The Phantom Killer: Unlocking the Mystery of the Texarkana Serial Murders: The Story of a Town in Terror

by James Presley

  END

  SOURCE NOTES

  Details of weather, moon and sun data, and temperatures came from U.S. Geological Survey data, newspaper weather reports, and Farmers Almanac for 1946 in online archives. When data were not available for Texarkana, the author used that for nearby Shreveport, Louisiana. The Texarkana City Directories and 1946 telephone book provided other information. In addition to interviews and archival material, the Texarkana Gazette and Daily News were among the major sources for the events and, especially, headlines. MeasuringWorth.com was consulted when translating 1946 dollars into present-day values. Comparisons, of course, are approximate.

  THE TOWN

  Early Texarkana history: “that lively railroad village,” Leet, Texarkana, A Pictorial History, p. 33. “Texarkana is the gateway.” quoted in Leet, p. 38. Paragon Saloon tragedy, pp. 33-34.; “great majority . . . gamblers, gunmen,” Images of Texarkana, p. 6. The city’s 88 saloons: Texarkana Gazette, Sept. 26, 1948. The crimes described were reported in the Texarkana Gazette of relevant dates. Tillman Johnson’s files and memory covered the O’Dwyer and Hasselberg murders. “As a puzzle”: Kent Biffle to Mark Moore, July 7, 2008; “most notorious and intriguing”: Deborah Bauman (Segment Producer for The Ultimate 10) to Jerry Atkins, Aug. 14, 2000.

  CHAPTER 1

  STRANGER IN THE DARK

  Events of late 1945, including the Fulton shootout, and early 1946 came from articles in the Texarkana Gazette. The author personally viewed the movie, Three Strangers, on Turner Classic Movies. The night of the attack is based primarily on an unpublished manuscript, “The Texarkana Phantom Killer” by James M. Hollis, an eyewitness first-hand account in which he recalled his exact thoughts from the beginning of the ordeal, a copy of which is in the possession of the author. His memoir was supplemented by contemporary Gazette and Daily News accounts, including an interview of Mrs. Larey published in May 1946 in the Gazette. James Hollis’s background came from a variety of family sources: an ex-sister-in-law from his second marriage Mary Ann Williamson, a niece Diana Burris, his widow of his last marriage Peggy Francisco, as well as marriage and divorce records in Union County, Ark., along with census records. Mary Jeanne Larey’s background came from census records, marriage and divorce records, and relative interviews.

  CHAPTER 2

  CONFLICTING PERCEPTIONS

  Billie Presley Edgington provided many details about her father, Bill Presley. His brother, J. A. “Alex” Presley, recalled the Red Springs community in which they grew up. Other material came from a Gazette feature as the sheriff was leaving office in 1948. Hollis recalled his hospital experiences in his unpublished memoir. That article and newspaper reports of the Texarkana Daily News and Gazette combined to fill out his post-hospital period. The Gazette reported the Hooks house fire, as well as the two-car crash on Highway 67 around that time. Mary Ann Williamson told of the gunshots startling Hollis. The Gazette reported on the returning servicemen, crimes, and social events, as well as the arrival of baby chicks at the post office.

  CHAPTER 3

  DOUBLE DEATH IN A CAR

  Richard Griffin’s background is based on interviews with his brothers, Welborn Griffin and David Griffin. Polly Ann Moore’s information is based on interviews with her brother, Mark Moore.

  CHAPTER 4

  A BAFFLING CASE

  Mark Moore and Patti Bishop provided details of the tragic day Polly’s body was found. Texarkana Gazette stories contained some details of the couple’s activities. The Gazette reported accidents at the Canary Cottage. Most of the accounts of individuals mentioned came through interviews with those persons; for instance, Byron Brower, Jr., Mark Moore, Patti Richardson Bishop, Ray Rounsavall, Sandy Burnett (then Sandy King), David Griffin, and Welborn Griffin. A physician’s report that she was not “criminally assaulted” appeared in the Texarkana Gazette, supported by Max Tackett’s interview that there was no rape. Verdicts were written in death certificates of each victim. In addition to accounts at the time, Texas DPS records provided details of the murder weapon, to which Max Tackett and Bill Presley also contributed. The filing label for the bullets is specified in numerous DPS letters then and subsequently, as in Fred R. Rymer, firearms examiner, to W. H. Presley, Aug. 12, 1948. The finding of the Spanish-made revolver three years later was reported in the Texarkana Gazette, Oct. 17, 18, 19, 1949, confirmed by telephone interview with Marie Barlow Tammen. Mrs. Larey’s trip to Texarkana was told in a May 1946 Gazette interview.

