Latest / Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast / The Texarkana Phantom

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The Texarkana Phantom · Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: In the nineteen forties, Arkansas found themselves face to face
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: with a terrifying figure, one that the press would go
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: on to dub the Texarcana Phantom. This individual would seemingly
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: seek out victims at random, often lurking in the dark
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: shadows of secluded spots frequented by couples like their local
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: lover's lane. But in each encounter, though, the unidentified man
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: would be long gone before authorities ever arrived to the scene.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: This is the story of the Texarcano Phantom, also known
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: as the Texarcana Moonlight Murders. My name's Ben, I'm.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked and.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Grim, a true crime podcast. The following material. Listener, I
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: feel like my voice is like extra dramatic this morning.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: I don't know if I just got like a dry
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: throat or something, but it's like it's Texarkena moodlight murders.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Like I don't know, I feel like an old detective
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: in like a nineteen twenties film. It's just like smoking
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: cigars or chain smoking at the scene.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Well, did you notice that it was like pretty smoky
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: in town yesterday? It was it was, Yeah, so maybe
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: that's affecting.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Maybe potentially, who knows. But did you also notice that
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: it is September. We are officially in the bur months
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Cozy season exactly September, October, November.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: Okay, I had no idea what you meant by that,
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: but I'm just like, okay, yeah, the bur months, the
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: bur months. Yeah, but January is also a bur month,
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: and oh for.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: That's a different burr. That's just burr. You know, have
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: you ever heard of the Texo can of Phantom before?
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: No?
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: No you haven't.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't know. Like we always say, I have
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: the worst memory ever, So like I think I probably have,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: and you know, things will come back, as you understandable.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: It is a fairly big case. It's a fairly well
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: known one. Yeah, so we'll be hitting that today. It
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: was an interesting one, uh to research. But before we
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: hit the episode, before we get into the whole like
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: what happened, who he was and dive back to the
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: nineteen forties, we of course have to thank this week's
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: patron subscribers for showing that support over on Patreon. So
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: we have Kristen k Wagner. We have I'm going to
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: pronounce this wrong, AMOC, I think is how you say
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: that Angela when Caitlin Miles, Linda Sanders GenZ and the
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Popper Bo Duke. I love the Dukes. I have hazard
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: name there that is amazing and Amanda or they spelt
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: it uh man duh. Yeah, they literally hyphenated it out
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: like a man duh.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: So that's awesome.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so thank you guys so much for showing that support.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: I keep looking over here. Sorry, just ignore that.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: I was just going to say too, like, as you
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: were kind of chatting there, I think it's I don't
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: know when I like just enjoyed true crime, like yeah, personally,
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: I guess I think I always mostly gravitated to Canadian cases.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Really.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I was just thinking back to that because I'm like,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: there's like some big ones that we talk about and stuff.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Then I'm like, I don't know, why do I not
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: know about them? But then I was like, yeah, because
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: usually if I had a free moment, I would kind
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: of look for like a Canadian one. Fair enough, I
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: guess makes sense.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: I do know you have a bit more of an
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: affinity to research the Canadian ones and present them on
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: the show when you are doing them. Yeah, but if
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: you were like, yeah, personally, I just enjoyed them or
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: like more interested at home.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: I don't know why you'd want to fucking enjoy well
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: true crime. That's closered all.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: I think anyone here who's listening to truth this podcast
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: can relate to you in the fact of enjoying the
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: true crime genre, not that you enjoy someone dying.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: It's well no, I mean also like that's scary to
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: enjoy something closer home. You know, you think you'd want
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: to away more away from you. Does that make sense?
