The Phantom Killer

All my life I have always wondered is there such thing as the boogeyman but, during the spring and summer of 1946 one little, small town was about t0 know the terrible truth that would haunt them forever. As a monster was on the loose sending panic into the streets of Texarkana, Texas that would soon be known as “The Town That Dreaded Sundown”!

It all started one night on February 22nd, 1946, with the first two victims Jimmy Hollis and his girlfriend Mary Jeanne Larey. The couple had just finished a night out at the cinema when they decided to stop down a quiet desolate road in Texarkana before heading back home. When suddenly out of the darkness comes a man waving a flashlight through the windows and wearing what looks like a white pillowcase with eye holes cut out. The unknown man then preceded to tell the couple to exit the vehicle and orders Jimmy to take his clothes off. The masked man then pistol whips Jimmy three times and he collapses to the ground. Horrified Mary watches in shock as the hooded man turns his attention toward her and hits her in the head with the butt of the gun and then orders her to run. She tries to flee towards the main road hoping a car will pass by but unfortunately, she was unable to get far from him due to her wearing high heels. As he caught up to her, he hit her over the head again with his gun and falls to ground he then proceeded to sexually assault her. A few moments later a car comes cruising down along the road with headlights blaring into the darkness and scares the attacker away. Both victims were rushed to the hospital where they were treated for their injuries. They both made a full recovery but were plagued with psychological trauma they endured that would follow them for the rest of their lives. They described their attacker as a white man and was at least six feet tall. When this incident took place, it was not broadcasted through the media because the police thought the incident was too horrific and they thought it would make them confess that it was all false what they claimed to have witnessed. Texarkana was a small town at the time and the police thought they would at least have a lead but there were more than 200 people that fit that description in the area. It would be like finding a needle in a haystack to find the exact person. For me personally I felt that if the story did leak into the public, it would frighten the towns folk and cause a lot of panic. But it would also have made them more precautious until the masked assailant was caught.

The next incident took place almost a month later on March 24th, 1946, that would soon rock this quiet sleepy little Texas town. One morning a driver saw a car parked on the side of a secluded road with two people inside and pulled over to see if everything was okay. At first, he thought they must have fallen asleep, but something did not seem right as he approached the car. Upon closer examination he made a grisly discovery he found a male and female dead inside the vehicle and ran to get help. Both victims were identified as 29-year-old Richard Griffin and 17-year-old Polly Ann Moore they had both been shot and Polly had also been raped. What started as an isolated incident was turning into a man hunt for a serial killer. There was a pool of blood found outside the car which the police believed they had been killed outside the car and placed back inside. Richard was found in the car on his knees with his head in his hands and his pockets had been turned inside out; Polly was found on the backseat sprawled out and both were fully clothed. Richard was believed to have been killed inside the car by the position he had been found in. Police also found a .32 cartridge shell that could have came from a colt pistol which is the same gun described in the first attack. It was at that point the police started to call him the phantom killer. He would always lurk in the darkness waiting to strike and mysteriously just disappear. It would not be long until he struck again that would send nothing but fear and panic through the streets of Texarkana.

Just three weeks after the double murders of Polly Ann Moore and Richard Griffin the phantom killer struck again. It was another double murder a young couple had both been found shot dead in two separate areas almost two miles apart from one another. The victims were identified as 15-year-old Betty Jo Booker and 16-year-old Paul Martin. Pauls’ body was found on the side of North Park Road and Betty was found six hours later hidden behind a tree she had also been raped. Once again, this crime scene had been staged and his behavior and methods of how he was doing it was starting to change. What was odd how Betty was found was that her coat was buttoned all the way up to her chin and her hand was in her coat pocket which was strange. The night of the murder Betty had just finished playing saxophone with her band the Rhythmaires at the VFW Club which she did every Saturday night. It was a very typical night for her, and she finished playing at around 1:30am and was picked up by her childhood friend Paul Martin. They ended up stopping at Spring Lake Park, which was not too far from Betty’s home but, little did they know they were being stalked from the darkness. A ballistic test showed they were both killed with the same .32 caliber colt pistol. What was also strange was where was Paul’s car; his car was soon discovered 3 miles away from Bettys body and the keys were still in the ignition. It is unknown what had happened that night, but I have a hypothesis as to what could have happened. The Phantom Killer once again could have followed them from the concert, or he just picked the park randomly on that night to wait for his next victims. As Betty and Paul pulled into the park the Phantom Killer walked out of the darkness and shines a flashlight at them and forces Paul and Betty out of the car at gunpoint. He most likely ordered Betty not to move or he would kill her and then turned his full attention to Paul and shot him. That is where he then turned back to Betty and then forced her back into Paul Martins car and drove off to a secluded location where he ended killing and raping her. Then proceeded to dump Paul’s car further away in a desolate location. The town was then put on high alert as a murderer was on the loose parents were in fear for their teens safety and were told to not venture out at night. A curfew was put in place and businesses ended up closing early because no one wanted to out at sundown. There was even money being raised for any leads or connections that would lead the citizens of Texarkana to killer. People were in absolute fear they were bolting their doors every night and gun sales were skyrocketing as the town was on the edge not being able to know when he was going to strike next.

