Speaker 1: Welcome to Criminalia, a production of shondaland Audio in partnership
Speaker 1: with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: A series of murders and related violent crimes involving four
Speaker 2: couples was committed in the Texarkana region of the United
Speaker 2: States between February and May of nineteen forty six and
Speaker 2: remain unsolved. Before we begin, please note that this story
Speaker 2: will include discussion or mentions of sexual assault, violent physical assault, suicide,
Speaker 2: and some truly terrifying bits in general. Welcome to Criminalia.
Speaker 2: I'm Maria Tremarky.
Speaker 1: And I'm Holly Frye. Texarcana is one city that's located
Speaker 1: on the border of two states, and it forms two
Speaker 1: metropolitan constabularies, Texarcana, Texas and Texarkana, Arkansas. In nineteen forty six,
Speaker 1: the year we're traveling back to, it had a popular
Speaker 1: of almost fifty thousand people. It was a bit of
Speaker 1: a bustling town, but it wasn't a dangerous town. But
Speaker 1: beginning in February that year, a series of brutal attacks
Speaker 1: occurred across a span of ten weeks. Three instances were
Speaker 1: violent attacks on young people parked in secluded areas on
Speaker 1: the Texas side of town. The fourth was the shooting
Speaker 1: of a middle aged couple in their rural farmhouse on
Speaker 1: the Arkansas side of town. Three victims were seriously wounded
Speaker 1: and five were killed, and they were all attacked at night,
Speaker 1: So let's talk about who they were and their crime scenes.
Speaker 2: The first victims were Jimmy Hollis, aged twenty five, and
Speaker 2: Mary Jean Lawry, nineteen. On the night of February twenty second,
Speaker 2: the pair had seen a movie and then driven just
Speaker 2: outside of town to a kind of makeshift lover's lane.
Speaker 2: Just before midnight, Jimmy noticed someone approaching them, motioning for
Speaker 2: them to get out of the car. They were wearing
Speaker 2: a mask and shining a flashlight through the window. At gunpoint,
Speaker 2: the perpetrator forced them out of the car and instructed
Speaker 2: Jimmy to quote take off your explative pants. Jimmy complied
Speaker 2: and was severely beaten, but despite several injuries, including a
Speaker 2: fractured skull, he survived. The perpetrator ordered Mary to run
Speaker 2: and then terrifyingly chased her. He ordered her to change course,
Speaker 2: and when he caught up to her, like she was
Speaker 2: his prey, he beat her violently and then sexually assaulted
Speaker 2: her with his pistol barrel. Some versions of this crime
Speaker 2: story suggest she was allowed to go, others suggest she escaped,
Speaker 2: and yet others suggest her attacker ran when he saw headlights.
Speaker 2: Mary Jean did get away, but her attacker disappeared by
Speaker 2: the time local law enforcement arrived. They were the first
Speaker 2: couple attacked in what would become a serial murder case,
Speaker 2: and it was downplayed as a freak incident by both
Speaker 2: authorities and the press. Things like this just didn't happen
Speaker 2: in Texarcana. Later, both Jimmy and Mary Jean described their attacker,
Speaker 2: but their descriptions were very vague. He stood about six
Speaker 2: feet tall, and he had been wearing a homemade white
Speaker 2: hood that had holes cut out for the eyes and mouth.
Speaker 2: They didn't agree on anything else. Mary Jean later stated quote,
Speaker 2: I would know that voice anywhere. It rings always in
Speaker 2: my ears. Eventually she would move to Oklahoma, a fresh
Speaker 2: place to heal her trauma.
Speaker 1: Unlike the first victims, Richard Griffin, a twenty nine year
Speaker 1: old recently discharged navy Cebee, and Pollyanne Moore, seventeen, his
Speaker 1: girlfriend did not survive the attack on them. Less than
Speaker 1: a month after Jimmy and Mary Jean were assaulted. On
Speaker 1: March twenty fourth, Richard and polly Anne were found dead
Speaker 1: in their parked car, which was Richard's nineteen forty one
Speaker 1: Oldsmobile Sedan. A passing motorist had noticed the car parked
Speaker 1: about one hundred yards off the highway in a grove
Speaker 1: and stopped to make sure everything was okay. They saw
Speaker 1: Richard's body on the front seat on his knees with
Speaker 1: his head resting on his crossed hands. Polly Anne was
Speaker 1: faced down on the back seat. She had been sexually assaulted.