  CHAPTER 5

  A BOY, A GIRL—AND A GUNMAN

  Sue McCrossen told of Girl Scout hikes; Bill Horner, of park water beliefs. The Gazette reported the stolen car of April 11. Tillman Johnson explained how to hot-wire a car. Jerry Atkins and Bill Manning described the band and the atmosphere at the time. Mrs. Grace Guier contributed details of Betty Jo Booker’s life. Tillman Johnson supplied insight on the background and death of Betty Jo’s father. Bessie Booker Brown’s taped interview with Georgia Daily provided additional details, as did Bob Mundella’s interview with Mrs. Brown. Paul Martin’s background came from his sister-in-law, Margaret Martin, Herbert Wren, Thomas Torrans, Bob Matthews, and Tom Albritton, as well as newspaper accounts. His correct age, repeatedly reported as seventeen, was established as sixteen on his death certificate, information given by his mother. Sophie Anne White Redditt told of the afternoon swim and the evening’s band performance; Jerry Atkins also contributed. Bessie Brown’s taped interview described Paul Martin’s visit. Jim Morriss explained the little-known cancelled date. Both Tom Albritton and Ramona Putman Ruggles gave versions of the Saturday night that went awry. Charlsie Schoeppey Boyd remembered her fellow students dancing in Spring Lake Park.

  CHAPTER 6

  PALM SUNDAY HORRORS

  The ordeal at the Brown home came from Bessie Brown’s interview by Georgia Daily. Janann Gleason verified that the slumber party, which Betty Jo failed to attend, was at her home. What Tom Moores heard was reported in the Gazette and confirmed by his son, Richard Moores. Ernest Browning’s and the Weavers’ reports were in the Gazette. The Gazette provided details of the death scene for Paul Martin. Bill Presley told the author of the unpublished report of the evidence he recovered nearby, of Martin’s date book, which no one else knew of. Jerry Atkins’s memories were shared in an interview with him and his own unpublished account of that weekend. The site where Martin’s car was found was toured with Bill Horner, who visited it the day of the murders. Tom Albritton and Herbert Wren told of the Sunday morning receipt of the bad news. Charlsie Schoeppey Boyd told of the discovery of Betty Jo Booker’s body by the search party. There also was an account in the Gazette in 1996. Jim Morriss recalled the morning and his reactions.

  CHAPTER 7

  RISING TERROR

  The death certificates provided the coroner’s comments. The author examined the DPS report regarding the condition of Betty Jo Booker’s body. The FBI memo of April 20, 1946, reported findings of semen, noting it was not known if Polly Ann Moore was raped. A copy of the Ernest Browning report by the Texas Rangers came from Tillman Johnson’s papers. Other details came from newspaper articles and from the Texarkana City Directory and 1946 telephone book. Grace Guier told of her husband Nathan Guier’s plans to photograph Betty Jo upon his return from New York. Sue Phillips MaGouirk told of the woman holding up the child at Betty Jo’s funeral. J. Q. Mahaffey explained how the brand, Phantom, came about. Texarkana newspaper ads documented the familiar use of the term Phantom at the time, in the movies, the comics, and wrestling.

  CHAPTER 8

  A LEGENDARY RANGER

  Captain Gonzaullas’s biographers published background and a variety of details, as did a number of newspapers and magazines. A major source was Brownson Malsch, Captain M. T. Gonzaullas: Lone Wolf, The Only Texas Ranger Captain of Spanish Descent (Austin, Texas: Shoal Creek Publishers, 1980), especially pp. xiii-xvi, 1-2 ff., 159-168, 206-209. Chapter XV (159-168) deals with the Texarkana murders. Mike Cox’s Texas Ranger Tales features the
Texarkana case in a chapter, “Lone Wolf Versus the Phantom,” pp. 246-265. Several oral histories from the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame E-Book Project added details, especially those of Gonzaullas himself and Lewis Rigler. The author also spoke with Gonzaullas by telephone in 1976 during research for another book but in no detail about the murders. Louis Graves offered his memory of Gonzaullas’s first news conference in Texarkana. A copy of the all-points bulletin was in the Tillman Johnson papers. Weldon Glass and J. Q. Mahaffey provided details of the investigation and the type of suspects picked up. Mahaffey recalled the incoming newsmen and Wick Fowler’s anecdote. Billie Edgington told of her father Bill Presley’s feelings about the outside lawmen. Sue Wilson McCrossen told of Gonzaullas’s approaching her father to acquire a secret meeting room.

