Jacqueline Vandagriff Cause Of Death: 'Kinky Sex' Killed Student, Lawyer Alleges

Jacqueline Vandagriff, a Texas college student whose charred, dismembered body was found in 2016, died from consensual “kinky” sex, the defense attorney said Monday. The woman's death is being treated as a murder and Charles Dean Bryant is the suspect under trial.

Bryant faces up to life in prison if convicted of the first-degree murder of the 24-year-old Texas Woman’s University student. However, Bryant's lawyer argued Vandagriff died during sex due to which the 31-year-old got worried and tried to dispose of her body in a park. Bryant’s murder trial began Monday at Tarrant County jury in Fort Worth.

"He went to Walmart at 4 a.m. and bought a shovel and goes back to his house where he had left Jackie and tried to dig a hole but the earth was too hard,” attorney Glynis McGinty said.

Prosecutors said Vandagriff was on a “good path until an evil destructive figure, Charles Bryant, stepped into her path.” They alleged that Bryant killed Vandagriff and set her dismembered body on fire in a wooded area. The prosecution reportedly based their conclusion on surveillance videos showing Vandagriff and Bryant at a bar, and another showing Bryant buying a shovel and gasoline in a plastic container.

A police affidavit obtained by the Dallas Morning News showed authorities tracked Vandagriff’s cellphone to Bryant’s home and found her purse in his trash. Bryant was also charged with child pornography after police allegedly found photos and videos on his phone showing children engaging in sex acts.

Court records obtained by the Dallas Morning News show Bryant was arrested twice in early September 2016 — a week before his date with Vandagriff — for allegedly stalking his teenage ex-girlfriend.

Vandagriff was studying nutrition at TWU and also reportedly worked as a waitress and esthetician. She disappeared on the evening of Sept. 13, 2016, hours after spending time with Bryant at a bar in Denton, Texas. After her body was found, medical examiners identified it to be Vandagriff's by matching her fingerprints. Four days later, Bryant was arrested near his home.

The night before her body was found, Vandagriff reportedly tweeted: “I’m glad I decided to get off tinder and waked [sic] into a bar.”

“Never knew I could feel like this,” another tweet on Vandagriff’s page on Sept. 15 read.