Speaker 1: Both victims had been shot in the back of the
Speaker 1: head with a thirty two caliber Colt pistol, and later
Speaker 1: investigations suggested that they had both been killed outside of
Speaker 1: the car and then been placed back inside.
Speaker 2: About three weeks later, the attacker struck again. Fifteen year
Speaker 2: old high school junior Betty Joe Booker loved to dance.
Speaker 2: She wanted to become a medical technician. She was also
Speaker 2: a talented saxophonist who played with a local dance band,
Speaker 2: the Rhythmaires. They had a standing Saturday night gig at
Speaker 2: the Veterans of Foreign Wars Club. A former classmate and
Speaker 2: friend since kindergarten Paul Martin picked her up at the
Speaker 2: VFW at about one am on April fourteenth, and he
Speaker 2: was supposed to drop her off at a slumber party.
Speaker 2: Betty Joe did not make it to that party, and
Speaker 2: it was the last time either were seen alive. When
Speaker 2: her mother found she hadn't returned home by morning, she
Speaker 2: notified authorities. A search party found Paul first, lying near
Speaker 2: the entrance of Spring Lake Park. He had been shot
Speaker 2: four times, once in the right hand, once in the face,
Speaker 2: once in the back of his neck, and once in
Speaker 2: his back, and his body was a mile away from
Speaker 2: where his car was parked with the keys still in it.
Speaker 2: Betty Joe's body was found a few hours after Paul
Speaker 2: in a wooded area about two miles away from the car.
Speaker 2: She had been shot in the face and chest. Both
Speaker 2: were shot by a thirty two caliber cult pistol.
Speaker 1: Authorities posted a bulletin that read quote wanted for murder
Speaker 1: person or persons unknown for the murder of Betty Joe
Speaker 1: Booker and Paul Martin on or about April thirteenth, nineteen
Speaker 1: forty six, in Bowie County, Texas. Subject or subjects may
Speaker 1: have in their possession or may try to dispose of
Speaker 1: a gold plated Bundy E flat alto saxophone serial number
Speaker 1: five two five three five, which was missing from the
Speaker 1: car in which the victims were last seen. Any information
Speaker 1: as to the location of the saxophone or description and
Speaker 1: whereabouts of the person connected with it should be forwarded
Speaker 1: immediately to the Sheriff Bowie County, Texarcana, Texas, and the
Speaker 1: Texas Department of Public Safety, Austin, Texas. Betty Joe's saxophone
Speaker 1: was found, but not for several months, and when it
Speaker 1: was found, it was in a marshy field near spring
Speaker 1: Lake Park. The Rhythmares never played again.
Speaker 2: After this third attack, the community was paralyzed with fear,
Speaker 2: as you can imagine. After all, the murders seemed to
Speaker 2: be totally random. Because the perpetrator was targeting young people,
Speaker 2: parents began to impose curfews.
Speaker 1: The fourth, and what would turn out to be the
Speaker 1: final attack in the community happened on May third, and
Speaker 1: it played out differently than the previous three. Instead of
Speaker 1: targeting secluded spots on the Texas side of town, this
Speaker 1: time the perpetrator struck the home of Virgil and Katie Starks,
Speaker 1: who lived on the Arkansas side of town. Remember Texarkana's
Speaker 1: a city that is located on the border of two states.
Speaker 1: Around nine pm, Virgil, a thirty seven year old farmer,
Speaker 1: was sitting in his chair in his den reading the
Speaker 1: newspaper when he was shot twice in the back of
Speaker 1: the head through a closed window. He was killed Instantly.
