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Texarkana Phantom Moonlight Murders · Murder Files Unsealed

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Ever get that feeling like when you're walking alone at
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  night and you just know someone's watching you. Oh yeah,
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  for sure, it's like this shiver down your spine. Well,
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  today's deep dive we're dealing with that exact feeling, but
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  in a very real way. We're talking about the Texarkana
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  moonlight murders going back to nineteen forty six.
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  Speaker 2: It's one of those cases right just sticks with you.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Picture this, Texarkana, a town right on the border
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  of Texas and Arkansas, just coming out of World War Two.
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  You open up the local paper and bam, it's not
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  about victory parades anymore. It's about these attacks, each one
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  more baffling than the last.
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  Speaker 2: The post war optimism just gone gone.
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  Speaker 1: So let's break it down for our listeners. February twenty second,
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  nineteen forty six. It all starts with a young couple,
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  Jimmy Hollis and Mary Jean Loray, out on a lover's lane,
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  you know those secluded spots couples used to go for
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  a little privacy, timeless, timeless, until a man in white
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  mask shows up demands their wallets. But even after they
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  tell them they're practically broke, he.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Attacks and That's where it gets complicated. The descriptions they
• 1:04
  give of this masked man totally different. Mary Jean says
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  he was probably a light skinned African American guy. Jimmy,
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  on the other hand, insists he was white but with
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  a tan Wait.
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  Speaker 1: So, which was it? Talk about a curve ball for
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  the investigators right off.
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  Speaker 2: The bat exactly, they're thinking, is this a hoax? Are
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  these kids holding something back? They started to doubt.
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  Speaker 1: The story, so already off to a shaky start. Then
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  just a month later, March twenty fourth, another Lover's Lane,
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  another couple, Richard Griffin and Polly Anne Moore. Only this
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  time they're found.
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  Speaker 2: Dead shot execution style, which for the time that was
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  unusual to say the least. And here's the thing. The
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  evidence suggests they weren't killed in the car. They were
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  moved after staged.
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  Speaker 1: You're saying it was staged.
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  Speaker 2: Like the killer wanted to send a message. And believe me,
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  people noticed this wasn't just some random act of violence anymore.
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  Speaker 1: Pextor can is on edge, rumors are flying. Then comes
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  April fourteenth, and this is where the whole Phantom killer thing.
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  Speaker 2: Explodes, because this time the victims were well known Paul
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  Martin and Betty Joe Booker teenagers, respected families, everyone knew them.
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  Speaker 1: The whole town must have been in shock.
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  Speaker 2: Total panic. Schools were closed for Betty Joe's funeral. People
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  were buying guns like crazy. They were even sleeping with
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  their lights on, terrified of this phantom snatching them in
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  the night.
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  Speaker 1: So, this phantom killer, he's become the talk of the
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  town with the whole state. Really and then may third
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  another attack, but this one's different.
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  Speaker 2: Completely different. No lover's lane this time. This attack happens
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  at a farmhouse. Virgil Starks is killed, but his wife, Katie,
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  she manages to escape. And now everyone's wondering was this
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  the phantom changing.
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  Speaker 1: His mo or was it a copycat, like someone trying
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  to capitalize on the hysteria.
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  Speaker 2: It muddied the waters and made the whole thing that
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  much more terrifying.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and with all this talk of copycats, think about this.
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  Back then, there was no Internet, no twenty four to
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  seven news cycle, So the way news traveled completely different.
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  Speaker 2: People were on edge, but in the dark in a way. Right,
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  So imagine trying to sort fact from fiction with just
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  rumors and the occasional newspaper. It's no wonder fear took hold.
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  Speaker 1: Speaking of newspapers, how much did they shape what people
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  thought about the phantom killer?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, they played a huge role. Back then. Newspapers are
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  the source for information, and they were still figuring out
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  how to cover these kinds of crimes, you know, responsibly.
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  Speaker 1: So you've got this gap between what they knew and
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  what people wanted to know.
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  Speaker 2: What happens then sensationalism. Headlines get bigger, stories get juicier,
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  all to grab attention. Fear sells and let me tell
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  you the text ar Cana Gazette. They knew how to
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  sell it.
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  Speaker 1: Phantom killer on the loose, that kind of thing exactly.
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  Speaker 2: It just fueled the panic, made the whole thing feel
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  so much bigger, so much more terrifying.
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  Speaker 1: So it's nineteen forty six, no internet to spread rumors,
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  but the newspapers are doing a pretty good job of
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  it anyway. What was it actually like to live in
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  text or Canna back then with this phantom on the loose?
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  Speaker 2: Imagine walking down the street and everyone's got a gun. Literally,
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  stores sold out of everything, guns, ammo, you name it.
