“I don’t deserve to have a second chance really,” said Lucinda Wilson, an ordinary-looking woman — except for her white prison jumpsuit — with long, brown hair pulled behind her head. “I just want to try and do as much as I can to bring the Lord the glory he deserves because it’s not about me,” she added. “It’s about what we can do for him and how many souls we can lead to him as well.”

GATESVILLE, Texas — Lucinda Wilson might have gotten away with murder.

Except that she became a Christian and confessed to her crime.

Now 48, Wilson has served 20-plus years of a life sentence for the capital murder of her ex-fiancé’s girlfriend, Margaret Morales.

Behind bars, the former U.S. Navy servicewoman has worked hard to remain faithful and share the Gospel with other inmates, she said in an interview at the Dr. Lane Murray Unit, a maximum-security women’s prison 40 miles west of Waco.

Wilson won’t be eligible for parole until July 25, 2036 — when she would be 67.

“When I compare it to eternity, it’s really not that long at all,” she said, speaking into a telephone on the other side of a glass partition.

As Wilson visited with The Christian Chronicle, one Texas Department of Criminal Justice guard stood watch. Another guard held a phone to her own ear as she monitored the conversation.

“I don’t deserve to have a second chance really,” said Wilson, an ordinary-looking woman — except for her white prison jumpsuit — with long, brown hair pulled behind her head.

“I just want to try and do as much as I can to bring the Lord the glory he deserves because it’s not about me,” she added. “It’s about what we can do for him and how many souls we can lead to him as well.”

SEARCHING FOR THE LORD

Wilson was an early suspect in the Oct. 27, 1995, robbery, kidnapping and slaying of Morales, a 25-year-old mother of two. Morales had a romantic relationship with Wilson’s former boyfriend, Sean Cullen.

In late 1995, Wilson was arrested on capital murder charges along with her brother Rudolfo Longoria, then 19, and her cousin Ralph Rodriguez, 22.

But while indictments came shortly for Longoria and Rodriguez, Wilson walked out of the Bexar County Jail after 90 days because of insufficient evidence against her, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

Lucinda Wilson said she served in the U.S. Navy before she got cervical cancer and received an honorable medical discharge. While in jail, Wilson had access to a Bible and read the Old and New Testaments, she told the Chronicle.

“I read it three times in 90 days and learned quite a bit I didn’t know,” said Wilson, who was raised Roman Catholic. “I really was calling out to God and praying.”

She did not understand the reason for her release, she said.

But back on the streets, she began her personal search for the Lord.

A flier advertising a “Getting to Know Jesus” Bible study led her to the Alamo City Church of Christ, where she came in contact with ministers John Massie and Mark Forster.

Massie remembers that Wilson, then 27, was a dashing woman who caught the attention of the men in the class, which met each Thursday night for 10 weeks. During each week’s two-hour class, the students would take a break for coffee and snacks.

“She’d always bring some really nice dessert,” Massie said of Wilson, describing her as an excellent student.

“During the class, she learned a lot of about Jesus Christ and his death, burial and resurrection,” the minister added, “and it just convinced her.”

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