Speaker 1: In the nineteen forties, Arkansas found themselves face to face
Speaker 1: with a terrifying figure, one that the press would go
Speaker 1: on to dub the Texarcana Phantom. This individual would seemingly
Speaker 1: seek out victims at random, often lurking in the dark
Speaker 1: shadows of secluded spots frequented by couples like their local
Speaker 1: lover's lane. But in each encounter, though, the unidentified man
Speaker 1: would be long gone before authorities ever arrived to the scene.
Speaker 1: This is the story of the Texarcano Phantom, also known
Speaker 1: as the Texarcana Moonlight Murders. My name's Ben, I'm.
Speaker 2: Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked and.
Speaker 1: Grim, a true crime podcast. The following material. Listener, I
Speaker 1: feel like my voice is like extra dramatic this morning.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I just got like a dry
Speaker 1: throat or something, but it's like it's Texarkena moodlight murders.
Speaker 1: Like I don't know, I feel like an old detective
Speaker 1: in like a nineteen twenties film. It's just like smoking
Speaker 1: cigars or chain smoking at the scene.
Speaker 2: Well, did you notice that it was like pretty smoky
Speaker 2: in town yesterday? It was it was, Yeah, so maybe
Speaker 2: that's affecting.
Speaker 1: Maybe potentially, who knows. But did you also notice that
Speaker 1: it is September. We are officially in the bur months
Speaker 1: Cozy season exactly September, October, November.
Speaker 2: Okay, I had no idea what you meant by that,
Speaker 2: but I'm just like, okay, yeah, the bur months, the
Speaker 2: bur months. Yeah, but January is also a bur month,
Speaker 2: and oh for.
Speaker 1: That's a different burr. That's just burr. You know, have
Speaker 1: you ever heard of the Texo can of Phantom before?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 1: No you haven't.
Speaker 2: Well, I don't know. Like we always say, I have
Speaker 2: the worst memory ever, So like I think I probably have,
Speaker 2: and you know, things will come back, as you understandable.
Speaker 1: It is a fairly big case. It's a fairly well
Speaker 1: known one. Yeah, so we'll be hitting that today. It
Speaker 1: was an interesting one, uh to research. But before we
Speaker 1: hit the episode, before we get into the whole like
Speaker 1: what happened, who he was and dive back to the
Speaker 1: nineteen forties, we of course have to thank this week's
Speaker 1: patron subscribers for showing that support over on Patreon. So
Speaker 1: we have Kristen k Wagner. We have I'm going to
Speaker 1: pronounce this wrong, AMOC, I think is how you say
Speaker 1: that Angela when Caitlin Miles, Linda Sanders GenZ and the
Speaker 1: Popper Bo Duke. I love the Dukes. I have hazard
Speaker 1: name there that is amazing and Amanda or they spelt
Speaker 1: it uh man duh. Yeah, they literally hyphenated it out
Speaker 1: like a man duh.
Speaker 2: So that's awesome.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so thank you guys so much for showing that support.
Speaker 1: I keep looking over here. Sorry, just ignore that.
Speaker 2: I was just going to say too, like, as you
Speaker 2: were kind of chatting there, I think it's I don't
Speaker 2: know when I like just enjoyed true crime, like yeah, personally,
Speaker 2: I guess I think I always mostly gravitated to Canadian cases.
Speaker 1: Really.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I was just thinking back to that because I'm like,
Speaker 2: there's like some big ones that we talk about and stuff.
Speaker 2: Then I'm like, I don't know, why do I not
Speaker 2: know about them? But then I was like, yeah, because
Speaker 2: usually if I had a free moment, I would kind
Speaker 2: of look for like a Canadian one. Fair enough, I
Speaker 2: guess makes sense.
Speaker 1: I do know you have a bit more of an
Speaker 1: affinity to research the Canadian ones and present them on
Speaker 1: the show when you are doing them. Yeah, but if
Speaker 1: you were like, yeah, personally, I just enjoyed them or
Speaker 1: like more interested at home.
Speaker 2: I don't know why you'd want to fucking enjoy well
Speaker 2: true crime. That's closered all.
Speaker 1: I think anyone here who's listening to truth this podcast
Speaker 1: can relate to you in the fact of enjoying the
Speaker 1: true crime genre, not that you enjoy someone dying.
Speaker 2: It's well no, I mean also like that's scary to
Speaker 2: enjoy something closer home. You know, you think you'd want
Speaker 2: to away more away from you. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it does, but but it also it's more relatable,
Speaker 1: more relatable, know the areas and stuff exactly. Yeah, it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: I I went to that that mall where that murderer
Speaker 1: used to work. I don't just pulling something out of
Speaker 1: my ass, but like the picked in Farment, it's like
Speaker 1: we've driven by where he used to live. Like you
Speaker 1: know what I mean.
Speaker 2: Well, my friend just told me the other day she
Speaker 2: went to Wells Gray Provincial Park and I was like,
Speaker 2: did you know about the murders there? So I don't know. Yeah,
Speaker 2: she's probably was like, yeah I knew, but I don't
Speaker 2: want to talk about it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, probably, But yeah, this is this is an interesting one.
Speaker 1: It is a mystery. It is unsolved. I will tell
Speaker 1: you guys that right out of the gate on this one,
Speaker 1: if it's not as obvious enough by the name being
Speaker 1: the text a kind of phantom.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, So you're ready, I'm ready.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's get right into this. Let's do So we're
Speaker 1: going to go to Arkansas if you haven't figured that
Speaker 1: out by the intro as well, which is in the
Speaker 1: United States, and it's going to be during the nineteen
Speaker 1: forty So we are going back in time just a
Speaker 1: little bit here.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: During this time, the economy was still recovering from the
Speaker 1: Great Depression, and it was largely dependent in this area
Speaker 1: on a lot of cotton, rice, and livestock farming for
Speaker 1: their economy. Right, it's an understatement to say the least
Speaker 1: that the state was marked by significant poverty at the time,
Speaker 1: especially in rural areas. It was also very racially segregated
Speaker 1: under laws that were strictly enforcing this as well, which
Speaker 1: created very many different divides within society. Now, the area
Speaker 1: was also defined by the impact of World War Two.