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it does, but but it also it's more relatable,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: more relatable, know the areas and stuff exactly. Yeah, it's like, oh,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: I I went to that that mall where that murderer
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: used to work. I don't just pulling something out of
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: my ass, but like the picked in Farment, it's like
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: we've driven by where he used to live. Like you
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: know what I mean.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: Well, my friend just told me the other day she
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: went to Wells Gray Provincial Park and I was like,
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: did you know about the murders there? So I don't know. Yeah,
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: she's probably was like, yeah I knew, but I don't
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: want to talk about it.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, probably, But yeah, this is this is an interesting one.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: It is a mystery. It is unsolved. I will tell
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: you guys that right out of the gate on this one,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: if it's not as obvious enough by the name being
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: the text a kind of phantom.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, So you're ready, I'm ready.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Okay, let's get right into this. Let's do So we're
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: going to go to Arkansas if you haven't figured that
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: out by the intro as well, which is in the
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: United States, and it's going to be during the nineteen
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: forty So we are going back in time just a
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: little bit here.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: During this time, the economy was still recovering from the
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: Great Depression, and it was largely dependent in this area
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: on a lot of cotton, rice, and livestock farming for
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: their economy. Right, it's an understatement to say the least
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: that the state was marked by significant poverty at the time,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: especially in rural areas. It was also very racially segregated
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: under laws that were strictly enforcing this as well, which
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: created very many different divides within society. Now, the area
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: was also defined by the impact of World War Two.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Law enforcement was limited, with small, underresourced police departments who
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: seriously struggled to deal with crime. So needless to say
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: it was a very rough time in history. It sounds so, yeah, yeah,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: And as of as such, it created a setting for
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: very rough and troubled people to thrive as drunkenness, fights, brawls,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: they were all rather prevalent now, things like shootings or
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: stabbings or murders and stuff. It was still a bit
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: few and far between, but just kind of like anger
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: and violence and people taking out rage and stuff that
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: is kind of like the norm. Okay, yeah, So it
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: even set the stage for the infamous topic that we
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: are talking about today, and that case takes place in
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: nineteen forty six, where this serial killer would terrorize the
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: border of Texarkana. Now, Texarkana sits directly on the border
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: of Texas and Arkansas, and it held a crucial railroad hub,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: with multiple rail lines converging in the area, making it
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: a bustling center for transportation and potentially even an easy
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: getaway system. Now, with all that in mind, this brings
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: us to the date of February twenty second, in nineteen
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: forty six, at around eleven forty five pm on a Friday,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Jimmy Hollis, who is twenty five years old, and his
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: girlfriend Mary Jean lay sorry, almost like butchered her name,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: but I got it. Who was nineteen. Were out on
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: a date together. There was a dinner in a movie
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: kind of date, so they went out, had something to eat,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: and went and watched their movie. And as soon as
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: they finished up that portion of the date, it was
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: followed up by parking in a secluded road just outside
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: of Texars, Kanada, Texas for a little bit of privacy.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: Oh ding dang, Yeah, yeah, they.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Were looking for a little bit of as I said,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: quote privacy. This was, of course an area referred to
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: locals as Lover's Lane, and it was about three hundred
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: feet from the last row of city homes which is
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: now called now site of the Central Mall. But it
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: was just on the outskirt of the town at the time.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: So they pulled up the car into Lover's Lane and
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: parked in their spot. And you know, they had some privacy.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: And roughly ten minutes after they had parked in had
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: their privacy, someone approached. Now the two had been so
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: preoccupied with each other's company that the didn't even notice
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: that another car had pulled up and parked nearby to them.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: It happened all too sudden when a flashlight began shining
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: in Jimmy's driver's side window, blinding them. Squinting through the
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: light shining into their faces, they were unable to immediately
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: see the person's face, but they did, however, see a
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: gun pointed directly at them in the person's other hand.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Jimmy quickly explain that whoever you're looking for, like you've
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: got the wrong person, right, But the man with the
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: gun in the flashlight ominously replied, quote, I don't want
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: to kill you, fellow, So do what I say.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: Oh gosh, yeah, I like how you're just so I
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: don't preoccupied with each other like.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: You like you got in there, thank you. I really
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: danced around the fact that they were having sex in
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: their car. So both Jimmy and Mary were then ordered
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: out of the car. And I will say there is
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: a very good chance they actually weren't having sex in
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: the car, because you'll hear this next part that will kind.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: Of maybe they were just enjoying each other's like company.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: They most likely they most likely were just enjoying each
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: other's company, maybe mac in a little bit, who knows.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: But once they were ordered out of the car, the assailant,
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: you know, they were able to get a little bit
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: of a glimpse of this man at this time, and
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: they got a bit of a look at his face,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: or at least the mask covering his face, because over
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: his face the man was wearing sort of white cloth
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: mask resembling like a pillowcase with eyeholes cut out so
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: he could see.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: Oh god, that's so creepy.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And to clarify, there was no point at the top.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Very KKK asked, just not the point, okay, yep. So
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: the man then ordered Jimmy to quote take his goddamn
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: bridges off.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: Oh no, yeah, oh no.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: So at gunpoint, and that that's where I'm like, they
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: probably yeah, you know, because yeah, but at gunpoint, Jimmy
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: did as instructed, and as soon as he did, the
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: man pistol whipped Jimmy and struck him to on the
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: head with the gun. Reportedly, the blows to Jimmy's head
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: were so intense that the sound made Mary think the
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: gun was being fired and that Jimmy was being shot. Relly, Yes,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: that's how loud the noise was when he was cracked
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: upon the head.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: How could he like, I don't know. That seems crazy
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: that you could make such have such force just by
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: you know, yeah, with your arm like that.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Well depending on the gun where he hit him.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: And I guess yeah yeah.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: So Mary was terrified and in a panic, thinking it
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: must be a robbery attempt, she showed them. She grabbed
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: Jimmy's wallet and showed the man the wallet to prove
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: that they had no money on them, but in response,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: the man hit her too and then ordered her to run.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: Holy shit, Oh my gosh, it's so conflicting, hey, because
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: you're your boyfriend, like you're oh my gosh.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, but Jimmy now was laying on the ground unconscious,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: and Mary uh didn't hesitate and began running towards a
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: ditch nearby, but the attacker stopped her and told her, no,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: run down the road.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: Is he going to chase her?
