Witness to Texas deputy murder claims romantic relationship

HOUSTON -- We have breaking news in the Deputy Darren Goforth murder case.

And it's as concerning to the case as it is unfortunate to report.

Three weeks after Deputy Goforth was gunned down in cold blood, we're just now learning about a witness to the murder and her relationship to the deputy.

According to court records, that eyewitness told investigators she had a "romantic relationship" with Goforth for more than a year. That's all it says about their relationship.

Records also show she took a polygraph test and gave statements that are now in the hands of defense attorneys.

ABC-13 reporters on the scene the night Deputy Goforth was killed talked to witnesses who saw a woman in dressy clothing crying over his body. Other eyewitnesses says she called Goforth her best friend.

Sheriff's officers made no mention of such a witness the night of the murder and we couldn't find her in the following days.

It is believed she is the woman mentioned in the court filing. There is no documented connection between that woman and Shannon Miles, 30, the suspect in this case. He is now charged with capital murder.

No motive has been announced.

Miles' defense attorney told us this afternoon he was aware of the filing and had already started to develop similar information.

He said it is far too soon to tell what it will mean to the case.

The crime is after all on videotape, but our legal analyst suggests injecting eyewitnesses who have personal connections to the victim may cloud what until now seemed to be an easy case for prosecutors.

"We all see what happened, but nobody's drawing any conclusions and nobody should yet and this clouds the investigation," said Eyewitness News legal analyst Joel Androphy. It clouds people's thinking about what really happened because people are suspicious of the government to begin with."

We spoke with Harris County Sheriff Ron HIckman about all of this today. He said his team is working with the DA to make sure they have everything they need, adding that this is one of our worst cases and deserves our best effort.

One more note -- investigators had the unfortunate duty of informing Deputy Goforth's widow of all of this before it appeared in court documents earlier this week.