The SHOCKING case that baffled detectives - The Moonlight Murders
The key players in the investigation have passed on but the thirst for answers continues to grow amongst keyboard detectives and fans of true crime worldwide. Richard L. Griffin,29, was also shot in the head, but he seemed to be killed inside of the car. Polly Ann Moore,17, was shot in the outside of the car that was on the side of the road.
Despite an intense manhunt involving multiple law enforcement agencies and a number of suspects over the years, the identity of the killer has never been definitively determined or has it? The case has since become a popular subject for true crime enthusiasts and inspired numerous books, movies and TV shows. The unknown killer is credited with attacking eight people, five which were killed within ten weeks, usually three weeks apart. The attacks happened on weekends between February 22, 1946 through May 3, 1946. Contrary to popular belief, the killer did not attack during a full moon but did strike late at night.
The Texarkana Gazette contained a small title on April 17 which read, "Phantom Slayer Still at Large as Probe Continues". On Friday night, May 10, Texarkana City Police officers chased a car for three miles after it was spotted following a city bus. The police shot out the tires and arrested a high school star athlete named C.
The police also found a .32 cartridge shell at the scene, most likely from a Colt automatic pistol. The movie reminds me of one of those ace 1940's chillers, like Follow Me Quietly . Based on fact, Sundown is about a phantom killer who stalks lover's lanes in Texarkana, and police Missing persons efforts to catch him. Of course, without the heavy hand of a '40's Production Code, Sundown is much more graphic than anything from that earlier decade. Nineteen-year-old Mary Jeanne Larey and her boyfriend, Jimmy Hollis, 24, were like any other young lovers in Texarkana tonight.
The other went in her lower jaw just below the lip, breaking it and several teeth before lodging under her tongue. She ran for a pistol in the living room, but was blinded by her own blood. She could hear the killer tearing loose the rusted screen wire on the back porch. She stumbled for her bedroom near the front of the house to leave a note. The killer ran to the back of the house and made his way up the steps and into a side-screened porch through the back screen door.
The Texarkana Gazette stated on Sunday, May 5 that the killer might strike again at any moment, at any place, and at anyone. Before, it was normal to leave one's house unlocked, but soon residents started locking doors, pulling down shades, blocking windows, and arming themselves with guns. Some people nailed sheets over their windows or nailed the windows down. Immediately after reports of the slaying spread, blockades were set up several miles northeast and southwest on Highway 67 East. On the dining room table were Mrs. Starks' supplies for making a dress.
Dr. Anthony Lapalla, a psychologist at the Federal Correctional Institution in Texarkana, believed the killer was planning to continue to make unexpected attacks such as that of Virgil Starks on the outskirts of town. He also believed that the same person committed the murders of Virgil Starks, Betty Jo Booker, Paul Martin, Polly Ann Moore, and Richard Griffin. He also believed the killer was between the ages of the middle 30s to 50 years old. He said that the killer was apparently motivated by a strong sex drive and that he was a sadist.
And strangely, petty crime dropped, for citizens were alert and apphrension might have meant death. B. Tennison, 18, of Texarkana, Ark., where a series of horrors more than two years ago left five perons dead. Most of these articles were published in the six days immediately following the discovery of H. These six days were Saturday, November 6, 1948 through Thursday, November 11, 1948.
The latter was shot by rifle fire in his farm home, 3 weeks after the Booker-Martin shooting. Five persons were mysteriously killed in the border city in the spring of 1946, and Tennison's notes said he was responsible for 3 of the slayings. Texarkana authorities Tuesday were still waiting for laboratory reports on comparisons of fingerprints taken from the body of H. B. Tennison and those removed from a car at the scene of one of the Phantom murders in 1946.
In the room with his body -- he apparently used poison -- were found notes telling that he killed himself because he was the Texarkana "phantom." B. Tennison, a 17-year-old freshman at the University of Arkansas. His body was found in the rooming house where he lived.
Paul Martin and Betty Jo Booker were the second double murder three weeks later in April. Virgil Starks was killed and his wife Katie was shot twice at the beginning of May 1946. Join Gina and Amber in the discussion about the Texarkana Moonlight Murders on social media or email us your thoughts on the case. For example, the New York Daily News reports that he used the barrel of his gun to sexually assault one of his first victims, a 19-year-old woman named Mary Jeanne Larey. She was one of the few to survive the attacks, but most were not so fortunate.
Everything can go wherever you think it will do best except for the View-Master which will go to Belva Jo. Please take my bankroll and give it to Daddy, I think it should go to him, and tell him I don't want the car now. Resident who believed that he may have committed the crimes while in a coma, and included a troubled young man who was attending the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, H.D.
They were all from the same area in Fort Worth, Texas, had similar physical characteristics and their bodies were found in the same area. They were all beautiful and ambitious and lived within a six mile radius of each other. Their killer was never caught although investigators believe they know who was responsible for their deaths, he died before they could prove it.
He rushes to Katie’s aid as she collapses in the backyard, saying, ‘Virgil’s dead.’ Prater fired one of his rifles into the air, alerting some of the other neighbors. One of these neighbors, Elmer Taylor, was quick to respond. After searching for the cause, he asked him to bring the car and help him, he sent a message that Virgil was dead and that Katie needed urgent help.