Speaker 1: Hearing the sound of broken glass and what she thought
Speaker 1: was a gunshot, Katie, aged thirty six, ran to find
Speaker 1: her husband. Finding him fatally shot, she attempted to call
Speaker 1: the sheriff's office, but while she was dialing, she was
Speaker 1: shot twice in the face. The first the bullet entered
Speaker 1: her right cheek and exited behind her left ear. The
Speaker 1: second bullet crushed her jaw and then lodged in the
Speaker 1: muscles under her tongue. The bullets that hit her came
Speaker 1: in through the same window as those that had hit
Speaker 1: her husband. Katie survived, and despite the gravity of her wounds,
Speaker 1: she evaded her assailant, who entered the home through the
Speaker 1: kitchen door, just as she was able to exit the
Speaker 1: front door and run for help. As reported by the
Speaker 1: Texarcana Gazette in the next day's edition, quote she fled
Speaker 1: in her bloody nightgown across the highway to her sister's house,
Speaker 1: only to find no one at home. She eventually made
Speaker 1: her way to the av Prater farmhouse down the road,
Speaker 1: where she was able to summon help, and a ride
Speaker 1: to Michael Marr Hospital emergency surgery saved her life. According
Speaker 1: to media coverage, investigators found two small bullet holes in
Speaker 1: the front porch window, and the crime scene inside the
Speaker 1: house was a mess, as if the perpetrator had been
Speaker 1: in a rage while he searched for Katie. There was
Speaker 1: a lot of blood, but there were also plenty of fingerprints.
Speaker 2: Finally, though there is no known record of what most
Speaker 2: of those in charge of the investigation believed at the time,
Speaker 2: some law enforcement weren't so sure the shooter at the
Speaker 2: farmhouse was the same person as in the previous three scenes.
Speaker 2: There were two things that left them unconvinced, though the
Speaker 2: four crime scenes would forever remain linked. First, bullets removed
Speaker 2: from the Stark's crime scene were fired from a twenty
Speaker 2: two caliber semi automatic Cult Woodsman, a totally different weapon
Speaker 2: than the thirty two caliber Cult pistol used in the
Speaker 2: three lovers Lane attacks. And the second the victims well,
Speaker 2: they just didn't line up. Virgil and Katie weren't teenagers
Speaker 2: at Lever's Lane. They were a couple in their thirties
Speaker 2: getting ready for bed in their home.
Speaker 1: We're going to take a break for a word from
Speaker 1: our sponsors. We've talked about the crimes, so when we're back,
Speaker 1: we will set up the investigation and talk about just
Speaker 1: how many agencies were involved.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about the investigation, but
Speaker 2: let's also talk about the panic that gripped Techsarcana.
Speaker 1: At this point, ten weeks into living in fear, the
Speaker 1: community had escalated to panic and some residents took a
Speaker 1: stand to stay safe. They boarded up windows, they armed themselves,
Speaker 1: and some mainly teenagers, actually formed vigilante groups. Local hardware
Speaker 1: stores sold out of guns, ammunitions, and locks. The attacks
Speaker 1: were accurring late at night, and the police dramatically increased
Speaker 1: their presence with more frequent late night patrols, but that
Speaker 1: didn't assuage anyone's fears.
Speaker 2: A twenty fourteen article published by Texas Monthly described the
Speaker 2: scene at the time like this quote. Women of means
Speaker 2: packed up their clothes and children and checked into downtown's
Speaker 2: hotel grim when their husbands were away on business. Others
Speaker 2: rigged Rube Goldberg esque security systems, attaching pots and pans
Speaker 2: to wire that was strung around their property. People who
Speaker 2: had never owned guns slept with loaded pistols on both
Speaker 2: sides of the bed and made palettes on the floor
Speaker 2: so their children could sleep beside them.
Speaker 1: The press played a significant role in amplifying that fear.
Speaker 1: Newspapers published sensational headlines and melodramatic articles about the killer
Speaker 1: and the crimes. When national outlets picked up the story,
Speaker 1: suddenly Texarcana was in the spotlight. When the attack X
Speaker 1: became a national story, media outlets from around the country
Speaker 1: sent reporters to Texarkana to cover it, and that included
Speaker 1: high profile papers like the New York Times, the Washington Post,
Speaker 1: the Dallas News, the Houston Chronicle, and even the London
Speaker 1: Times arrived on the scene. John Quincy Mahaffey, then editor
Speaker 1: of the Texarcana Gazette, stated, quote all of the news agencies,
Speaker 1: including the Associated Press, United Press, and the International News
Speaker 1: Service sent reporters.