Speaker 1: Law enforcement was limited, with small, underresourced police departments who
Speaker 1: seriously struggled to deal with crime. So needless to say
Speaker 1: it was a very rough time in history. It sounds so, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: And as of as such, it created a setting for
Speaker 1: very rough and troubled people to thrive as drunkenness, fights, brawls,
Speaker 1: they were all rather prevalent now, things like shootings or
Speaker 1: stabbings or murders and stuff. It was still a bit
Speaker 1: few and far between, but just kind of like anger
Speaker 1: and violence and people taking out rage and stuff that
Speaker 1: is kind of like the norm. Okay, yeah, So it
Speaker 1: even set the stage for the infamous topic that we
Speaker 1: are talking about today, and that case takes place in
Speaker 1: nineteen forty six, where this serial killer would terrorize the
Speaker 1: border of Texarkana. Now, Texarkana sits directly on the border
Speaker 1: of Texas and Arkansas, and it held a crucial railroad hub,
Speaker 1: with multiple rail lines converging in the area, making it
Speaker 1: a bustling center for transportation and potentially even an easy
Speaker 1: getaway system. Now, with all that in mind, this brings
Speaker 1: us to the date of February twenty second, in nineteen
Speaker 1: forty six, at around eleven forty five pm on a Friday,
Speaker 1: Jimmy Hollis, who is twenty five years old, and his
Speaker 1: girlfriend Mary Jean lay sorry, almost like butchered her name,
Speaker 1: but I got it. Who was nineteen. Were out on
Speaker 1: a date together. There was a dinner in a movie
Speaker 1: kind of date, so they went out, had something to eat,
Speaker 1: and went and watched their movie. And as soon as
Speaker 1: they finished up that portion of the date, it was
Speaker 1: followed up by parking in a secluded road just outside
Speaker 1: of Texars, Kanada, Texas for a little bit of privacy.
Speaker 2: Oh ding dang, Yeah, yeah, they.
Speaker 1: Were looking for a little bit of as I said,
Speaker 1: quote privacy. This was, of course an area referred to
Speaker 1: locals as Lover's Lane, and it was about three hundred
Speaker 1: feet from the last row of city homes which is
Speaker 1: now called now site of the Central Mall. But it
Speaker 1: was just on the outskirt of the town at the time.
Speaker 1: So they pulled up the car into Lover's Lane and
Speaker 1: parked in their spot. And you know, they had some privacy.
Speaker 1: And roughly ten minutes after they had parked in had
Speaker 1: their privacy, someone approached. Now the two had been so
Speaker 1: preoccupied with each other's company that the didn't even notice
Speaker 1: that another car had pulled up and parked nearby to them.
Speaker 1: It happened all too sudden when a flashlight began shining
Speaker 1: in Jimmy's driver's side window, blinding them. Squinting through the
Speaker 1: light shining into their faces, they were unable to immediately
Speaker 1: see the person's face, but they did, however, see a
Speaker 1: gun pointed directly at them in the person's other hand.
Speaker 1: Jimmy quickly explain that whoever you're looking for, like you've
Speaker 1: got the wrong person, right, But the man with the
Speaker 1: gun in the flashlight ominously replied, quote, I don't want
Speaker 1: to kill you, fellow, So do what I say.
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, yeah, I like how you're just so I
Speaker 2: don't preoccupied with each other like.
Speaker 1: You like you got in there, thank you. I really
Speaker 1: danced around the fact that they were having sex in
Speaker 1: their car. So both Jimmy and Mary were then ordered
Speaker 1: out of the car. And I will say there is
Speaker 1: a very good chance they actually weren't having sex in
Speaker 1: the car, because you'll hear this next part that will kind.
Speaker 2: Of maybe they were just enjoying each other's like company.
Speaker 1: They most likely they most likely were just enjoying each
Speaker 1: other's company, maybe mac in a little bit, who knows.
Speaker 1: But once they were ordered out of the car, the assailant,
Speaker 1: you know, they were able to get a little bit
Speaker 1: of a glimpse of this man at this time, and
Speaker 1: they got a bit of a look at his face,
Speaker 1: or at least the mask covering his face, because over
Speaker 1: his face the man was wearing sort of white cloth
Speaker 1: mask resembling like a pillowcase with eyeholes cut out so
Speaker 1: he could see.
Speaker 2: Oh god, that's so creepy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And to clarify, there was no point at the top.
Speaker 1: Very KKK asked, just not the point, okay, yep. So
Speaker 1: the man then ordered Jimmy to quote take his goddamn
Speaker 1: bridges off.
Speaker 2: Oh no, yeah, oh no.
Speaker 1: So at gunpoint, and that that's where I'm like, they
Speaker 1: probably yeah, you know, because yeah, but at gunpoint, Jimmy
Speaker 1: did as instructed, and as soon as he did, the
Speaker 1: man pistol whipped Jimmy and struck him to on the
Speaker 1: head with the gun. Reportedly, the blows to Jimmy's head
Speaker 1: were so intense that the sound made Mary think the
Speaker 1: gun was being fired and that Jimmy was being shot. Relly, Yes,
Speaker 1: that's how loud the noise was when he was cracked
Speaker 1: upon the head.
Speaker 2: How could he like, I don't know. That seems crazy
Speaker 2: that you could make such have such force just by
Speaker 2: you know, yeah, with your arm like that.
Speaker 1: Well depending on the gun where he hit him.
Speaker 2: And I guess yeah yeah.
Speaker 1: So Mary was terrified and in a panic, thinking it
Speaker 1: must be a robbery attempt, she showed them. She grabbed
Speaker 1: Jimmy's wallet and showed the man the wallet to prove
Speaker 1: that they had no money on them, but in response,
Speaker 1: the man hit her too and then ordered her to run.