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: Well, Mary did exactly as she was instructed. She ran
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: down the road and quickly came upon a parked car,
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: so she headed straight forward, hoping someone might be inside
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: and might be able to help her. However, and was
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: empty and was likely the car that the mass man
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: drove to the location, so by the time she noticed
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: that the car was empty and there was no one inside,
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: the mass man was once again upon her. Oh no,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: and he asked her why are you running? Yeah, why
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: are you running? She's like, because you told me to.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you told me to, your piece of shit.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah. He responded by calling her a liar and knocked
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: her to the ground. Oh wow, this is where Mary
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: would endure the worst of the encounter. Now laying in
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: the dirt, the mass man began to assault her and
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: raped Mary with the barrel of his gun.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: Oh frick I was worried about this.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: Luckily, the mass man was soon spooped off though he
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: had seen a pair of headlights approaching, and he took
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: off into the darkness. The headlights, though never saw Mary
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: nor the man and never offered any help, but thankfully
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: was enough to give her an opportunity to run for real.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: So she fled and ran about half a mile to
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: a nearby house, where she woke the owners and got
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: them to call the police. Meanwhile, Jimmy, still back of
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: the scene where he was left laying on the ground,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: regained consciousness.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: Okay, okay, good, and he too.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: Was able to flag someone down a passing by car,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: who also called the authorities. So that's that's a bit
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: of an encounter.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: Hey, yeah, so they survived this. I was not thinking
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: that's what was going to happen.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: Thankfully the two both survived the attack.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: Yes, okay, wow, what a freaking nightmare and a half though.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah so, within thirty minutes, Bowie County Sheriff W. H.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Bill Presley and three other officers arrived at the scene,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: but the assailant was unfortunately long gone. By this point,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: half an hour had passed.
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: So Mary was hospitalized overnight from minor head wounds, while
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: on the other hand, Jimmy needed to remain in the
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: hospital for several days to recover from multiple skull fractures
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: that he had received from the pistol whipping.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: During interviews with the authorities, both Jimmy and Mary provided
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: slightly different descriptions of their attacker. Mary claimed that she
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: could see under the mask a little bit and that
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: he was a light skinned African American male. Jimmy, on
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: the other hand, described the attacker as a tanned white
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: man around thirty years old, but admitted that he couldn't
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: make out the features due to being blinded by the flashlight.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: Right, well, I mean it would be very hard to
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: be able to tell. Oh yeah, I mean but also
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: night Yeah, it's nighttime, like they're wearing something on their head,
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: like one of the loves.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: And not to mention, they were both hit in the head. Yeah,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: it's a traumatic experience totally. So the fact that they
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: got any sort of description at all is kind of miraculous.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I probably wouldn't have remembered shit. So yeah, that's
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: good for them.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Both did, however, agree that the assailant was about
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: six feet tall.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, I guess that's something more so that you
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: could kind of remember.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So this.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: Description, though vague, helped narrow down the suspect list at
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: least a little bit.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: Regardless, the investigators reported Lee were apparently was a bit
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: skeptical of their accounts, challenging them on their memories of it,
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: and reportedly Mary a little bit more so. I don't
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: know if it's because, hey, nineteen forties and she's a woman,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: or maybe it's because, hey, you know what, Jimmy's recovering
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: from skull fractures. Let's just press Marry more. I don't
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: know why, but they were apparently pressing her a bit more.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: Well, she did have a bit more of an encounter
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: with him though too, Right, that's true. I guess that's true.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: So all in, although the police believed the incident was
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: able to be attributed to a random act of violence,
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: which is true, that's exactly what it was, but what
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: they decided to do as a result, it's a little
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: bit lackluster, as they did not pursue any follow up investigation.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: Okay, that is an intense crime. Yeah, that needs to
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: be like, that needs to have some attention to it.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: Agreed, But also remember the time period that we're in
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: where violence is kind of like the norm.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: Well, and I guess to what are they going to do,
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: Like what kind of evidence are they going to necessarily find?