Speaker 2: The press quickly dubbed the murders the Texarcana Moonlight murders,
Speaker 2: and they were also responsible for giving the unidentified killer
Speaker 2: a nickname. After the deaths of Betty Joe Booker and
Speaker 2: Paul Martin. In the April sixteenth edition of the Texarcana
Speaker 2: Daily News, a headline read quote, Phantom killer eludes officers
Speaker 2: as investigation of slayings pressed. The Texarcana Gazette, too, used
Speaker 2: the nickname. The day after, the Daily News did on
Speaker 2: a small story with the headline quote phantom slayer still
Speaker 2: at large as probe continues. Editor Mahaffey stated that the
Speaker 2: Gazette's managing editor at the time, Calvin Sutton, had quote
Speaker 2: an acute sense for the dramatic and was behind the nickname.
Speaker 2: When he asked if they could refer to the unknown
Speaker 2: murderer as the phantom, Mahaffe replied, quote, why not. If
Speaker 2: the SOB continues to elude capture, he certainly can be
Speaker 2: called a phantom. But Mahaffe did admit quote, Of course,
Speaker 2: as we continued to write about the murders, the name
Speaker 2: phantom only served to intensify the hysteria.
Speaker 1: An article published in the Texarcana Gazette during the investigation
Speaker 1: helped locals navigate life during a crime spree and subsequent investigation.
Speaker 1: It read in part as follows quote tax Arcana residents
Speaker 1: can help in this investigation, and at the same time,
Speaker 1: if they are not careful, they can hinder the investigation
Speaker 1: and cause the officers to spend many hours following blind trails.
Speaker 1: Persons who have information which might furnish a clue to
Speaker 1: the identity of the slayer or slayers, or which might
Speaker 1: indicate a motive for the crime, should not divulge such
Speaker 1: information on street corners or at cold drink stands, but
Speaker 1: should immediately make it available to the officers. Do not
Speaker 1: spread rumors, regardless of how many bases for the fact
Speaker 1: there is in them. Do not say I heard or
Speaker 1: they say, because the chances are that the person listening
Speaker 1: will repeat your information and enlarge upon it. Before long,
Speaker 1: the story grows to such proportions as to necessitate a
Speaker 1: detailed investigation by the officers, thereby perhaps pulling them off
Speaker 1: the true trail and sending them up a blind alley.
Speaker 1: Stick to the facts that you know of your own
Speaker 1: personal knowledge, and relay those facts as quickly as possible
Speaker 1: to the officers. And that's just good advice in general.
Speaker 2: Upwards of four hundred people were questioned in connection with
Speaker 2: the killings, but each was cleared. Investigators received numerous false
Speaker 2: confessions as well, which can happen in high profile cases
Speaker 2: like this one. With nothing new to work with. Roadblocks
Speaker 2: were established and official curfews were enforced.
Speaker 1: Authorities from Texas and Arkansas shared resources. Several law enforcement
Speaker 1: agencies were involved in the investigation, including, but not limited to,
Speaker 1: the Texarcana Police and the Arkansas State Police, the Cass
Speaker 1: County Sheriff's Department and the Miller County Sheriff's Department, the
Speaker 1: Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Texas Rangers. Renowned Texas
Speaker 1: ranger Manuel Gonzalez, known as the Lone Wolf, was brought
Speaker 1: in to lead the investigation. His very manner and presence
Speaker 1: on the scene lent itself to some very interesting stories
Speaker 1: from both the press and other law enforcement. In one
Speaker 1: animated example, during a radio interview, when Gazette editor Mahaffey
Speaker 1: asked him to offer listeners some advice that might help
Speaker 1: calm their fears, Gonzales replied, quote, sure check the locks
Speaker 1: and bolts of your doors, and get a double barreled
Speaker 1: shotgun to blow away any intruder who tries to get in.
Speaker 1: Mahafe In response quickly changed the subject away from that advice.
Speaker 1: It's true that Gonzalez was often criticized as being more
Speaker 1: of a showman than a lawman, at least when it
Speaker 1: came to appearances, and many statements from other law enforcement
Speaker 1: suggest he turned himself into a kind of one man
Speaker 1: pr agency. He's described as kind of a perfect spokesperson,
Speaker 1: though with quote the swagger of John Wayne and the
Speaker 1: verbosity of Will Rogers.