Speaker 2: Holy shit, Oh my gosh, it's so conflicting, hey, because
Speaker 2: you're your boyfriend, like you're oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, but Jimmy now was laying on the ground unconscious,
Speaker 1: and Mary uh didn't hesitate and began running towards a
Speaker 1: ditch nearby, but the attacker stopped her and told her, no,
Speaker 1: run down the road.
Speaker 2: Is he going to chase her?
Speaker 1: Well, Mary did exactly as she was instructed. She ran
Speaker 1: down the road and quickly came upon a parked car,
Speaker 1: so she headed straight forward, hoping someone might be inside
Speaker 1: and might be able to help her. However, and was
Speaker 1: empty and was likely the car that the mass man
Speaker 1: drove to the location, so by the time she noticed
Speaker 1: that the car was empty and there was no one inside,
Speaker 1: the mass man was once again upon her. Oh no,
Speaker 1: and he asked her why are you running? Yeah, why
Speaker 1: are you running? She's like, because you told me to.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you told me to, your piece of shit.
Speaker 1: Yeah. He responded by calling her a liar and knocked
Speaker 1: her to the ground. Oh wow, this is where Mary
Speaker 1: would endure the worst of the encounter. Now laying in
Speaker 1: the dirt, the mass man began to assault her and
Speaker 1: raped Mary with the barrel of his gun.
Speaker 2: Oh frick I was worried about this.
Speaker 1: Luckily, the mass man was soon spooped off though he
Speaker 1: had seen a pair of headlights approaching, and he took
Speaker 1: off into the darkness. The headlights, though never saw Mary
Speaker 1: nor the man and never offered any help, but thankfully
Speaker 1: was enough to give her an opportunity to run for real.
Speaker 1: So she fled and ran about half a mile to
Speaker 1: a nearby house, where she woke the owners and got
Speaker 1: them to call the police. Meanwhile, Jimmy, still back of
Speaker 1: the scene where he was left laying on the ground,
Speaker 1: regained consciousness.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, good, and he too.
Speaker 1: Was able to flag someone down a passing by car,
Speaker 1: who also called the authorities. So that's that's a bit
Speaker 1: of an encounter.
Speaker 2: Hey, yeah, so they survived this. I was not thinking
Speaker 2: that's what was going to happen.
Speaker 1: Thankfully the two both survived the attack.
Speaker 2: Yes, okay, wow, what a freaking nightmare and a half though.
Speaker 1: Yeah so, within thirty minutes, Bowie County Sheriff W. H.
Speaker 1: Bill Presley and three other officers arrived at the scene,
Speaker 1: but the assailant was unfortunately long gone. By this point,
Speaker 1: half an hour had passed.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So Mary was hospitalized overnight from minor head wounds, while
Speaker 1: on the other hand, Jimmy needed to remain in the
Speaker 1: hospital for several days to recover from multiple skull fractures
Speaker 1: that he had received from the pistol whipping.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: During interviews with the authorities, both Jimmy and Mary provided
Speaker 1: slightly different descriptions of their attacker. Mary claimed that she
Speaker 1: could see under the mask a little bit and that
Speaker 1: he was a light skinned African American male. Jimmy, on
Speaker 1: the other hand, described the attacker as a tanned white
Speaker 1: man around thirty years old, but admitted that he couldn't
Speaker 1: make out the features due to being blinded by the flashlight.
Speaker 2: Right, well, I mean it would be very hard to
Speaker 2: be able to tell. Oh yeah, I mean but also
Speaker 2: night Yeah, it's nighttime, like they're wearing something on their head,
Speaker 2: like one of the loves.
Speaker 1: And not to mention, they were both hit in the head. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a traumatic experience totally. So the fact that they
Speaker 1: got any sort of description at all is kind of miraculous.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I probably wouldn't have remembered shit. So yeah, that's
Speaker 2: good for them.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Both did, however, agree that the assailant was about
Speaker 1: six feet tall.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, I guess that's something more so that you
Speaker 2: could kind of remember.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So this.
Speaker 1: Description, though vague, helped narrow down the suspect list at
Speaker 1: least a little bit.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Regardless, the investigators reported Lee were apparently was a bit
Speaker 1: skeptical of their accounts, challenging them on their memories of it,
Speaker 1: and reportedly Mary a little bit more so. I don't
Speaker 1: know if it's because, hey, nineteen forties and she's a woman,
Speaker 1: or maybe it's because, hey, you know what, Jimmy's recovering
Speaker 1: from skull fractures. Let's just press Marry more. I don't
Speaker 1: know why, but they were apparently pressing her a bit more.
Speaker 2: Well, she did have a bit more of an encounter
Speaker 2: with him though too, Right, that's true. I guess that's true.
Speaker 1: So all in, although the police believed the incident was
Speaker 1: able to be attributed to a random act of violence,
Speaker 1: which is true, that's exactly what it was, but what
Speaker 1: they decided to do as a result, it's a little
Speaker 1: bit lackluster, as they did not pursue any follow up investigation.
Speaker 2: Okay, that is an intense crime. Yeah, that needs to
Speaker 2: be like, that needs to have some attention to it.
Speaker 1: Agreed, But also remember the time period that we're in
Speaker 1: where violence is kind of like the norm.
Speaker 2: Well, and I guess to what are they going to do,
Speaker 2: Like what kind of evidence are they going to necessarily find?
Speaker 1: Yeah, they don't have any. They have nothing on them, Like,
Speaker 1: they don't know who he is, nothing, they have no
Speaker 1: suspect or anything. So they're just kind of like, all right,
Speaker 1: that sucks. Hopefully it doesn't happen again.
Speaker 2: Huh. Okay, meanwhile, these two have to live their life
Speaker 2: terrified exactly going forward.