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they don't have any. They have nothing on them, Like,
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: they don't know who he is, nothing, they have no
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: suspect or anything. So they're just kind of like, all right,
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: that sucks. Hopefully it doesn't happen again.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: Huh. Okay, meanwhile, these two have to live their life
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: terrified exactly going forward.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: Right, Oh definitely. So, I mean, this attack didn't get
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: much attention from the police, but it also didn't get
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: a lot of attention from public either, So to be fair,
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: it's not just the authorities. Okay, So with a state
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: of how everything was at the time, it was just
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: kind of another incident mixed in with all the others. Basically, However,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: things were about to get much worse. On the morning
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: of Sunday, March twenty fourth, Richard L. Griffin, twenty nine
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: and as girlfriend of six weeks Polly and Moore, who
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: is seventeen. Yeah, we're getting a little bit sus with
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: these age gaps back in the nineteen forties here, But
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: they were discovered dead in Richard's car by a passing motorist.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean this guy got away with it quite easily.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he got away with it the first time.
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: Problem sometimes I feel like when you get away with something,
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: you know, you just go now, I'm raspy, what are
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: you doing? I don't know your next ones. I feel like,
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: you know, oh I can get away with this. I'm
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: gonna go a little further, a little further.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: You push the envelope, right, and especially like there's a
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: lot of serial killer cases where when people start pushing it,
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: they begin to taunt the authorities. In fact, even like
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: like giving them calling cards or sending letters and like
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: giving them more information even telling them, yeah, I'm going
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: to attack tomorrow with this, Yeah, like you know, daring
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: them to touch them. Almost.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean with certain kinds of people, it's like
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: a game for them, right exactly.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: And then they get they for lack of better terms,
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: that get off on the idea of how close they
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: are to being caught. But they're not gonna get me.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: So yeah.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: Now, Richard's car was parked once again on a secluded
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: lover's lane area, and it was about one hundred yards
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: south of US Highway sixty seven west in Bowie County.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: So Richard was found between the front seats, kneeling with
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: his head resting on his crossed hands and his pockets
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: turned inside out, while Polly was found face down in
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: the back seat. Evidence suggested that Polly had been killed
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: on a blanket outside the car before being placed back inside.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: There was even a bloodsoak dirt patch found near the car.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: Huh yeah, Okay, that's interesting that well, I mean kind
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: of hiding a little bit of evidence. I guess, maybe
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: not to be found right away if you just put
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: them back in the vehicle.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, who knows why. So Richard had been shot twice
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: inside the car and Both he and Polly were each
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: shot once in the back of the head. A thirty
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: two caliber bullet cartridge casing was discovered at the scene,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: possibly from a pistol, and they believe the gun could
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: have been wrapped in a blanket when fired to help
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: muffle the sound of the shot. Another grizzly event would
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: occur at around one thirty am on Sunday, April fourteenth,
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: nineteen forty six.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: Is it all like kind of a month apart? Ishu
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: or even less? Really?
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they're not too far apart. Paul Martin seventeen picked
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: up Betty Joe Booker fifteen after she had performed at
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: a musical event at the VFW Club in Texarkana. Later
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: that morning, at around six thirty am, Paul's body was
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: discovered laying on his left side by the north edge
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: of North Park Road, with blood found on the opposite
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: side of the road near the fence. He had been
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: shot four times through the nose, ribs, right hand, and
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: back of the neck. Betty Joe's body was found by
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: a search party at around eleven thirty am, nearly two
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: miles from where Paul's body was located. She was found
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: fully clothed, lying on her back behind a tree with
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: her right hand in her pocket of her buttoned up overcoat.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: She had been shot twice, once through the chest and
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: once through the face. The weapon used in both murders
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: was the same as before and now identified as a
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: thirty two caliber cult automatic pistol.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: Oh okay, the fact, okay that this monster is just
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: like telling them to run and then like chasing them
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: is just so.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: Fucked I agree. Now. Paul's car was discovered approximately three
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: miles from Betty Joe's body and one point five to
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: five miles from his own, parked outside of Spring Lake Park,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: with the keys still in the ignition.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: Oh my goodness.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: Now. Authorities were uncertain who had been shot first, but
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: Sheriff W. H. Bill Presley and the Texas Ranger Manual T.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: Gonzalez indicated that both victims appeared to have been appeared
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: to have put up a fierce struggle, which is very
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: clearly evident from showing that Paul was shot through the hand.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: He was right putting up a fight or at least
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: defensive in some sort.
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean good for them, right, Yeah, it's gosh,
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: you kind of have to I don't even know what
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: you would do in that kind of situation.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: I mean, I can't say I agree with the you
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: kind of have to because I mean, sometimes it's just hopeless,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: like what are you gonna do? Right? But even if
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: it was hopeless for him, even if he wasn't, say,
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: putting up a fight, maybe he was even just blocking
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: his visual of the gun pointed in his face. Maybe
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: he was just putting his hand up like fuck, I
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: can't believe this is happening. And then he gets shot,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: Like who knows.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: I know it's so hard, but I just in my mind,
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: I'm like, well, if you're gonna die, you might as
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: well go out fighting.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: I don't know, but I feel you.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but say, for example.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: In some situations, though it might be smarter not to
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: do that, I don't know.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: Well, what if he's got you, like he's thirty feet
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: away from me with a gun pointed in your face
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: and you're laying on the ground, how are you going
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: to fight back?