Speaker 2: Mahaffey has said of Gonzalez, quote rumors that attached themselves
Speaker 2: to Lone Wolf were easy to believe because he was
Speaker 2: the living embodiment of the Whyld West. He wore a
Speaker 2: spotless khaki suit and a white ten gallon hat. He
Speaker 2: packed two pearl handled revolvers on his hips, and did
Speaker 2: not deny that he was the ranger who sat in
Speaker 2: the cashier's office in the Crazy Water Hotel in Mineral
Speaker 2: Wells and gunned down two ex convicts who sought to
Speaker 2: rob the place. He was also so good looking that
Speaker 2: my girl reporters wouldn't leave him alone. He really didn't
Speaker 2: have time to hunt down the phantom. He was too
Speaker 2: busy giving out interviews and trying to run the gazette.
Speaker 2: All of the other officers were intensely jealous of Lone
Speaker 2: Wolf and complained bitterly every time his picture appeared in
Speaker 2: the paper.
Speaker 1: It wasn't all shotgun sales and radio interviews, though. Responding
Speaker 1: to the palpable fear in the community and the swirling
Speaker 1: rumors among the locals who continued to turn on each other, Gonzalez,
Speaker 1: along with Booie County Sheriff Bill Presley, jointly issued a
Speaker 1: press release. Presley had been on the case since day
Speaker 1: one and was the first on the scene for the
Speaker 1: first three attacks, and their joint statement read quote The
Speaker 1: Texar Canon newspapers have cooperated with us all through this investigation,
Speaker 1: and we intend to cooperate with them in furnishing them
Speaker 1: the information they desire when the time comes for divulging
Speaker 1: that information. The newspapers are not printing rumors and have
Speaker 1: assured us they will not. Any information the public hears
Speaker 1: about the case will not be official unless it comes
Speaker 1: from us through the newspapers. We will appreciate information from citizens,
Speaker 1: and all such information will be treated confidentially. We noted
Speaker 1: in a lot of case reports and newspaper articles that
Speaker 1: the press refrained from speculating about whether or not any
Speaker 1: victims had been sexually assaulted. Though it was kept out
Speaker 1: of the papers or referred to as quote criminally assaulted,
Speaker 1: people in the area assumed that it had happened, and
Speaker 1: it had in three of these four crimes, explained to Mahaffy,
Speaker 1: quote sexual assault wasn't made public. You guarded the person
Speaker 1: who was raped.
Speaker 2: Whenever we're talking about historical crimes, we run up against this.
Speaker 2: Forensics today we make assumptions that investigators will test anything
Speaker 2: and everything at a crime scene, but in nineteen forty
Speaker 2: six that wasn't the case. The tests just weren't available yet.
Speaker 2: There was fingerprint testing, and there were some types of
Speaker 2: testing available to type blood and identify other bodily fluids.
Speaker 2: In nineteen forty five, Frank Lindquist invented a screening for semen,
Speaker 2: but crime labs in forensics were really still in their infancy.
Speaker 2: For perspective, the FBI's crime laboratory had just opened in
Speaker 2: nineteen thirty two. The killer, though, was adept at leaving
Speaker 2: minimal to no evidence behind, and that just hindered all
Speaker 2: parts of the investigation.
Speaker 1: Historian Waynebeck has written, quote, the Texas Rangers were in
Speaker 1: contact with every law enforcement agency in the country where
Speaker 1: someone attacked people parking and either killed them or committed rape. Surprisingly,
Speaker 1: there were many such incidences, even as far away as
Speaker 1: Wisconsin and New York. They checked out virtually everyone who
Speaker 1: was arrested for rape or robbery. In Texas, where the
Speaker 1: modus operandi was similar to the tech Sarcanic crimes, there
Speaker 1: were several good leads, including local people, but the rangers
Speaker 1: would go no further with them if their fingerprints didn't match.
Speaker 2: Local investigators moved ahead on a theory that the killer
Speaker 2: was familiar with the area, which allowed him to blend in.