Speaker 1: Right, Oh definitely. So, I mean, this attack didn't get
Speaker 1: much attention from the police, but it also didn't get
Speaker 1: a lot of attention from public either, So to be fair,
Speaker 1: it's not just the authorities. Okay, So with a state
Speaker 1: of how everything was at the time, it was just
Speaker 1: kind of another incident mixed in with all the others. Basically, However,
Speaker 1: things were about to get much worse. On the morning
Speaker 1: of Sunday, March twenty fourth, Richard L. Griffin, twenty nine
Speaker 1: and as girlfriend of six weeks Polly and Moore, who
Speaker 1: is seventeen. Yeah, we're getting a little bit sus with
Speaker 1: these age gaps back in the nineteen forties here, But
Speaker 1: they were discovered dead in Richard's car by a passing motorist.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean this guy got away with it quite easily.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he got away with it the first time.
Speaker 2: Problem sometimes I feel like when you get away with something,
Speaker 2: you know, you just go now, I'm raspy, what are
Speaker 2: you doing? I don't know your next ones. I feel like,
Speaker 2: you know, oh I can get away with this. I'm
Speaker 2: gonna go a little further, a little further.
Speaker 1: You push the envelope, right, and especially like there's a
Speaker 1: lot of serial killer cases where when people start pushing it,
Speaker 1: they begin to taunt the authorities. In fact, even like
Speaker 1: like giving them calling cards or sending letters and like
Speaker 1: giving them more information even telling them, yeah, I'm going
Speaker 1: to attack tomorrow with this, Yeah, like you know, daring
Speaker 1: them to touch them. Almost.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean with certain kinds of people, it's like
Speaker 2: a game for them, right exactly.
Speaker 1: And then they get they for lack of better terms,
Speaker 1: that get off on the idea of how close they
Speaker 1: are to being caught. But they're not gonna get me.
Speaker 2: So yeah.
Speaker 1: Now, Richard's car was parked once again on a secluded
Speaker 1: lover's lane area, and it was about one hundred yards
Speaker 1: south of US Highway sixty seven west in Bowie County.
Speaker 1: So Richard was found between the front seats, kneeling with
Speaker 1: his head resting on his crossed hands and his pockets
Speaker 1: turned inside out, while Polly was found face down in
Speaker 1: the back seat. Evidence suggested that Polly had been killed
Speaker 1: on a blanket outside the car before being placed back inside.
Speaker 1: There was even a bloodsoak dirt patch found near the car.
Speaker 2: Huh yeah, Okay, that's interesting that well, I mean kind
Speaker 2: of hiding a little bit of evidence. I guess, maybe
Speaker 2: not to be found right away if you just put
Speaker 2: them back in the vehicle.
Speaker 1: Yeah, who knows why. So Richard had been shot twice
Speaker 1: inside the car and Both he and Polly were each
Speaker 1: shot once in the back of the head. A thirty
Speaker 1: two caliber bullet cartridge casing was discovered at the scene,
Speaker 1: possibly from a pistol, and they believe the gun could
Speaker 1: have been wrapped in a blanket when fired to help
Speaker 1: muffle the sound of the shot. Another grizzly event would
Speaker 1: occur at around one thirty am on Sunday, April fourteenth,
Speaker 1: nineteen forty six.
Speaker 2: Is it all like kind of a month apart? Ishu
Speaker 2: or even less? Really?
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're not too far apart. Paul Martin seventeen picked
Speaker 1: up Betty Joe Booker fifteen after she had performed at
Speaker 1: a musical event at the VFW Club in Texarkana. Later
Speaker 1: that morning, at around six thirty am, Paul's body was
Speaker 1: discovered laying on his left side by the north edge
Speaker 1: of North Park Road, with blood found on the opposite
Speaker 1: side of the road near the fence. He had been
Speaker 1: shot four times through the nose, ribs, right hand, and
Speaker 1: back of the neck. Betty Joe's body was found by
Speaker 1: a search party at around eleven thirty am, nearly two
Speaker 1: miles from where Paul's body was located. She was found
Speaker 1: fully clothed, lying on her back behind a tree with
Speaker 1: her right hand in her pocket of her buttoned up overcoat.
Speaker 1: She had been shot twice, once through the chest and
Speaker 1: once through the face. The weapon used in both murders
Speaker 1: was the same as before and now identified as a
Speaker 1: thirty two caliber cult automatic pistol.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, the fact, okay that this monster is just
Speaker 2: like telling them to run and then like chasing them
Speaker 2: is just so.
Speaker 1: Fucked I agree. Now. Paul's car was discovered approximately three
Speaker 1: miles from Betty Joe's body and one point five to
Speaker 1: five miles from his own, parked outside of Spring Lake Park,
Speaker 1: with the keys still in the ignition.
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1: Now. Authorities were uncertain who had been shot first, but
Speaker 1: Sheriff W. H. Bill Presley and the Texas Ranger Manual T.
Speaker 1: Gonzalez indicated that both victims appeared to have been appeared
Speaker 1: to have put up a fierce struggle, which is very
Speaker 1: clearly evident from showing that Paul was shot through the hand.
Speaker 1: He was right putting up a fight or at least
Speaker 1: defensive in some sort.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean good for them, right, Yeah, it's gosh,
Speaker 2: you kind of have to I don't even know what
Speaker 2: you would do in that kind of situation.
Speaker 1: I mean, I can't say I agree with the you
Speaker 1: kind of have to because I mean, sometimes it's just hopeless,
Speaker 1: like what are you gonna do? Right? But even if
Speaker 1: it was hopeless for him, even if he wasn't, say,
Speaker 1: putting up a fight, maybe he was even just blocking
Speaker 1: his visual of the gun pointed in his face. Maybe
Speaker 1: he was just putting his hand up like fuck, I
Speaker 1: can't believe this is happening. And then he gets shot,
Speaker 1: Like who knows.
Speaker 2: I know it's so hard, but I just in my mind,
Speaker 2: I'm like, well, if you're gonna die, you might as
Speaker 2: well go out fighting.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I don't know, but I feel you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but say, for example.