  CHAPTER 9

  FEAR STALKS BY NIGHT

  Travis Elliott recounted the case of “Sammy” and his examination under hypnosis. Newspaper accounts were sources for numerous incidents. Max Tackett’s comments were made in an interview. Byron Brower, Jr., told of his mother’s reaction to the visitor. A feature in the Texarkana Gazette described the French war bride’s arrival in Texarkana. J. Q. Mahaffey’s interview by Georgia Daily provided his reaction to the fatal plunge of the woman from the hotel. The event was confirmed by examining a Gazette article. John Norman Henshaw recalled how his classmate Betty Jo Booker’s chemistry lab book remained in place. Max Tackett in 1971 told of stopping the motorist.

  CHAPTER 10

  MURDER STRIKES HOME

  Background on the Starks couple and their farm was compiled from a variety of sources, census reports, marriage license, city directory and telephone book, oral history, correspondence, and newspaper reports. Max Tackett told of his and Charley Boyd’s itinerary and observations. Parts of Katie Starks’s version of the shootings were in the Gazette the next morning; Max Tackett and Tillman Johnson also provided details. Bill Presley recalled the night. Tillman Johnson’s papers include photos at the Starks house. Johnson, in numerous conversations, reviewed the night and the community. J. Q. Mahaffey remembered the experience in an interview with Georgia Daily. Arkansas State Police Lt. Carl Miller’s reports are in the ASP files. Calvin Sutton’s letter to the author explained how he sent the news onto the Associated Press wire.

  CHAPTER 11

  NOBODY IS SAFE!

  Tillman Johnson described his investigation and the tracks. Forrest Sutton, for one, told of the cigarette butts found near the car’s parking spot. Howard Giles explained the fingerprinting setup in Texarkana, Ark. Max Tackett told of the forensics lab report on the .22 caliber weapon. Death certificate for Virgil Starks cited facts of his death. Calvin Sutton and J. Q. Mahaffey described the flashlight photo and its distribution. The Gazette interview with Dr. Anthony Lapalla was a major article three days after the Starks shootings. Paul Burns described flying Lucille Holland to Oklahoma to interview Mary Jeanne Larey. Holland’s story of the interview ran on page one the following morning.

  CHAPTER 12

  A MEDIA INVASION

  J. Q. Mahaffey and Louis Graves cited Kenneth Dixon’s arrival and his much-quoted lead. Dixon background came from Wikipedia entry and other sources. Mahaffey read his speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors into his taped interview with Georgia Daily. Time and Life: Sheet of instructions for producer in Wayne Beck collection. Morris Arnold’s memory of the times was printed in the Texarkana Gazette’s series in 1996, marking the 50th anniversary of the murders. “UNIVERSAL NEWSREEL” Garrison to Gonzaullas, telegram, May 15, 1946, Wayne Beck collection. A Newsweek article ran May 20, 1946. Bob Carpenter: Mahaffey told of the MBS broadcast from Texarkana. Gonzaullas to visiting press: “Ranger Asks ‘One Little Break’” under byline of Dick Allen, newspaper clipping, May 9, 1946, publication unknown. Photocopy of AP newspaper story, undated but apparently in mid-May 1946, quoted an unnamed officer as claiming the killer smeared his hands in the blood on the floor, which didn’t happen, according to reliable sources. Mahaffey’s interview with the author described the attempt by an unknown man to enter his house one night. Jo Hurst, Bettye Matthews, and Leslie Greer described aspects of Phantomania. Mahaffey recalled the Gonzaullas anecdote at KCMC in an interview with the author. Mahaffey and his son John Mahaffey told of the reactions from afar.

  CHAPTER 13

  LAW AND DISORDER

  Tillman Johnson told of the unshuttered house on County Avenue. Louis Graves recalled the “bodies” in a yard. A number of far-off crimes were investigated for possible Phantom connections. News reports provided most of the incidents, while others came from official files, such as Texas DPS correspondence. For instance, data on Fort Lauderdale, Florida, murders came from correspondence: Glen H. McLaughlin to Walter E. Clark, Oct. 11, 1946, and Glen H. McLaughlin to M. T. Gonzaullas, Oct. 23, 1946, and a clipping, Dallas Morning News, Oct. 12, 1946. The Black Dahlia case in Los Angeles received front-page attention over the nation, one example of which was Dallas Times Herald, Feb. 10, 1947; the elimination of a Fort Dix, New Jersey, soldier as a suspect in the Phantom case, having been overseas at the relevant times, is in Gonzaullas to Glen H. McLaughlin, Feb. 24, 1947. Regarding a couple assaulted in a suburb of Los Angeles, United Press report, April 21, 1950; Glen H. McLaughlin to W. A. Worton, April 27, 1950; W. A. Worton to Homer Garrison, Jr. Across McLaughlin’s April 27 letter copy he had printed boldly, ELIMINATED; a double murder in Amsterdam, New York. United Press report, Oct. 3, 1950 (in typescript); Glen H. McLaughlin to W. E. Kirwan, Oct. 4, 1950.