Speaker 2: Psychological profiles also suggested the perpetrator was a male, a loner, and,
Speaker 2: because of his tactical approach to his attacks and his
Speaker 2: use of firearms, probably someone with military experience. The sheriff's
Speaker 2: office posted a five hundred dollars reward for information, but
Speaker 2: received no leads. Noticing the killer had a pattern attacking
Speaker 2: young couples parked in secluded areas at night, with about
Speaker 2: three weeks between Gonzales attempted to set up a sting
Speaker 2: two undercover officers, each with a mannequin posed as teenage
Speaker 2: couples parked in lover's lanes. But what investigators didn't know
Speaker 2: at the time was the perpetrator was done after the
Speaker 2: May third attack. He never struck again, at least not
Speaker 2: with a similar crime.
Speaker 1: We're going to take a break here for a word
Speaker 1: from our sponsors, and when we return, we'll talk about
Speaker 1: who authorities considered to be suspects.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Criminalia. There were a lot of suspects.
Speaker 2: Authorities may have questioned hundreds of people, but there were
Speaker 2: fewer they took seriously as the perpetrator of these crimes.
Speaker 2: One man in particular stood out.
Speaker 1: Over the years and decades, several suspects have emerged in
Speaker 1: this investigation. The problem evidence linked to these potential perpetrators
Speaker 1: is primarily just circumstantial.
Speaker 2: Residents immediately began to come forward with accusations against other locals,
Speaker 2: neighbors they suspected of the crimes because of any number
Speaker 2: of reasons. It was kind of like a witch hunt
Speaker 2: in that regard. One resident, for instance, with a grudge,
Speaker 2: accused their neighbor, an IRS agent, an innocent IRS agent.
Speaker 2: But in these instances, fingers pointed mostly at those who
Speaker 2: had proximity to the crime. Scenes and seemed to behave
Speaker 2: suspiciously and by people with grudges. No local was ever
Speaker 2: conclusively linked to the case.
Speaker 1: There were a lot of curse suspects that local and
Speaker 1: federal agents looked into. But let's talk about some of
Speaker 1: the serious suspects that authorities pursued and some of the
Speaker 1: theories that locals considered possible. There was suspect Henry Booker Tennyson,
Speaker 1: who went by duty. He was an eighteen year old
Speaker 1: university freshman at the time of the attacks. Investigators found
Speaker 1: inconsistencies in his story and in their evidence that actually
Speaker 1: ultimately ruled him out. He went on to take his
Speaker 1: own life in nineteen forty eight, leaving behind a cryptic
Speaker 1: note slash poem that a minority of armchair investigators have
Speaker 1: interpreted as a confession. One of his friends, though, came
Speaker 1: forward to the police with an alibi for Tennyson. They
Speaker 1: were at home together playing cards when they heard the
Speaker 1: news report on the Martin Booker murders.
Speaker 2: Next, there was a forty two year old man from
Speaker 2: College Station, Texas, which is about two hundred and fifty
Speaker 2: miles away from Texarcana, and he was non to get
Speaker 2: a kick out of sneaking up on parked cars at
Speaker 2: Lover's Lanes with his twenty two caliber rifle, and was
Speaker 2: frequently known to visit Texarcana. So while that's terrifying, he
Speaker 2: was innocent.
Speaker 1: A Missouri Pacific Railroad section Hand wrote a letter to
Speaker 1: the Governor of Texas confessing to the killings, but he
Speaker 1: also confessed to killing Satan. He also challenged FBI Director
Speaker 1: Jay Edgar Hoover and President Harry Truman to a duel.
Speaker 1: It was determined he had no connection to the killings, and.
Speaker 2: Then speculation arose about an unnamed German pow. Then an
Speaker 2: escaped prisoner of war was the killer. There is not,
Speaker 2: nor ever was evidence to support this theory, but it
Speaker 2: does remind us that the Second World War had ended
Speaker 2: just five months earlier.
Speaker 1: On May thirteenth, the Texarcana Gazette reported quote, despite combined
Speaker 1: efforts of Texas, Arkansas County, City and federal officers, no
Speaker 1: trace of the Phantom killer has been found as of
Speaker 1: late tonight. Officers said there were no new developments. We've
Speaker 1: been working in circles all week, was the way one
Speaker 1: officer expressed himself. There were no attacks after May third,
Speaker 1: but by late summer, the case still hadn't moved forward.
Speaker 2: But then there was the investigator's favored suspect, Yule Swinney.