Speaker 2: In some situations, though it might be smarter not to
Speaker 2: do that, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Well, what if he's got you, like he's thirty feet
Speaker 1: away from me with a gun pointed in your face
Speaker 1: and you're laying on the ground, how are you going
Speaker 1: to fight back?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can't always no no now. Reportedly, both the
Speaker 1: young women in these two killings had been sexually assaulted
Speaker 1: before their deaths. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Wow, what a monster.
Speaker 1: And I could not find in which regard they were
Speaker 1: sexually assaulted. I could not determine if there was like DNA,
Speaker 1: yeah found for example, right, but I was just aware
Speaker 1: of the sexual assault. Now. On Friday, May third, nineteen
Speaker 1: forty six, sometime before nine pm, sorry, Virgil Starks, who
Speaker 1: is thirty seven years old, and his wife Katie, who
Speaker 1: was thirty six, were at home on their five hundred
Speaker 1: acre farm off Highway sixty seven east near Sorry, nearly
Speaker 1: ten miles northeast of Texarkana.
Speaker 2: Okay, so they're at home here. I thought they were
Speaker 2: on like a lover's lane, and I was like, get it.
Speaker 2: They're like like not older, but like, you know, they're
Speaker 2: the same age as they are, but a married couple,
Speaker 2: you know, trying to spice things up. And I thought
Speaker 2: they were on lover's lamb at home.
Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, No, they're chilling at home.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: So Virgil was sitting in an armchair, relaxing and reading
Speaker 1: the local newspaper when all of a sudden, there was
Speaker 1: a shot that rang out. He was shot twice in
Speaker 1: the back of the head through a closed double window
Speaker 1: sitting behind him.
Speaker 2: Holy shit.
Speaker 1: The glass shattered as a shot rang out through the home.
Speaker 1: Hearing the sounds, Katie rushed into the room and saw
Speaker 1: Virgil stand up out of the chair, attempting to get
Speaker 1: to his feet, but before he could gain his balance,
Speaker 1: he collapsed backward into his chair once again dead.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, and they were just he was just
Speaker 2: sitting in his home, yeah, for the evening.
Speaker 1: Yeap.
Speaker 2: Just that's terrifying. That's so terrifying, I agree, Like in
Speaker 2: his complete safe place, you know, Okay with.
Speaker 1: What she just witnessed, Katie now rushed to the phone
Speaker 1: to call the police, but she was shot twice in
Speaker 1: the face from the very same window as Virgil.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: Despite being shot in the face, Katie somehow didn't even
Speaker 1: collapse to the floor. She managed to regain her footing
Speaker 1: and went to retrieve a pistol from another room in
Speaker 1: the home, but she was blinded by her own blood
Speaker 1: that was covering and pouring from her face, so she
Speaker 1: opted to run out the front door barefoot, and that
Speaker 1: she did that when she heard someone entering the home.
Speaker 3: Holy shit, what a badass, though, Yeah, So she ran
Speaker 3: across the street to her sister's home, but no one
Speaker 3: was home, so she continued to a neighbor's where she screamed,
Speaker 3: quote Virgil's dead, before finally collapsing.
Speaker 1: The neighbor grabbed a rifle and fired a shot in
Speaker 1: the air, both to serve as a warning to whoever
Speaker 1: this killer was and to smon help from the neighbor
Speaker 1: by the name of Elmer Taylor, who retrieved his car
Speaker 1: and helped transport Katie to the hospital.
Speaker 2: Did she live? Please tell me she lived.
Speaker 1: In total, three men and two women lost their lives
Speaker 1: to the killer. Katie survived.
Speaker 2: Oh, okay, that's impressive shit right there? Yes, Holy heck,
Speaker 2: how did she even manage that?
Speaker 1: I don't know, Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2: Gracious, Sometimes peper are just capable so much.
Speaker 1: I know, it's honestly baffling what some people are capable of,
Speaker 1: what they go through, and how they keep pushing. I
Speaker 1: don't know if these bullets grazed her face, just hit
Speaker 1: her nose, like hit her jaw, or if they did
Speaker 1: embed themselves somehow into her brain and she still survived.
Speaker 1: I don't know the extent of her injuries. But regardless,
Speaker 1: being shot in the face twice and you're still standing, yeah,
Speaker 1: and you still.
Speaker 2: Live, and it would be painful as fox still, regardless
Speaker 2: of what was what it was, right, Like, you're fleeting
Speaker 2: that profusely, profusely profusely.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so huh she she managed to survive, Oh.
Speaker 2: But still, gosh, that's I mean, she lost her husband.
Speaker 1: Just yeah. So with each new murder, the sense of
Speaker 1: panic in tensified residents arm themselves to avoid going or
Speaker 1: sorry and avoided going out after dark, you know, living
Speaker 1: in constant dread of nightfall. Right, law enforcement both from
Speaker 1: Arkansas and Texas, I keep wanting to say, ar Kansas.
Speaker 1: Why did I'm sorry, why do you guys spell it
Speaker 1: like that? Kansas? It's just ar in front of Kansas
Speaker 1: and it's Arkansas in Arkansas. Yeah, it should be ar Kansas.
Speaker 1: Let's we're all on the same page there, right, I
Speaker 1: think I think.
Speaker 2: Well, I think the English dictionary or vocabulary or whatever,
Speaker 2: it's interesting there can be like there, but you can
Speaker 2: spell it like three different ways. Like it's just there's
Speaker 2: this interesting things about it.
Speaker 1: Anytime I like, if I'm not paying one hundred percent
Speaker 1: attention to exactly what I'm reading, my brain almost wants
Speaker 1: to kick in and say Arkansas ar Kansas. Yeah it
Speaker 1: makes sense, but yeah it's Arkansas. So law enforcement both
Speaker 1: from Arkansas and Texas collaborated on this investigation because I mean,
Speaker 1: this is taking place right on the border. So with
Speaker 1: Texas Texas Rangers joining the effort, the influx of reporters
Speaker 1: from across the nation only added to the growing chaos
Speaker 1: in the town as well. Though, the press quickly coined
Speaker 1: the term quote moonlight murders to describe the crimes, despite
Speaker 1: the fact that the first two murders occurred a week
Speaker 1: after a full moon though, and the final attack happened
Speaker 1: near a new moon. But still they coined it that now.