If you thought your house would be the safest place from a monster, then you might want to think twice as this would be the end to his reign of terror. In this final incident even the most desolate isolated homes were not even safe as Virgil and Katie Starks knew the hard way. It all ended on May 3rd, 1946, at the couple’s 500-acre farm just 10 miles northeast of Texarkana. The couple was starting to settle down for the night, Virgil was downstairs listening to the radio and reading the newspaper, when Katie heard a noise coming from the backyard. She yelled for him to turn the radio down, but he could not hear her and that was when two-gun shots had gone but Katie did not hear them due to the loud radio. However, she initially thought it was the sound of broken glass and thought Virgil must have dropped something and she came back downstairs to see what was happening. But as she entered the living room, she knew something wasn’t right as Virgil fell back into his chair. She then saw the blood and ran to him and realized he was dead and then ran to the phone to call for help but ended up getting shot in the face twice. Miraculously she survived and she stumbled to the ground but managed to get back on her feet to run and get a pistol. Then she heard the killer tearing loose the rusted screen wire on the back porch and then made his way through the kitchen window. Terrified Katie ran all throughout her house leaving a trail of blood in the process and she managed to run out the front door and ran at first to her sister’s house but she wasn’t home. So, she ended running to her neighbor’s house that was just 50 yards away as screamed for help she then gasped at her neighbor that “Virgils dead” before she ended up collapsing. Horrified that the killer might still be close near by he ran inside to grab his shot gun and fire it in the air to alert the other neighbors. This ended up being the final straw as dozens of local, state, and federal law officers arrived to end this masked menace once in for all.

At this time Miller County Chief Deputy Tillman Johnson was assigned to the case after just being discharged from the army after two years of service. At the Starks home they tried to secure the crime scene hoping to find clues that could identify this elusive killer. Johnson described that they were always in and out of the home day and night looking for anything that looked suspicious. That’s when the officers turned their attention to some of the people and questioned many with the hope they could fish out a few suspects. But with mass hysteria already plaguing the towns people it made it even more difficult to interview anyone. Deputy Johnson said in an interview in 1996 that people would stand out near the front of their houses and would yell at you to identify yourself before you got even closer, or you would end up getting shot. This monster wanted people afraid, and he ended up doing just that because what was once a close tight knit community was turning into every man for themselves. Finally, the investigators were able to find some evidence as the killer left a trail of bloody shoe prints that led out through the front door toward the highway. Lastly the detectives were also able to recover bullets from Mr. Starks body, but ballistics showed that they belonged to a .22 caliber semi-automatic weapon which was not the same weapon that was used in the other double murders. At this point they were unsure if this incident was the work of the phantom killer since the weapon was not the same and that there was no possibility that this was connected to the other murders. But they also discovered a very rare flashlight that belonged to the Phantom Killer and looking back at the first crime, he was said to have shined a light at the couple in their car. It is possible he could have changed his weapon of choice to throw the detectives off, but Johnson was convinced that the Phantom Killer had nothing to do with this. Because the first three couples were very young and were in their cars and this time this couple were in their home, married, and they were in their mid to late 30s. His MO had changed if they were connected to one another but what made him change. As summer was fast approaching a few more weeks went by without incident and the people thought the nightmare was over. It took at least two months for people to calm down but fear still gripped many lives that you would have to call people in advance to let them know you were coming over. Everyone still wondered did the killer live among them and if he would ever return.

Out of all the suspects there was one suspect that caught the eye of all the investigators and that was 29-year-old Youell Swinney, and he was no stranger to the law. He had been involved already with multiple auto theft and for counterfeiting. His wife Peggy had sworn that her husband was responsible for the attacks and murders stating that he confessed to them and that she was a bystander as he carried out the crimes. The police took her statement as she described specific details about the murders that had not been made public. She was taken to the murder site of Paul Martin and she described how he did it and she said things that only the people at the crime scene would know. Like there was datebook that belonged to Paul Martin that had been thrown into the nearby bushes and the only one that knew about that was Bowie County Sheriff W.H. "Bill" Presley. But then Swinney was arrested on an unrelated car theft charge. It turns out that on the night of each murder and attacks that a car had been stolen and then abandoned. A farmer had also complained about a tenant that was renting out his property that hadn’t paid his rent and that was Swinney. Swinney’s wife Peggy refused to testify against her own husband but the make things more difficult was that Peggy made a lot of conflicting statements and she constantly changed her story. Peggy was also no stranger to the law as well because she had been in trouble before. So, the investigators had no idea what to believe and the case against him fell apart and there was no physical evidence against him to tie him to the crimes. She even made a confession that instead of her being a bystander she sat in the backseat of Paul Martins car after Swinney shot him. But she clearly stated numerous times that he was not involved in the other three incidents. Some speculate that she could have also been an accomplice for his crimes, but that part will always remain a mystery. Youell Swinney was still sentenced to life in prison for the car theft, but no other murders occurred after that.