Speaker 2: Yuell was a tall, thin, twenty nine year old with
Speaker 2: an extensive record of car theft, counterfeiting, burglary, and assault.
Speaker 2: He became a person of interest to investigators for two reasons. Firstly,
Speaker 2: Yule had a history of violent behavior. He gave ambiguous
Speaker 2: answers to investigators' questions. As a local resident, he would
Speaker 2: have been capable of being in the vicinity during the
Speaker 2: period the attacks happened. However, it's unknown whether his fingerprints
Speaker 2: matched and he found at the Starks farm. Despite being
Speaker 2: the prime suspect, being an habitual criminal didn't make him
Speaker 2: the perpetrator of these crimes, at least not without some
Speaker 2: real evidence.
Speaker 1: Secondly, though Yule's wife gave him up kind of chief
Speaker 1: of police, Arkansas State Patrol Max Tackett had observed that
Speaker 1: before each attack, there were reports of a car being
Speaker 1: stolen and then found later on having been abandoned after
Speaker 1: the crime. On the afternoon of June twenty eighth, one
Speaker 1: of these stolen cars was tracked to a parking lot
Speaker 1: in Texarkana, and police staked it out who would claim
Speaker 1: it if anyone. They didn't wait long before they observed
Speaker 1: a young woman leaving a nearby market and getting into
Speaker 1: the automobile. They promptly apprehended her. She confessed that the
Speaker 1: car belonged to her husband, but that he was currently
Speaker 1: out of town. That woman was Peggy Swinney, and her husband, Yule,
Speaker 1: was out of town. That was not a lie. She
Speaker 1: had left out though, that he was out of town
Speaker 1: trying to sell a stolen car. After speaking to Peggy,
Speaker 1: authorities arrested Yule at a bus station and brought him
Speaker 1: back to Texarcana. During the trip home, Yule told arresting
Speaker 1: officer Tackett, quote, hell, I know what you want me for.
Speaker 1: You want me for more than stealing a car.
Speaker 2: When Peggy claimed that her husband had confessed to her
Speaker 2: that he was the phantom, authorities, well they thought they
Speaker 2: had their man. Peggy had been arrested as an accomplice
Speaker 2: in one of Eule's car thefts, and in holding she
Speaker 2: talked a lot, but not about car theft. She gave
Speaker 2: detailed statements to investigators about when and where they married
Speaker 2: when they came to Texarcana, which actually had not been
Speaker 2: long before the murders began, and surprisingly, she implicated her
Speaker 2: husband in the attacks, and her statements weren't vague. She
Speaker 2: included specific details of the Martin book and crime scene
Speaker 2: that were known only to investigators at the time, or
Speaker 2: so investigators had thought. She stated that even though she
Speaker 2: didn't participate, she had been with her husband while he
Speaker 2: committed every one of the Moonlight murders. But then the
Speaker 2: details of her stories changed from interview to interview and
Speaker 2: statement to statement, especially her level of involvement in those crimes.
Speaker 1: She also had.
Speaker 2: Trouble describing location details and time frames, and that was
Speaker 2: all a major challenge. It made her seem unreliable.
Speaker 1: Even after her long and detailed statements to authorities. Peggy
Speaker 1: refused to testify against her husband. A spouse could not
Speaker 1: be compelled to testify against their partner in court, and
Speaker 1: without her testimony, there really wasn't much evidence against Yule,
Speaker 1: and certainly not even enough to arrest him. He was
Speaker 1: ultimately convicted several times, actually, as he was a career criminal,
Speaker 1: but he was never tried for these crimes, and no
Speaker 1: one ever.
Speaker 2: Was What a terrible story.
Speaker 1: It is terrible. Here was my solve on this one
Speaker 1: to talk about something other than gruesome murder, because there's
Speaker 1: a part of this that I love. I love the
Speaker 1: fact that there was a concerted effort on the part
Speaker 1: of law enforcement to communicate to the public to not
Speaker 1: gossip about this.
Speaker 2: Wasn't that great.
Speaker 1: It's like, I mean, I'm sure every police department, every
Speaker 1: you know, sheriff's department, et cetera, they all wish that
Speaker 1: were always the case. But this is such a straightforward, like, hey,
Speaker 1: don't be gossiping on street corners. That doesn't help anybody.