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you can't always no no now. Reportedly, both the
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: young women in these two killings had been sexually assaulted
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: before their deaths. Yeah.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: Wow, what a monster.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: And I could not find in which regard they were
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: sexually assaulted. I could not determine if there was like DNA,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: yeah found for example, right, but I was just aware
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: of the sexual assault. Now. On Friday, May third, nineteen
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: forty six, sometime before nine pm, sorry, Virgil Starks, who
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: is thirty seven years old, and his wife Katie, who
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: was thirty six, were at home on their five hundred
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: acre farm off Highway sixty seven east near Sorry, nearly
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: ten miles northeast of Texarkana.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: Okay, so they're at home here. I thought they were
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: on like a lover's lane, and I was like, get it.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: They're like like not older, but like, you know, they're
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: the same age as they are, but a married couple,
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: you know, trying to spice things up. And I thought
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: they were on lover's lamb at home.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, No, they're chilling at home.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: So Virgil was sitting in an armchair, relaxing and reading
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: the local newspaper when all of a sudden, there was
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: a shot that rang out. He was shot twice in
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: the back of the head through a closed double window
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: sitting behind him.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: Holy shit.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: The glass shattered as a shot rang out through the home.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Hearing the sounds, Katie rushed into the room and saw
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: Virgil stand up out of the chair, attempting to get
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: to his feet, but before he could gain his balance,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: he collapsed backward into his chair once again dead.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, and they were just he was just
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: sitting in his home, yeah, for the evening.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: Yeap.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: Just that's terrifying. That's so terrifying, I agree, Like in
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: his complete safe place, you know, Okay with.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: What she just witnessed, Katie now rushed to the phone
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: to call the police, but she was shot twice in
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: the face from the very same window as Virgil.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: Despite being shot in the face, Katie somehow didn't even
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: collapse to the floor. She managed to regain her footing
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: and went to retrieve a pistol from another room in
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: the home, but she was blinded by her own blood
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: that was covering and pouring from her face, so she
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: opted to run out the front door barefoot, and that
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: she did that when she heard someone entering the home.
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: Holy shit, what a badass, though, Yeah, So she ran
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: across the street to her sister's home, but no one
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: was home, so she continued to a neighbor's where she screamed,
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: quote Virgil's dead, before finally collapsing.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: The neighbor grabbed a rifle and fired a shot in
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: the air, both to serve as a warning to whoever
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: this killer was and to smon help from the neighbor
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: by the name of Elmer Taylor, who retrieved his car
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: and helped transport Katie to the hospital.
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: Did she live? Please tell me she lived.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: In total, three men and two women lost their lives
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: to the killer. Katie survived.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: Oh, okay, that's impressive shit right there? Yes, Holy heck,
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: how did she even manage that?
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: I don't know, Oh my goodness.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: Gracious, Sometimes peper are just capable so much.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: I know, it's honestly baffling what some people are capable of,
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: what they go through, and how they keep pushing. I
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: don't know if these bullets grazed her face, just hit
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: her nose, like hit her jaw, or if they did
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: embed themselves somehow into her brain and she still survived.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: I don't know the extent of her injuries. But regardless,
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: being shot in the face twice and you're still standing, yeah,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: and you still.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: Live, and it would be painful as fox still, regardless
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: of what was what it was, right, Like, you're fleeting
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: that profusely, profusely profusely.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so huh she she managed to survive, Oh.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: But still, gosh, that's I mean, she lost her husband.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Just yeah. So with each new murder, the sense of
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: panic in tensified residents arm themselves to avoid going or
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: sorry and avoided going out after dark, you know, living
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: in constant dread of nightfall. Right, law enforcement both from
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: Arkansas and Texas, I keep wanting to say, ar Kansas.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: Why did I'm sorry, why do you guys spell it
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: like that? Kansas? It's just ar in front of Kansas
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: and it's Arkansas in Arkansas. Yeah, it should be ar Kansas.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Let's we're all on the same page there, right, I
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: think I think.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: Well, I think the English dictionary or vocabulary or whatever,
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: it's interesting there can be like there, but you can
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: spell it like three different ways. Like it's just there's
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: this interesting things about it.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: Anytime I like, if I'm not paying one hundred percent
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: attention to exactly what I'm reading, my brain almost wants
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: to kick in and say Arkansas ar Kansas. Yeah it
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: makes sense, but yeah it's Arkansas. So law enforcement both
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: from Arkansas and Texas collaborated on this investigation because I mean,
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: this is taking place right on the border. So with
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: Texas Texas Rangers joining the effort, the influx of reporters
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: from across the nation only added to the growing chaos
