The Worst Crimes to Ever Occur In Texas

But the man instead hit her over the head with a blunt object . When she scrambled toward a ditch, he told her to change course and run toward the road. The attacker caught up to her and, strangely, asked her why she was running. When she answered, “Because you told me to,” he called her a liar and knocked her down. He then sexually assaulted her with the gun before letting her run away again. Johnson starred as a fictional version of the Texas ranger who investigated the crimes.
Over a month later on Monday, June 10, Virgil Starks' father, Jack Starks, added a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of his son's killer. Peggy Swinney told Sheriff Presley about a little address book from the Spring Lake Park murders that was only know to a handful of law enforcement officers. Join Mike and Morf for the 250th episode of Criminology as they discuss the Texarkana moonlight murders. The police left no stone unturned in trying to identify the murderer. Over the years, many different people have been suspected.

Davis called in officers from the entire area to help, including the FBI and Texas Rangers. In the house, was found a trail of blood with scattered teeth. On the dining room table was Katie's work for making a dress. Gonzaullas, stated that, "It is beyond me why she did not bleed to death." There were only two bullet holes in the window, leading to Davis believing an automatic rifle was used. It was later declared that after Virgil was shot, he waited patiently outside to shoot Katie.
The passing motorist saw their car on a lover's lane named Rich Road close to a railroad spur 100 yards south of US 67 West close to a nightspot called Club Dallas. A closer looked showed that Griffin was found between the front seats on his knees with his hands resting on his crossed hands, and his pockets turned inside out. Griffin Historical crimes had been shot twice inside the car, and both had been shot once in the back of the head. A patch of earth that was blood-soaked was found near the car suggested to police that they had been outside the car and placed back inside. There was congealed blood covering the running board, and had flowed through the bottom of the door.

The Texarkana Moonlight Murders consisted of four violent attacks which occurred over ten weeks from February to May 1946. The murders occurred in and around Texarkana, twin cities at the border of Miller County, Arkansas, and Bowie County, Texas. All four attacks targeted heterosexual couples in isolated locations, on weekend nights.
Residents in other cities also began stocking up on guns and axes. After three weeks with no murders, the town's fear began to lessen. The concern lasted throughout the summer and eventually subsided after three months had passed.

It’s not often, but I’ll always choose the newer Texarkana screamer model while the outdated one sits rusting in the garage. When I watch a title like The Town That Dreaded Sundown , I become even more frustrated by copy-and-pasters like Cabin Fever or Quarantine . Give Jason Blum and Ryan Murphy credit because these producers deliver on their promise to let a reduced budget allow for those big swings we all love from independent cinema. There’s nothing safe about questioning the ethics of exploitation cinema while never outright villainizing Charles B. Pierce’s appropriation of horrific events. Mythos build upon legends and allow both films of the same namesake to become forever tethered, never compared — quite genius.
However, Julien DuPuis, manager of a stationery store, said the boy had been buying Viewmaster film from him for about two weeks. H. B. Tennison apparently wrote one of his three final messages after Oct. 30, a Fayettevile news stand operator indicated today. Sheriff Davis and Sheriff Presley said Monday night they had nothing new to report on the case. He said copies of the notes are to be sent to Texarkana by Sheriff Bruce Crider of Fayetteville.
Other Arkansas locations were Garland and Scott , along with Shreveport, Louisiana, where a scene was shot in front of Pierce’s home. Between February and May 1946, three people were brutally attacked and five were murdered in Texarkana by a man dubbed the Phantom Killer. Texarkana straddles Texas and Arkansas and had a population of about 27,000 at the time of the murders. Several suspects were arrested, and several interrogations were made but the Phantom Killer was never unveiled. Youell Swinney, a petty thief was the prime suspect, but he was not directly linked to the Phantom Killer’s attacks and murders.

The prepared statements from the officers here said Tennison's fingerprints do not match any of the prints presumably left by the "Phantom" when he struck down his victims. Sheriff Crider said that the riddle Tennison left, directing attention to his strong box, was written with a ball point pen obtained from Mrs. Smith's newsstnd Oct. 30 or Nov. 1. Freeman came to him voluntarily, Hall explained, after reading newspaper accounts of Tennison's bizarre suicide. Hall said Freeman was certain about the date because he related that he recalled hearing a newscast giving an account of the killing of Starks. At Texarkana, Deputy Prosecutor Robert E. Hall of Miller County announced tonight that he had been told that H.
The myth of the Hookman surfaced for the first time in the 1950s, an urban myth with a hundred variations on the grisly story of an escaped lunatic hunting teens in their cars on backroads. There are young people stranded in the dark in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes  the killer is caught or killed, but the menace always remains, no matter the ending. At one point, an escaped German P.O.W. was considered a suspect. A suicide note from a student at the University of Arkansas confessed to the killings, but no evidence backed up the claim. Mary, a brunette, was 19 when she was attacked and lived at East Hooks courts, near to where the attack happened.

B. Tennison, last week took poison and left notes saying he killed three of the "phantom's" victims. Authorities, however, have not yet completed study of the confession and the youth's activities. The phantom killer struck only once -- a double kill -- but all Winnsboro feared that the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Sam Paola before dawn last Monday might be the first of a series. They compared the killings to those in Texarkana, Ark.-Tex., in the spring of 1946. Tennison, 17, a moody college freshman, was found dead in his rooming house here, where he attended the University of Arkansas.
At Austin, Tex., Col. Homer Garrison, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said fingerprints that might have been those of the "phantom" do not match those of the suicide victim. Sheriff Hiram Waller said the death gun was of the same calibre as that used in the five Texarkana killings, but he did not definitely link the cases. The cotton-country county seat went on the alert as soon as the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Paola were found, each with two bullet holes drilled through the head. Four .22 caliber shells were found on th floor of their bedroom, Boyle said.

In many instances, to understand how these headlines are false or misleading, the reader will need to be familiar with my analysis of the evidence pertaining to H. B. Tennison that I presented at the November 8, 2014 Phantom Killer Forum in Texarkana, Texas. In 1946, a wave of unsolved slaying in the Texarkana area -- there were five in all -- were attributed to a "phantom" killer.