Speaker 1: Like it's so direct, and I really really like it.
Speaker 1: So that's what I'm choosing to focus on. And I'm
Speaker 1: making a drink called.
Speaker 2: Just the Facts, ma'am.
Speaker 1: And this one also, I am invoking the associations that
Speaker 1: a particular herb has, which is sage, which is like
Speaker 1: being a so eted with the truth and with clarity.
Speaker 1: So I thought we should include some sage in this one.
Speaker 1: We can also consider it like a drink based smudging
Speaker 1: of the entire Texarcana area to try to remove all
Speaker 1: of the bad, bad vibes from it. So this one,
Speaker 1: you're gonna start with four to five sage leaves and
Speaker 1: put them in the base of your shaking tin or
Speaker 1: a glass or whatever you want to use, and then
Speaker 1: you're gonna add between this is a taster's choice between
Speaker 1: three quarters of an ounce to an ounce of simple
Speaker 1: syrup and an ounce of grapefruit juice. And you're gonna
Speaker 1: muddle that all together for a little bit. And just
Speaker 1: as we've said before, we haven't had a muddling discussion
Speaker 1: in a minute. But you know, you want to press
Speaker 1: the leaves and get the oils and the flavor out.
Speaker 1: You don't need to like macerate them, just make sure
Speaker 1: they're broken and that you're getting all of their essence.
Speaker 1: And then you will add two ounces of bourbon because
Speaker 1: we actually haven't had bourbon yet season. And you're just
Speaker 1: gonna shake this in your tin with ice and then
Speaker 1: strain it into a pre chilled cocktail glass. There is
Speaker 1: an optional step that is part of time and place here.
Speaker 1: I want egg white on this drink. Oh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: But eggs are hard to get an expensive right now,
Speaker 1: so I'm not gonna tell anybody they need to have it.
Speaker 1: But if you want to do it with egg white,
Speaker 1: it's even more delicious. So I would recommend doing that
Speaker 1: if you have eggs available and you have the means
Speaker 1: to pay whatever exorbitant some they are charging.
Speaker 2: Maybe maybe you have some chickens at home.
Speaker 1: Or maybe you have chickens that keep you hooked up,
Speaker 1: which is great, and then same thing, you would just
Speaker 1: add that egg white. If you're adding egg white, you're
Speaker 1: gonna do a little bit of a dry shake without
Speaker 1: ice first and get it nice and frothy. If you
Speaker 1: have a frother like a coffee frother, now is the time,
Speaker 1: and then you will add your ice and chill it
Speaker 1: all with another shake, and then you can fine strain
Speaker 1: that into your pre chilled cocktail glass. Anytime there's like
Speaker 1: an egg white loading on top of things, that's a
Speaker 1: good time. If you want to get pretty, to add
Speaker 1: a couple of drops of bitters to create a little
Speaker 1: visual that also shifts your drink around a little bit,
Speaker 1: but those are optional. You can do it just as written.
Speaker 1: With your sage leaves. You're simple. You're grapefruit in your bourbon.
Speaker 1: If you would like to make this a mocktail, it's
Speaker 1: very easy. In lieu of that bourbon, you're just going
Speaker 1: to do two ounces of I would do an earl
Speaker 1: gray tea specifically here. It just goes better with the
Speaker 1: grapefruit in my experiments than other options. But if you
Speaker 1: have another dark tea that you want to try, go
Speaker 1: for it. I also added a little bit of saline
Speaker 1: to my tea to give it a little more a
Speaker 1: little more body. So that is just the facts, and
Speaker 1: I hope that as tempting as it always is to
Speaker 1: gossip about big news and embellish things, and people don't
Speaker 1: even mean to. I know they don't in many cases,
Speaker 1: so I'm not judging anyone. I'm just saying we could
Speaker 1: all probably do better in this arena. We hope that
Speaker 1: you have enjoyed hanging out with us here as much
Speaker 1: as one can enjoy hearing such a sad story. But
Speaker 1: we're sure grateful you're with us. We will be right
Speaker 1: back here next week with another cold case and another
Speaker 1: probably icy cold drink to go with it. Criminalia is
Speaker 1: a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, please visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.