Criminology: The Texarkana Moonlight Murders |
I remembered overhearing talk of drunken brawls at Chaylor’s Starlight Club, and we all giggled about who would put “We Give S&H Green Stamps” signs on the three brothels that lined West Fourth Street. I also want to get Early Bird Books newsletter featuring book deals, recommendations, and giveaways. While the Phantom was on the loose, Texarkana was like a city under siege. Residents armed themselves and curfews were set for local businesses. In spite of the involvement of the Texas Rangers, no conclusive arrest was ever made in connection with the Moonlight Murders.
Out of the darkness, a man wearing a white cloth mask – presumably a pillowcase with eye holes – appeared at the car window and shone a flashlight into their eyes. Swinney’s wife was seen driving a stolen car, and the husband and wife were arrested. Swinney’s wife confessed that her husband was the killer, but her story was inconsistent, changing details each time she was subject to questioning. Katie Starks survived her injuries and fully recovered.
Max Tackett, 33, was an Arkansas State Police officer involved in the murder of Virgil Starks. He was one of the first two officers to respond to the crime scene. Officer Tackett recognized that a car had been stolen from the area on each of the nights the Phantom Killer hit. One of these cars was stolen the night Richard Griffin and Polly Ann Moore were killed and later found in a parking lot months later. The murders of Paul Martin and Betty Jo Booker revealed to the world that a serial killer was plaguing Texas.
Though Hollis and Larey both survived, the next couple wasn't as lucky. Richard Griffin and Polly Ann Moore, who parked in a similar area but closer to the main road, were brutally shot in the back of the head, execution-style. Dean Corll was a sadistic pedophile Organized crime responsible for the murder of at least 28 boys over a span of three years. Some even believe that he may have killed as many as 47, taking car and house keys from each victim as a trophy. There are a lot of duplicates and people reusing the same photos.
The film opens with two prospective victims and one suspect as a couple goes out parking. Soon the boy is dead and Jami is left alive with instructions to remind everyone about "Mary." Jami conducts her own investigation as the body counts rises. This is an amazingly good reboot/sequel (it's a little of both). I actually did not see the original - however, in a clever premise the original movie is in important part of of the plot of the reboot and incorporated throughout. I really liked it because for the most part the tension and suspense is more in trying to figure out who the phantom killer is rather than gratuitous gore.
Sunday, both Sheriff Davis and Sheriff Bill Presley of Bowie county said the prints were sent to Austin, Texas, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation laboratory in Washington. Betty Jo who would have been 18 years old now, attended Texarkana, Ark., and Texarkana, Texas, high schools, and played in the Arkansas high band a part of the time the Tennison boy did, her father said. Mrs. Daniel said her brother visited her home frequently before he finished high school, and often stayed with her children while she and her husband went to the movies. S body was scheduled to arrive here from Fayetteville at 3 p. m. Craig brought Mrs. Tennison to Texarkana from Fayetteville and she is now at the family home. We are x x x of the opinion that the statements left by him were made at a time when the boy was in an ill and despondent condition.
Investigators discovered that Tennyson played in the same high school band as the murder victim, Betty Jo Booker, and they were not friends. They both played instruments – Betty played the saxophone, Tennyson the trombone – but they didn’t really know each other. As panic tightened its grip around Texana, businesses began experiencing a 20% drop in activity, and some residents began taking the law into their own hands.
The Texas Rangers were called in, yet there was no arrest. Theories and rumors took hold, with people believing that the killers was a "sex maniac". Almost 400 people were arrested in connection with the murders.
When she died on July 3, 1994, almost all of the original sheriffs and detectives had passed away, making her one of the last surviving members of the half-century-old investigation. HB Tennyson was a teenager at the time of the murder and just 15 or 16 at the time of the four attacks. Perhaps because of his age he was never suspected in any murder, and even today, young people are rarely involved in murder, as they often lack the time, freedom or resources. The day after this first confession – July 24, 1946 – Peggy Sweeney confessed again, but her statements were changed very slightly. And that she was a bystander to various crimes committed by her new husband.
Although Hollis believed he was a young, dark-tanned, white man under 30 years old, Larey believed he was a light-skinned African American. With no description from the other incidents, it cannot be certain if the same perpetrator or perpetrators were responsible, though it is generally assumed that the crimes were the work of a single individual. Some believed he was being secretly held at the Bowie County Jail or flown to another jail.
He was fond of taking credit for things that were impossible and made fictitious claims about his early life. All these were things that the investigators could easily prove. Then, two years later, the case hit the headlines again when police identified a second prime suspect. However, like Yuval Swinney, this suspect did not have to endure a lengthy investigation. Henry Booker Tennyson, better known as OA or nicknamed ‘Doody’, was an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Arkansas.
Everything can go wherever you think it will do best except for the View-Master which will go to Belva Jo. Please take my bankroll and give it to Daddy, I think it should go to him, and tell him I don't want the car now. Resident who believed that he may have committed the crimes while in a coma, and included a troubled young man who was attending the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, H.D.
Legend has it that the name was inspired by a 19th century steamboat named ‘Texaciana’, but it is also rumored that the area got its name from a drink called ‘Texaciana Bitters’. The Texarkana Moonlight Murders were a series of murders that happened in the twin cities of Texarkana, Texas and Texarkana, Arkansas in 1946. That spring, an unidentified man known as the ‘Phantom Killer’ or ‘Phantom Slayer’ murdered five people and attacked eight total, mostly in lovers’ lanes. The Texarkana Moonlight Murders are a series of unsolved homicides from the 1940s. Known for its mystery and brutality, the case revolves around an unidentified assailant, the 'Phantom Killer', who targeted young couples in secluded areas. Despite extensive investigations, the killer's identity remains unknown.
Hollis was hospitalized for several days to recover from multiple skull fractures, but both survived the attack. Most of the town hid in fear inside their houses or hotels, sometimes even leaving town. Some youths took matters into their own hands by trying to bait the Phantom so they could kill him. The disappearance of Virginia Carpenter, a cold case in Texarkana in 1948, has been speculated as the work of the Phantom. Whilst sitting in his armchair reading the paper, he was shot twice in the back of the head through the window.
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