My thoughts from the first attack is that the assailant one either followed the victims from the cinema or two he knew young couples would always venture on that road at night. He could have staked out the area for a long period of time watching the days and time that couple would come out to lover’s lane. Until finally on this one particular night he was ready to strike by lying in wait for unsuspecting lovers to come along. Its possible that he could have been no stranger to the law, or he could have been more intelligent to fly under the radar than the Texas rangers and investigators could have thought. In this day and age there could have also been a DNA rape test done on Mary Jeanne Larey to find out who the Phantom Killer is but back then these kinds of tests did not exist at the time. So, this method would have solved the case in a short period of time, if there was a way to preserve a sample from the night Mary was attacked just maybe we still could have found out the identity of the Phantom Killer. When he ordered her to run that tells me right away that this man was a predator and that he wants to enjoy the chase before carrying out his agenda. But what still stumbles me is that why did he let Mary live he could have killed her, but he chose not to. The night that she was attacked she also stated that she yelled at him during the altercation between the two of them to “Go ahead and kill me!” The fact that he didn’t tells me that this killer wanted his victims to be afraid and he wanted to have power over them to the point they felt helpless. He did so by attacking Jimmy first and he knew he would be in control by striking him first. But when Mary showed that she was not afraid to die by his hands must have triggered something in him to the point he could not carry out with his intentions. Looking at the second incident he had Richard on his knees in a fetal position in the car which means he wanted him scared and helpless. This was another point where he would have that dominant power over someone, and he could control and manipulate them to do whatever he wanted them to do. He even ended up doing this was the third victims and this time he had even more control over them. But with the last incident with the Starks his MO had completely changed but then again, he knew the one place that most people felt safe which was their own homes. This incident tells me that he felt like he could have even more power and dominance over them by striking them now in the place where their guard would be completely down. This was like the icing on the cake it was the final bit of glory for power that he was seeking.

Learning more about the Phantom Killers methods that he used to carry out his crimes leads me to a couple of theories that tell me more about him. He could have been a quiet man and he always felt that he never had control over anything in his life. Then those emotions and feelings just started to build up over time to the point he could not take it anymore until he finally snapped to where he wanted to be the alpha male that everyone should be afraid of. Which could be why he laid a little low after the first attack because he was most likely waiting for it to be broadcasted in the news. He most likely wanted the attention and notoriety of who he was. But when there was no word about the crime that was when he was ready to strike again but this time, he knew how he would do it this time without getting caught. My other theory about this monster is that he has always been a possessive and controlling alpha male and he felt that everyone should always fear him when ever he was around. But what eats at me is that how is it that he showed up at all these random places where the victims were all at the wrong place and wrong time. I strongly believe that this man was a true predator that stalked his victims and I believed he had to have followed all these people. He could have even been watching them for days or even weeks until there was the perfect opportunity to strike. Whoever he was he had a whole lot of darkness within himself, and it was just lurking inside him fighting to come out. It makes me wonder what ended up happening to him if Youell Swinney did not commit the crimes. Did the Phantom Killer get word of Swinney’s arrest and use him as an escape goat to flee town without anyone suspecting. Most importantly how many more unsolved crimes did the phantom commit if he truly got away with it.

Everyone still wonders does the boogeyman exist I believe so for this one small town as he sent fear and dread through the streets. The Phantom Killers reign of terror had finally come to an end in what would be one of the most famous unsolved crimes that rocked the nation. That would be known as Texarkana Moonlight Murders, and it would haunt this once peaceful town forever. As it will and forever and always be known as “The Town That Dreaded Sundown.”

References

• https://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/texarkana/story/2016/may/03/phantom-killers-last-alleged-victim-shot-death-70-years-ago-today/422384/?bcsubid=17bd48a6-b0ce-498f-b8e8-8f026256fc32&pbdialog=reg-wall-login-created-tx

• https://morbidology.com/the-texarkana-moonlight-murders/

• https://harshlightnews.com/the-texarkana-phantom-killer-df1d6c96c2e6

• https://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/texarkana/story/2016/apr/14/phantom-killer-attacks-part-ii/420867/

• https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/texarkana-murder-mystery/