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: in the town as well. Though, the press quickly coined
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: the term quote moonlight murders to describe the crimes, despite
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: the fact that the first two murders occurred a week
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: after a full moon though, and the final attack happened
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: near a new moon. But still they coined it that now.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: The elusive nature of the killer, who seemed to strike
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: with a warning and disappear without a trace, even earned
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: the moniker Phantom Killer in the local newspaper, the Texarkana Gazette.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: Numerous individuals came forward claiming to be the Phantom Killer,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: while others accused various locals of being responsible for it instead.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: One notable incident involved a University of Arkansas Arkansas student
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: from a well known Texarkanist family who took his own
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: life in Fayetteville, leaving behind a confession poem, though it
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: ultimately proved to be a false lead.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: Oh wow, that's always amazing to me that people.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Want they want that credibility, notoriety for that.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean when they haven't done anything. I just
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: it's hard for me to understand.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: I think it's a very difficult situation to ever try
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: and understand because like this, I mean, he's a student,
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: so he's he's somewhat of a kid. Maybe he's even
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: in his twenties. I don't know, that's still a kid
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: to me.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: But oh showed your freaking age.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: Okay, anyways, this is married to an old man.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: This person, this person, he's at his life end because
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: he's willing to commit this this act, right, He's willing
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: to take his own life. Yeah, so maybe this may
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: be the only way that he's thinking anyone will remember him.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: So he's willing to take and he's willing to take
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: this notoriety, this terrible thing, and put it to himself
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: so he's remembered, right.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: I guess. I mean I feel like I'd rather not
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: be remembered and be remembered in that way.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: I agree. I just I don't think any of us
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: would ever be able to understand unless we're in that position.
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, right, So I mean I'm not like I'm not
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: judging him, but I just it's hard to understand, I
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: guess because it's just so it's like I feel like
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: that would be worse, you know, being remembered that way
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: than than how you actually were, because I'm assuming that
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: he you know, he wasn't a terrible person.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: Well, I am with you there, But the things that
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: go through people's minds in that situation.
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: M h, Well, they're suffering too, I'm sure, from like
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: you know, some mental health stuff.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they're suffering in ways we could never even understand.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: So they're grasping for some way to probably be remembered
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: or maybe he's just is a terrible person and idolize
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: someone like that. I don't know.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, who knows.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: But regardless of the fact it was a false lead,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: and throughout the investigation, in fact, nearly four hundred suspects were.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: Examined four hundred, yeah, and.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: Over two hundred people were even questioned during the investigation
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: as well. With law enforcement chasing down just as many
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: dead end leads in the case of Paul Martin and
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: Betty Joe Booker, County investigators interrogated friends, acquaintances, and multiple
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: suspects just around the clock. Just for one example, Texas ranger,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: Manual T. Gonzalez, as they already mentioned earlier, even tried
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: to lure the killers by using teenagers as decoys in
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: parking and parked cars in these lovers Lanes areas. And
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: then he had had officers waiting nearby in the shadows. Okay,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: law enforcement officers themselves even posed as decoys, sometimes sitting
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: with their real partner in these cars, sometimes using mannequins
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: to try and bait the phantom killer. But unfortunately all
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: of these attempts failed.
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: Huh, that's kind of scary, though. Hey, imagine just sitting
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: there waiting, imagine.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Seeing like imagine you're just another person going to lover's
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: Lane and you pull up and you see someone sitting
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: in a car with a mannequin.
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: Like awkward, wherever floats your both exactly.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: It's just a little awkward, all right, you do you
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: We're probably going to go find another spot to park.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: But yeah. In the wake of the whole Stark murders,
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: the ones that occurred in the farm where Virgil was
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: shot sitting in his armchair for example, With these Stark murder's,
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: law enforcement from across the region were mobilized to assist
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: the investigation. Blockades were set up on Highway sixty seven East.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: Individuals who were even just in the area at the
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: time of the killing, along with several men just sorry,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: several men just found nearby, were detained for questioning. They
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: basically just blockaded it off as soon as they could
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: and took everyone within that zone, like you're a suspect
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: right now.
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: That's so much work too. Oh definitely, But you do
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: have to think that the couple are the married couple
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: that he he'd attacked, You would think that he almost
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: would know them. Hey, hard saying, Oh, that's sort of
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: what I'm just thinking. I guess maybe he was driving by,
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: watching and stuff.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe he was just driving by and saw Virgil
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: sit down in his armchair and was like, hey, that's
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: a good shot. It could have been something like that.