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  People were even putting extra locks on their doors, their windows,
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  living in a fortress, just hoping for the best and
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  hoping they weren't the next target. Because here's the thing,
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  the police, they were as stumped as everyone else. They
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  investigated every lead, every rumor, but nothing concrete.
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  Speaker 1: So no clear suspect. Did anyone stand out?
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  Speaker 2: Well? One name kept coming up, Ule Swinny.
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  Speaker 1: Swinny, I've heard that name before connected to the case.
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  Wasn't he some kind of petty criminal?
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  Speaker 2: That's him and his story. It's a wild ride, petty theft, forgery,
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  that was his thing. But what really landed him on
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  the police's radar was.
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  Speaker 1: His wife, his own wife. Wait, what did she do?
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  Speaker 2: She went to the police and told them that Swinny
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  he had confessed, confessed to the murders.
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  Speaker 1: Whoa so open and shut case? Right? They got their guy?
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  Speaker 2: Not so fast. When it came time for the trial,
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  she refused to testify against him.
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  Speaker 1: What why would she do that after leading the police
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  to him.
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  Speaker 2: We might never know. Maybe she was scared, maybe she
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  had second thoughts. Whatever the reason, it threw a wrench
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  into the whole case.
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  Speaker 1: So they couldn't charge Swenny with the murders without her testimony.
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  Speaker 2: Not directly, the evidence was circumstantial, his alibi was shaky,
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  and yeah, his wife's initial accusations were pretty damning, but
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  without her on the stand, they couldn't make it stick.
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  Speaker 1: But he still went to prison, Oh, he.
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  Speaker 2: Did for his other crimes, but the murders those remained open.
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  Speaker 1: That's crazy. They had a suspect but couldn't pin the
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  murders on him. So what happened next? Did they just
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  give up on Sweenny.
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  Speaker 2: Here's the thing. Even though they couldn't convict him of
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  the Moonlight murders, two of the lead investigators, they never
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  let go of the belief that Swinny was their guy.
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  Speaker 1: So even with Swenny behind bars, the investigators still had
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  their doubts. What made them so sure about him.
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  Speaker 2: It's like you ever work on a puzzle, get almost
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  to the end, but you're missing a few pieces.
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  Speaker 1: It's frustrating the worst. You just want to see the
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  whole picture.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly, And that's what they were dealing with. They had
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  Swinny's passed, his wife's initial story, but no smoking gun,
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  so they had to rely on their gut, and their.
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  Speaker 1: Gut said Swinny was the guy. Even without that final proof.
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  Speaker 2: Two of the lead investigators they were convinced. They looked
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  at his knowledge of Texarkana, his shall we say, familiarity
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  with the law, and they just couldn't shake the feeling
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  that he was involved.
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  Speaker 1: It's easy to get tunnel vision, though, right when you've
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  been so focused on one suspect for so long. Did
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  they ever seriously consider anyone else? Oh?
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  Speaker 2: There were theories, all right. Some people pointed fingers at
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  traveling salesmen, others at disgruntledxes. And then there were those
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  who thought, maybe, just maybe the Texarkana Moonlight murders were
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  connected to other unsolved cases happening around the same time, a.
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  Speaker 1: Multi state killing spree that would really sent chills down
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  people's spines. Speaking of chills, have you seen that movie
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  The Town That Dreaded Sundown? It's based on the textor
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  can of Moonlight Murders.
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  Speaker 2: Right loosely based. I'd say Hollywood took some liberties, spice
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  things up a bit.
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  Speaker 1: They always do. But it makes you think, how much
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  does pop culture influence our perception of true crime? Does
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  it make it harder to separate fact from fiction?
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  Speaker 2: It's a double edged sword. On the one hand, movies
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  and documentaries they can keep these cold cases alive bring
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  in new information sometimes, but on the other hand, they
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  can sensationalize things, create this whole mythology around the real
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  victors and their stories.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's important to remember that real people were affected
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  by these crimes. These weren't just characters in a movie.
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  So where does that leave us with the textor Can
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  of Moonlight Murders? After all this, the attacks, the suspects,
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  the theories, the Hollywood version, what's the biggest takeaway for me?
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  Speaker 2: It's the mystery, the fact that after all these years,
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  we still don't know for sure who terrorized Textorkana. It's
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  a reminder that some cases they just stay with us, unsolved, unanswered.
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  Speaker 1: And that's the thing about true crime, isn't it. It's
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  not always about getting a neat resolution. Sometimes it's about
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  sitting with the unknown, the what ifs, the endless possibilities.
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  And I think that's what makes the textor Can of
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  Moonlight Murders so endlessly fascinating. So for our listeners, who
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  like us, are captivated by this case, we encourage you
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  to keep digging. Check out those old newspaper clippings, the photographs.
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  You might even stumble upon something that those investigators missed
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  all those years ago, because with a case this cold,
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  any new lead could be the one that finally cracks
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  it wide open.