  Re letters to Gonzaullas, Texarkana Gazette feature by Sally Reese, May 19, 1946. The Tresnick divorce was in the Miller County Circuit Clerk’s records; the marriages cited, from the Miller County Clerk’s books. Georgia Daily remembered the comment: “If the Phantom ever walks into John’s Place.” “Ten thousand dollars worth”: Mahaffey interview. “I’m not going to leave” Tillman Johnson recalled his conversation with Gonzaullas while riding with the other officers. Incidents with Gonzaullas told the author by the women involved. Lights in Starks house and Tackett-Gonzaullas conflict came from Mahaffey interview. Louis Graves supplied information on Texarkana Bears. Tillman Johnson recalled how touchy it was to approach law-abiding citizens at night in the line of duty. Bill Presley told of stakeout in interview, Texarkana Gazette, May 31, 1970. He told the author of falling asleep on his feet.

  CHAPTER 14

  BEHIND A SERIAL KILLER’S FAÇADE

  Accounts of the Alexander Pichushkin case: Texarkana Gazette, October 2007; Associated Press, August 14, 2007. Definition of serial killings and material from the FBI Symposium: Morton, Robert J., and Mark A. Hilts, eds., Serial Murders—Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for Investigators. Symposium, Aug. 29-Sept. 2, 2005, San Antonio. FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime; types of multiple killers, with quote by John Douglas, from Douglas and Olshaker, The Anatomy of Motive, pp. 190-191. Re organized and disorganized offenders, Ressler, 130; “He thinks he will never be caught,” Ressler, 139-141. The author interviewed the Texarkana psychiatrists in 1971. Another insight is by psychologist James Grigson in Carlton Stower’s excellent article, “The Phantom Menace,” Dallas Observer, Feb. 1-7, 2001. Thought preceded the act: Robert K. Ressler, Ann W. Burgess, John E. Douglas et al., Sexual Homicide: Patterns and Motives (New York: The Free Press, 1988), pp. ix-33; “the way they think,” Ressler et al., 40, 43; re accomplices, teams, Levin, ibid. 31-34; James Alan Fox and Jack Levin, 80, 101; on driving at night, Douglas and Olshaker, Mindhunter, 57; “It is not that serial killers want to get caught,” Dr. Jack Levin, Serial Killers and Sadistic Murderers: Up Close and Personal (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 2008), 56. Experts: “a complex process” FBI symposium. See also Morrison, My Life Among, cf. psychopath, 67, 71-72, 128-9, 194. “Serial killers may be compensating,” Levin, 34. “Taunting law enforcement,” Levin, 31. Levin quote, target strangers, Levin, op. cit., 157; re changing MO, re copycat: beliefs: Morrison, 137, Levin, 38-39; “branch out,” Fox and Lev
in, 101; re sociopaths: Fox and Levin, 65-66; quote on p. 69. Paul Bloom quote in Leanne Italie, Associated Press article keyed to Bloom’s book, Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil, in Texarkana Gazette, Nov. 17, 2013, contained a quotation not in the book. Telephone interview with Dr. Shervert H. Frazier. See Shervert H. Frazier, “Violence and Social Impact,” in Joseph C. Schoolar and Charles M. Gaitz, eds., Research and the Psychiatric Patient (New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1975, pp. 183-194. Rehab of serial killers, Fox and Levin, 71; Levin quote, 186.

  CHAPTER 15

  AN ACCIDENTAL BREAK

  These events have been reconstructed primarily around interviews with Max Tackett and Tillman Johnson. Peggy Swinney’s background data—birth, previous marital status, her recent marriage—all came from official documents, including 1930 census, two marriage licenses, divorce records. A great deal of information exists on marriage licenses. Similar information for Swinney was also required for their marriage license. Sources for the Atlanta, Texas, portion of the chase included Ollie Jaynes, Nancy Partain, Paul Boone, Ralph Allen. Ray B. Fultz’ s Oct. 2, 1977 article in The Atlanta Times provided additional information. Tackett and Johnson corroborated each other’s version of the chase and arrest.

  In the photograph, Hibbett Lee previously has been identified as “Mr. Partain,” but Partain remained at the car lot in Atlanta. Those acquainted with the incident agreed Hibbett Lee is the one photographed.