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: So by May fifth, a total of forty seven officers
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: were actively working to solve the case. On May ninth,
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: a mobile radio station was deployed, bringing with it twenty
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: Arkansas State Police officers and ten patrol cars equipped with
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: two A radios to help coordinate the increasingly complex investigation
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: that was at hand. Additionally, on May eleventh, a teletype machine,
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: which is like kind of like an early text messaging machine.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: It's like a imagine like texting on a typewriter. It's
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: kind of like a fax machine, but it's kind of
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: texting it the same. Yeah, you get it. It was
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: installed within the Bowie County Sheriff's Office, linking it to
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: other law enforcement agencies across Texas so they could easily
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: communicate with one another. Authorities initially speculated that the motive
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: behind the murder was a sex mania. They believed that's
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: what he was. They believed he was a maniac driven
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: strictly by sex, particularly they discovered. They assumed this since
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: large sums of money were left at the Starks home
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: and were untouched, and Katie Stark's purse was left behind
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: as well.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: Okay, but I feel like with that one too, he
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: wouldn't have had like a lot of time because it
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: didn't go probably the way he wanted, right.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. So by March thirtieth, a reward of
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: five hundred dollars was posted to encourage tips from the public,
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: but this led to over one hundred false leads with
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: no valuable clues. The reward fund quickly grew, surpassing seventeen
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: hundred dollars shortly after the Booker Martin murders, and reached
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: seven and twenty five dollars the night of the Stark murders.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: Within ten days of that, the reward had even exceeded
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: ten thousand dollars. However, there was some hesitation among investigators
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: to a dent or sorry to definitively link the Stark
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: murders to the other killings, as the weapon was. The
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: weapon that was used in that one was a twenty
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: two caliber firearm. So by November nineteen forty eight, authorities
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: largely dismissed the connection between the Stark murders and the
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: earlier double homicides.
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: Okay, that makes sense, actually, yeah.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: Though the case still remains a subject of debate among
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: investigators and historians, today, the majority still attribute it to
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: the Texarkana Phantom Killer. Okay, so it is up for
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: debate whether it is even involved in the story or not,
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: but it is mostly assumed to be.
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: It is so different, though, so different than the other ones.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: It is, but then there was no other, like, there's
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: no indication of who could have been. No one hated
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: them or anything. Are you sure as far as investigators
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: found there was no like it was a random act
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: of violence. There were murders happening at the time, and
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: this seemed to fit that random act of shootings. Yeah.
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: So regardless though, because of the murders, hysteria grip tech Texarkana,
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: the media extensively covered the increasingly police or say the
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: increased police or activity. I stumbled that sentence, My bad.
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: The media extensively covered the increased police activity. There we
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: go with a Texarkana gazette warning on May fifth that
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: the killer could strike again at any time, anywhere, and
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: against any one.
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so be afraid for your life. Yeah, and that
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: ten thousand dollars I'm assuming was ten thousand dollars at
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: that time, correct, which is a lot of money.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: Correct. Okay, So the police were flooded with reports of
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: prowlers and the community took drastic measures to secure their homes,
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: locking doors, arming themselves, even nailing windows shut. Stores quickly
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: sold out of locks, guns, ammunition, window shades, and many
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: other items as a result. As the weeks passed without
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: another murder, though, the intense fear that had Texarkana on
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: edge began to subside a bit. Although the anxiety lingered
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: throughout the summer. It gradually disminished, diminished, I can't talk today,
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: diminished after three months, as the community slowly returned to
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: some sort of sense of normalcy. Fortunately, the string of
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: murders attributed to the Phantom Killer came to an end.
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: Okay, I thought you were just like there was to
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: be another one.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: There are no further deaths or attacked linked to the
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: Phantom Killer. Despite extensive efforts to identify the killer, the
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: remains of who this is? Who could be the guy
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: stalking people in Lover's Lane. The identity is a mystery
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: to this day.
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: Maybe they died, They could have, right, it could be.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: It's possible. There are numerous theories. There's numerous suspects that
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: have emerged over the years, but none have been definitively
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: proven to be the perpetrator. One of the most frequently
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: cited suspects is an individual by the name of Yule Sweeney. Now.
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: Yule was a repeat offender with a criminal history that
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: included car theft, counterfeiting, burglary, and assault. An Arkansas law officer,
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: Max Tuckett, observed a pattern in car thefts occurring right
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: before each murder in July nineteen forty six, a stakeout
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: of a reported stolen car led police to a woman
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: who identified herself as Jule's girlfriend. She, interestingly enough, was
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: able to provide specific details about the murders that had
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: not been made public. However, her story later changed and
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: she went on to Mary Yule, rendering her testimony completely
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: unreliable due to her altered account and the legal prosecution
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: of spousal privilege right which prevented them from testifying against
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: Yule and leaving law enforcement unable to pursue him any further.
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: Huh oh, that's interesting. Hey yeah.