Speaker 1: The elusive nature of the killer, who seemed to strike
Speaker 1: with a warning and disappear without a trace, even earned
Speaker 1: the moniker Phantom Killer in the local newspaper, the Texarkana Gazette.
Speaker 1: Numerous individuals came forward claiming to be the Phantom Killer,
Speaker 1: while others accused various locals of being responsible for it instead.
Speaker 1: One notable incident involved a University of Arkansas Arkansas student
Speaker 1: from a well known Texarkanist family who took his own
Speaker 1: life in Fayetteville, leaving behind a confession poem, though it
Speaker 1: ultimately proved to be a false lead.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, that's always amazing to me that people.
Speaker 1: Want they want that credibility, notoriety for that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean when they haven't done anything. I just
Speaker 2: it's hard for me to understand.
Speaker 1: I think it's a very difficult situation to ever try
Speaker 1: and understand because like this, I mean, he's a student,
Speaker 1: so he's he's somewhat of a kid. Maybe he's even
Speaker 1: in his twenties. I don't know, that's still a kid
Speaker 1: to me.
Speaker 2: But oh showed your freaking age.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: Okay, anyways, this is married to an old man.
Speaker 1: This person, this person, he's at his life end because
Speaker 1: he's willing to commit this this act, right, He's willing
Speaker 1: to take his own life. Yeah, so maybe this may
Speaker 1: be the only way that he's thinking anyone will remember him.
Speaker 1: So he's willing to take and he's willing to take
Speaker 1: this notoriety, this terrible thing, and put it to himself
Speaker 1: so he's remembered, right.
Speaker 2: I guess. I mean I feel like I'd rather not
Speaker 2: be remembered and be remembered in that way.
Speaker 1: I agree. I just I don't think any of us
Speaker 1: would ever be able to understand unless we're in that position.
Speaker 2: Yeah, right, So I mean I'm not like I'm not
Speaker 2: judging him, but I just it's hard to understand, I
Speaker 2: guess because it's just so it's like I feel like
Speaker 2: that would be worse, you know, being remembered that way
Speaker 2: than than how you actually were, because I'm assuming that
Speaker 2: he you know, he wasn't a terrible person.
Speaker 1: Well, I am with you there, But the things that
Speaker 1: go through people's minds in that situation.
Speaker 2: M h, Well, they're suffering too, I'm sure, from like
Speaker 2: you know, some mental health stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're suffering in ways we could never even understand.
Speaker 1: So they're grasping for some way to probably be remembered
Speaker 1: or maybe he's just is a terrible person and idolize
Speaker 1: someone like that. I don't know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, who knows.
Speaker 1: But regardless of the fact it was a false lead,
Speaker 1: and throughout the investigation, in fact, nearly four hundred suspects were.
Speaker 2: Examined four hundred, yeah, and.
Speaker 1: Over two hundred people were even questioned during the investigation
Speaker 1: as well. With law enforcement chasing down just as many
Speaker 1: dead end leads in the case of Paul Martin and
Speaker 1: Betty Joe Booker, County investigators interrogated friends, acquaintances, and multiple
Speaker 1: suspects just around the clock. Just for one example, Texas ranger,
Speaker 1: Manual T. Gonzalez, as they already mentioned earlier, even tried
Speaker 1: to lure the killers by using teenagers as decoys in
Speaker 1: parking and parked cars in these lovers Lanes areas. And
Speaker 1: then he had had officers waiting nearby in the shadows. Okay,
Speaker 1: law enforcement officers themselves even posed as decoys, sometimes sitting
Speaker 1: with their real partner in these cars, sometimes using mannequins
Speaker 1: to try and bait the phantom killer. But unfortunately all
Speaker 1: of these attempts failed.
Speaker 2: Huh, that's kind of scary, though. Hey, imagine just sitting
Speaker 2: there waiting, imagine.
Speaker 1: Seeing like imagine you're just another person going to lover's
Speaker 1: Lane and you pull up and you see someone sitting
Speaker 1: in a car with a mannequin.
Speaker 2: Like awkward, wherever floats your both exactly.
Speaker 1: It's just a little awkward, all right, you do you
Speaker 1: We're probably going to go find another spot to park.
Speaker 1: But yeah. In the wake of the whole Stark murders,
Speaker 1: the ones that occurred in the farm where Virgil was
Speaker 1: shot sitting in his armchair for example, With these Stark murder's,
Speaker 1: law enforcement from across the region were mobilized to assist
Speaker 1: the investigation. Blockades were set up on Highway sixty seven East.
Speaker 1: Individuals who were even just in the area at the
Speaker 1: time of the killing, along with several men just sorry,
Speaker 1: several men just found nearby, were detained for questioning. They
Speaker 1: basically just blockaded it off as soon as they could
Speaker 1: and took everyone within that zone, like you're a suspect
Speaker 1: right now.
Speaker 2: That's so much work too. Oh definitely, But you do
Speaker 2: have to think that the couple are the married couple
Speaker 2: that he he'd attacked, You would think that he almost
Speaker 2: would know them. Hey, hard saying, Oh, that's sort of
Speaker 2: what I'm just thinking. I guess maybe he was driving by,
Speaker 2: watching and stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe he was just driving by and saw Virgil
Speaker 1: sit down in his armchair and was like, hey, that's
Speaker 1: a good shot. It could have been something like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So by May fifth, a total of forty seven officers
Speaker 1: were actively working to solve the case. On May ninth,
Speaker 1: a mobile radio station was deployed, bringing with it twenty
Speaker 1: Arkansas State Police officers and ten patrol cars equipped with
Speaker 1: two A radios to help coordinate the increasingly complex investigation
Speaker 1: that was at hand. Additionally, on May eleventh, a teletype machine,
Speaker 1: which is like kind of like an early text messaging machine.
