
A cocky bike racer in Austin, Texas, betrays friends and lovers to steal their high-end bikes...but a local agitator puts the police on his trail.
News
Acclaimed for his research on the Big Bend region and the Porvenir Massacre, David Keller was suddenly marched out of Sul Ross State University in December.
Border Stories
Available for covering all issues involving the U.S./Mexico border…from the Lower Rio Grande Valley, to Far West Texas and beyond.