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: Another suspect often mentioning this connection is an individual by
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: the name of Earl mix Baden or mc spaden. On
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: May seventh, nineteen forty six, Earl's body was found on
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: the Arkansas City Southern Railway tracks sixteen miles north of Texarkana,
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: near Ogden. His left arm and leg had been severed
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: by a free train, and the coroner's jury concluded that
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: he was dead before being placed on the tracks, recording
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: a verdict of death at the hands of a person's
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: unnon Some local speculate that this Earl was either the
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: phantom sixth victim or the phantom himself, with a rumor
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: circulating that he had committed suicide by jumping in front
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: of the train.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: Huh, you know, or there could there could have been
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: like people out there, like just what's the word vigilantes
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: or whatever, yea out there trying to like also get
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: this person. Yeah, and someone could like have thought they
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: found him or whatever and killed him.
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true. There are countless other suspects and theories
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: surrounding the identity of the phantom killer. I mean, each
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: with her own different story, and it would honestly take me,
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: like probably a couple hours to cover each of them
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: on their own, But this podcast isn't that long, so
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: I do encourage you guys all to kind of go
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: and take a look at some of the suspects on
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: your own. But these are the most two prevalent ones.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: One of another prevalent ones that does keep popping up
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: is that boy who did kill himself and write that
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: poem as profession. That is another one that is discussed
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: quite a bit.
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: But okay, but that one was thinking that it was
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: deemed that he didn't something, it was deemed to be
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: a false sleeve.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: Yes, okay, so despite all these efforts, the true identity
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: of the Texarkana's Phantom remains one of the most mysterious
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: events in American criminal history, and it is possible that
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: we may never know who he's responsible for the terror
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: that plagued Texarkana in nineteen forty six.
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: Huh.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: And that is the story of the texar Kana Phantom,
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: which is just like too bad.
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: Like I hate that you could be, you know, doing
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: this kind of shit and get away with it. Generally
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: you don't, you don't, but there are certain times that
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: you do. And I just that just like crushes me.
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: I agree, I really, there was nothing I had to
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: add to that. I agree.
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: Well, just that someone can do such terrible things and
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: just continue living their life like.
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: Fuck, yeah, yeah, imagine that guy is still out there today. Well,
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know how old he'd be. If
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: it was in the forties, he's probably imagine him at
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: least twenty at the time.
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: He's probably dead though, yeah, most likely. Yeah, And I
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: mean back then, what kind of it's probably not going
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: to get solved. I mean, it could, it could, but
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: it's probably not because I mean, they didn't have the
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: means they do today to solve things back then.
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there you go. Wow, I have no theory. Usually
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: in mysteries and unsolved murders like this, I have a theory.
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: I have nothing.
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: Huh.
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: I do think Yule is the most likely suspect, but
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: I also think that there would be some evidence to
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: also link him if he was, so I'm also not
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: sold on it.
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, the fact that his girlfriend knew things that
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: weren't released, How the hell would she? You know?
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: That was all it takes is for one rumor to
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: get out, one officer to have a drink with his
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: wife and just say something he wasn't supposed to, and
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: then her go to the I don't know, grocery store
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: and run into a friend and oh, my husband told
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: me this, And then that person is friends with this
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: chick who's marrying you.
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: All I guess like, yeah, I mean, how many conversations
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: don't tell anyone this? Or I'm not supposed to tell
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: anyone this?
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: But yeah, things get leaked all the time. Yeah, so
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: to say that it was not released information, are you
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: certain it was not released information?
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: Well, that's an interesting one.
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree.
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: Also terrifying the thought of just like being chased to
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: me is something I know.
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: And then he catches up with you and asks you,
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: why are you running?
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: Oh gosh, yeah, because also like zombie stuff, when the
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: zombies are like fast and chase you, I just can't, Like,
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: I just can't. The chasing thing is just too much.
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I gotcha. No, I I'm right there with you,
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: because especially I've gained weights in my thirties and I
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: cannot run very good anymore.
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: I know. I'm like, I don't know even how far
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: i'd make it, But then there's adrenaline. I'd be relying
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: on that.
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: I guess probably I'd probably be very like Homer Simpson
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: ask I'd take like two steps and I'd be like, okay,
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: just hold that a second regreath. Oh boy, that's probably
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: how it would play out for me.
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: Okay, well, I guess we you know, hope you guys
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: have a good week. We'll see you again on Friday.
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: Are you gonna do the whole end spiel?
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: I wasn't planned. I don't know.
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: Are you gonna make me do it?
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: Okay, thank you guys for being here. We really appreciate it.
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: As always, trust me, I really do mean it. Whenever
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: I say it, I do this spiel at the end
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: every episode, but I do it because, hey, we're serious.
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: Without you guys listening to our show, we would not
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: be doing the show. Still, we would not be here today,
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: So thank you so much. In the bottom of our hearts.
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: If you want to check out any of our links,
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: they are below. I'm gonna leave it at that today,
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much. You guys are incredible. In fact,
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: you guys are short wicked. They're wicked. So do you
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: know what I think they should do?
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: Stay wicked exactly. Okay, until next time, stay wicked. H