Speaker 1: It's like a imagine like texting on a typewriter. It's
Speaker 1: kind of like a fax machine, but it's kind of
Speaker 1: texting it the same. Yeah, you get it. It was
Speaker 1: installed within the Bowie County Sheriff's Office, linking it to
Speaker 1: other law enforcement agencies across Texas so they could easily
Speaker 1: communicate with one another. Authorities initially speculated that the motive
Speaker 1: behind the murder was a sex mania. They believed that's
Speaker 1: what he was. They believed he was a maniac driven
Speaker 1: strictly by sex, particularly they discovered. They assumed this since
Speaker 1: large sums of money were left at the Starks home
Speaker 1: and were untouched, and Katie Stark's purse was left behind
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 2: Okay, but I feel like with that one too, he
Speaker 2: wouldn't have had like a lot of time because it
Speaker 2: didn't go probably the way he wanted, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. So by March thirtieth, a reward of
Speaker 1: five hundred dollars was posted to encourage tips from the public,
Speaker 1: but this led to over one hundred false leads with
Speaker 1: no valuable clues. The reward fund quickly grew, surpassing seventeen
Speaker 1: hundred dollars shortly after the Booker Martin murders, and reached
Speaker 1: seven and twenty five dollars the night of the Stark murders.
Speaker 1: Within ten days of that, the reward had even exceeded
Speaker 1: ten thousand dollars. However, there was some hesitation among investigators
Speaker 1: to a dent or sorry to definitively link the Stark
Speaker 1: murders to the other killings, as the weapon was. The
Speaker 1: weapon that was used in that one was a twenty
Speaker 1: two caliber firearm. So by November nineteen forty eight, authorities
Speaker 1: largely dismissed the connection between the Stark murders and the
Speaker 1: earlier double homicides.
Speaker 2: Okay, that makes sense, actually, yeah.
Speaker 1: Though the case still remains a subject of debate among
Speaker 1: investigators and historians, today, the majority still attribute it to
Speaker 1: the Texarkana Phantom Killer. Okay, so it is up for
Speaker 1: debate whether it is even involved in the story or not,
Speaker 1: but it is mostly assumed to be.
Speaker 2: It is so different, though, so different than the other ones.
Speaker 1: It is, but then there was no other, like, there's
Speaker 1: no indication of who could have been. No one hated
Speaker 1: them or anything. Are you sure as far as investigators
Speaker 1: found there was no like it was a random act
Speaker 1: of violence. There were murders happening at the time, and
Speaker 1: this seemed to fit that random act of shootings. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So regardless though, because of the murders, hysteria grip tech Texarkana,
Speaker 1: the media extensively covered the increasingly police or say the
Speaker 1: increased police or activity. I stumbled that sentence, My bad.
Speaker 1: The media extensively covered the increased police activity. There we
Speaker 1: go with a Texarkana gazette warning on May fifth that
Speaker 1: the killer could strike again at any time, anywhere, and
Speaker 1: against any one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so be afraid for your life. Yeah, and that
Speaker 2: ten thousand dollars I'm assuming was ten thousand dollars at
Speaker 2: that time, correct, which is a lot of money.
Speaker 1: Correct. Okay, So the police were flooded with reports of
Speaker 1: prowlers and the community took drastic measures to secure their homes,
Speaker 1: locking doors, arming themselves, even nailing windows shut. Stores quickly
Speaker 1: sold out of locks, guns, ammunition, window shades, and many
Speaker 1: other items as a result. As the weeks passed without
Speaker 1: another murder, though, the intense fear that had Texarkana on
Speaker 1: edge began to subside a bit. Although the anxiety lingered
Speaker 1: throughout the summer. It gradually disminished, diminished, I can't talk today,
Speaker 1: diminished after three months, as the community slowly returned to
Speaker 1: some sort of sense of normalcy. Fortunately, the string of
Speaker 1: murders attributed to the Phantom Killer came to an end.
Speaker 2: Okay, I thought you were just like there was to
Speaker 2: be another one.
Speaker 1: There are no further deaths or attacked linked to the
Speaker 1: Phantom Killer. Despite extensive efforts to identify the killer, the
Speaker 1: remains of who this is? Who could be the guy
Speaker 1: stalking people in Lover's Lane. The identity is a mystery
Speaker 1: to this day.
Speaker 2: Maybe they died, They could have, right, it could be.
Speaker 1: It's possible. There are numerous theories. There's numerous suspects that
Speaker 1: have emerged over the years, but none have been definitively
Speaker 1: proven to be the perpetrator. One of the most frequently
Speaker 1: cited suspects is an individual by the name of Yule Sweeney. Now.
Speaker 1: Yule was a repeat offender with a criminal history that
Speaker 1: included car theft, counterfeiting, burglary, and assault. An Arkansas law officer,
Speaker 1: Max Tuckett, observed a pattern in car thefts occurring right
Speaker 1: before each murder in July nineteen forty six, a stakeout
Speaker 1: of a reported stolen car led police to a woman
Speaker 1: who identified herself as Jule's girlfriend. She, interestingly enough, was
Speaker 1: able to provide specific details about the murders that had
Speaker 1: not been made public. However, her story later changed and
Speaker 1: she went on to Mary Yule, rendering her testimony completely
Speaker 1: unreliable due to her altered account and the legal prosecution
Speaker 1: of spousal privilege right which prevented them from testifying against
Speaker 1: Yule and leaving law enforcement unable to pursue him any further.
Speaker 2: Huh oh, that's interesting. Hey yeah.
Speaker 1: Another suspect often mentioning this connection is an individual by
Speaker 1: the name of Earl mix Baden or mc spaden. On
Speaker 1: May seventh, nineteen forty six, Earl's body was found on
Speaker 1: the Arkansas City Southern Railway tracks sixteen miles north of Texarkana,
Speaker 1: near Ogden. His left arm and leg had been severed
Speaker 1: by a free train, and the coroner's jury concluded that
Speaker 1: he was dead before being placed on the tracks, recording
Speaker 1: a verdict of death at the hands of a person's
Speaker 1: unnon Some local speculate that this Earl was either the
Speaker 1: phantom sixth victim or the phantom himself, with a rumor
Speaker 1: circulating that he had committed suicide by jumping in front
Speaker 1: of the train.
Speaker 2: Huh, you know, or there could there could have been
Speaker 2: like people out there, like just what's the word vigilantes
Speaker 2: or whatever, yea out there trying to like also get
Speaker 2: this person. Yeah, and someone could like have thought they
Speaker 2: found him or whatever and killed him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true. There are countless other suspects and theories
Speaker 1: surrounding the identity of the phantom killer. I mean, each
Speaker 1: with her own different story, and it would honestly take me,
Speaker 1: like probably a couple hours to cover each of them
Speaker 1: on their own, But this podcast isn't that long, so
Speaker 1: I do encourage you guys all to kind of go
Speaker 1: and take a look at some of the suspects on
Speaker 1: your own. But these are the most two prevalent ones.
Speaker 1: One of another prevalent ones that does keep popping up
Speaker 1: is that boy who did kill himself and write that
Speaker 1: poem as profession. That is another one that is discussed
Speaker 1: quite a bit.
Speaker 2: But okay, but that one was thinking that it was
Speaker 2: deemed that he didn't something, it was deemed to be
Speaker 2: a false sleeve.
Speaker 1: Yes, okay, so despite all these efforts, the true identity
Speaker 1: of the Texarkana's Phantom remains one of the most mysterious
Speaker 1: events in American criminal history, and it is possible that
Speaker 1: we may never know who he's responsible for the terror
Speaker 1: that plagued Texarkana in nineteen forty six.
Speaker 2: Huh.
Speaker 1: And that is the story of the texar Kana Phantom,
Speaker 1: which is just like too bad.
Speaker 2: Like I hate that you could be, you know, doing
Speaker 2: this kind of shit and get away with it. Generally
Speaker 2: you don't, you don't, but there are certain times that
Speaker 2: you do. And I just that just like crushes me.
Speaker 1: I agree, I really, there was nothing I had to
Speaker 1: add to that. I agree.
Speaker 2: Well, just that someone can do such terrible things and
Speaker 2: just continue living their life like.
Speaker 1: Fuck, yeah, yeah, imagine that guy is still out there today. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know how old he'd be. If
Speaker 1: it was in the forties, he's probably imagine him at
Speaker 1: least twenty at the time.
Speaker 2: He's probably dead though, yeah, most likely. Yeah, And I
Speaker 2: mean back then, what kind of it's probably not going
Speaker 2: to get solved. I mean, it could, it could, but
Speaker 2: it's probably not because I mean, they didn't have the
Speaker 2: means they do today to solve things back then.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there you go. Wow, I have no theory. Usually
Speaker 1: in mysteries and unsolved murders like this, I have a theory.
Speaker 1: I have nothing.
Speaker 2: Huh.
Speaker 1: I do think Yule is the most likely suspect, but
Speaker 1: I also think that there would be some evidence to
Speaker 1: also link him if he was, so I'm also not
Speaker 1: sold on it.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, the fact that his girlfriend knew things that
Speaker 2: weren't released, How the hell would she? You know?
Speaker 1: That was all it takes is for one rumor to
Speaker 1: get out, one officer to have a drink with his
Speaker 1: wife and just say something he wasn't supposed to, and
Speaker 1: then her go to the I don't know, grocery store
Speaker 1: and run into a friend and oh, my husband told
Speaker 1: me this, And then that person is friends with this
Speaker 1: chick who's marrying you.
Speaker 2: All I guess like, yeah, I mean, how many conversations
Speaker 2: don't tell anyone this? Or I'm not supposed to tell
Speaker 2: anyone this?
Speaker 1: But yeah, things get leaked all the time. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: to say that it was not released information, are you
Speaker 1: certain it was not released information?
Speaker 2: Well, that's an interesting one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 2: Also terrifying the thought of just like being chased to
Speaker 2: me is something I know.
Speaker 1: And then he catches up with you and asks you,
Speaker 1: why are you running?
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, yeah, because also like zombie stuff, when the
Speaker 2: zombies are like fast and chase you, I just can't, Like,
Speaker 2: I just can't. The chasing thing is just too much.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I gotcha. No, I I'm right there with you,
Speaker 1: because especially I've gained weights in my thirties and I
Speaker 1: cannot run very good anymore.
Speaker 2: I know. I'm like, I don't know even how far
Speaker 2: i'd make it, But then there's adrenaline. I'd be relying
Speaker 2: on that.
Speaker 1: I guess probably I'd probably be very like Homer Simpson
Speaker 1: ask I'd take like two steps and I'd be like, okay,
Speaker 1: just hold that a second regreath. Oh boy, that's probably
Speaker 1: how it would play out for me.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, I guess we you know, hope you guys
Speaker 2: have a good week. We'll see you again on Friday.
Speaker 1: Are you gonna do the whole end spiel?
Speaker 2: I wasn't planned. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Are you gonna make me do it?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Okay, thank you guys for being here. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: As always, trust me, I really do mean it. Whenever
Speaker 1: I say it, I do this spiel at the end
Speaker 1: every episode, but I do it because, hey, we're serious.
Speaker 1: Without you guys listening to our show, we would not
Speaker 1: be doing the show. Still, we would not be here today,
Speaker 1: So thank you so much. In the bottom of our hearts.
Speaker 1: If you want to check out any of our links,
Speaker 1: they are below. I'm gonna leave it at that today,
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. You guys are incredible. In fact,
Speaker 1: you guys are short wicked. They're wicked. So do you
Speaker 1: know what I think they should do?
Speaker 2: Stay wicked exactly. Okay, until next time, stay wicked. H