Murder and Mimosas Podcast

PODCAST TAKEOVER Haunting Shadows: Unveiling the Texarkana Moonlight Murders

Murder and Mimosas Season 3 Episode 15

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What if a masked assailant haunted your town, turning your life into a nightmare? In this gripping episode, we journey back to the late 1940s to uncover the chilling Texarkana Moonlight Murders. We recount the terrifying attack on Jimmy Hollis and Mary Jean Larry, who miraculously survived an assault by a masked gunman on Lover's Lane. Next, we explore the tragic murders of Richard Griffin and Polly Ann Moore, found brutally killed in their car along a busy highway. These horrifying events not only shook the victims to their cores but also plunged the entire community into a state of fear and confusion.

Our investigation doesn't stop there. We delve into the brutal slayings of Betty Jo Booker and Paul Martin, followed by the shocking home invasion that left Virgil Starks dead and his wife Katie gravely injured. Despite relentless investigations, the Phantom Killer remained elusive, with countless theories but no resolution. We also shed light on the broader impact of these heinous crimes on Texarkana, from rampant media misinformation to the lingering questions that still haunt the town. Tune in to understand the terrifying reality faced by the victims and the enduring mystery of the Moonlight Murders that continues to baffle investigators.

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Speaker 1:

DarkCast Network. Welcome to the dark side of podcasting. Welcome to Murder and Mimosas a true crime podcast brought to you by a mother and daughter duo.

Speaker 2:

Bringing you murder stories with a mimosa in hand. With a mimosa in hand, murder Mimosas is a true crime podcast, meaning we talk about adult matters such as murder, sexual assaults and other horrendous crimes. Listener discretion is advised. We do tell our stories with the victims and the victims families in mind. However, some information is more verifiable than others. However, you can find all of our information linked in the show notes.

Speaker 3:

Darkast Network Indie pods with a dark side. Hello and welcome back to Fuck that. This week I am going to be discussing the Texarkana Moonlight Murders. Texarkana, a town that's half in Bowie County, texas, half in Miller County, arkansas, became the backdrop for a series of chilling unsolved murders known as the Moonlight Murders chilling unsolved murders known as the Moonlight Murders. Picture this it's the late 1940s and unfortunately Lover's Lanes turned into crime scenes and a killer. As silent as the night was dark.

Speaker 3:

Just before midnight on February 22nd 1946, jimmy Hollis, 24, and Mary Jean Larry, 19, had gone on a date that evening and were finishing their date in the backseat of Jimmy's father's car. Jimmy and Mary had met earlier that month and went on a double date earlier that evening with his younger brother, bob, and his brother's date, virginia. They were expected to be home at midnight. The couple parked on a secluded back road named Lover's Lane when they were startled suddenly by a flashlight shining through the driver's side window where Jimmy was sitting. The flashlight had shone so brightly that the pair were unable to see the individual outside of the window. Jimmy opened the door to chat with the unknown individual because he assumed that it was either maybe a police officer or local kids playing a prank. But to the couple's dismay, they found themselves face to face with an unhinged masked man wielding a gun. Jimmy and Mary tried to reason with this asshole demon, but this man was far beyond reason. The masked man told the pair I don't want to kill you, so do what I say. He instructed Jimmy to remove his pants after forcing him out of the vehicle. The masked man then began to beat Jimmy on his head with the revolver that he had, while Mary watched in horror. Mary tried to reason with the man and she told him that they didn't have anything of value, but she offered him Jimmy's wallet in an attempt to get him to stop attacking Jimmy. But this only angered him further. He began screaming liar at Mary, demanding her purse. After he took the purse from Mary, he told her to run towards the road. Mary sprinted away as fast as she could, with the unhinged lunatic following closely behind her, while still screaming liar. Just a quick trigger warning all of these incidences that I'm going to talk about have sexual assault regarding the females, so listen with care. The man caught up to Mary and used his gun to sexually assault her. Thankfully, mary was able to break free from the man and she was able to run to a home nearby. Mary banged on the door trying to get help and the residents woke up and were able to help Mary contact authorities, mary and Jimmy both survived the attack and they described the assailant as a tall man that wore a burlap sack over his face with two slits cut into the eyes so that he could see the following month.

Speaker 3:

On March 24, 1946, richard Griffin, a 29-year-old Navy veteran, went on a double date with his 17-year-old girlfriend Polly Ann Moore, along with his sister Eleanor and her boyfriend Jesse. Just to quickly note the age gap while it seems a lot to us now, this was really not an issue at this point in time, and Polly Ann was mature for her age. According to sources, she had just graduated high school and was working at a defense plant. Richard and his family were really impressive people Richard and his little brother David and his older brother Hattie. All three of them served in World War II. Unfortunately, richard's older brother, hattie, died during an accidental shooting at Pearl Harbor, so the two couples went to dinner at a local restaurant and, after the evening ended, richard and Polly Ann decided to pull over alongside a highway to spend some quality time together before Richard dropped her off at home.

Speaker 3:

Much later that night, pretty much in the early morning hours of the following day, a truck driver noticed an Oldsmobile parked on the side of the road late at night. The truck driver was concerned about the safety of the person inside of the vehicle due to the amount of traffic that was on the road, inside of the vehicle, due to the amount of traffic that was on the road. So he approached the vehicle and thought I'm just going to wake up this person. He assumed it was a sleeping driver just trying to take a rest. As the man approached the vehicle, hoping to find somebody sleeping so that he could advise them to drive to a local resting area, he quickly realized that a sleeping man was not behind the wheel. The man in the driver's seat had been shot twice in the back of his head. In the back seat of the Oldsmobile was a deceased teenage girl wrapped in a bloody blanket.

Speaker 3:

The deceased individuals were Richard and Polly Ann. Authorities surmised that the burlap sack wearing bitch approached the couple the same way that he approached Mary and Jimmy. He likely tried to blind them with a flashlight while he wielded his gun. Police believed that Richard was killed. First, richard had two shots in the back of his head that were discharged from a .32 caliber Colt revolver. Polly Ann was removed from the vehicle, dragged onto the ground, which was soaked because it was raining that entire day, and she was assaulted. Polly Ann was then murdered, wrapped in a blanket that was within the trunk of the car, and she was placed in the back seat Because it was raining all day. This made it, according to investigators, likely much easier for the attack to occur on such a busy roadway, because if it was raining that heavily it would have been really hard for a passerby to see. And, additionally, something that was really problematic in the investigation aspect of this was that the rain washed away any fingerprints or footsteps that the killer had left behind. By now, the only motive that authorities could come up with was robbery, as he had robbed Jimmy and Mary in the first attack. And in this attack Richard's pockets were left inside out and Polly Ann's purse was emptied. But police were puzzled because if the motive was robbery, they weren't sure why the two attacks were carried out in such a violent manner. Regardless of motive, it was obvious to police that this was connected and this was something extremely unusual and obviously concerned them, so police from both Texas and Arkansas increased patrol vehicles on back roads or secluded

Speaker 3:

roads. This case really had people absolutely losing their minds. Collectively, this was an area where people never locked their doors. Everybody knew everybody, and now they were locking their doors and not trusting anybody that they came across. A lot of people decided not to leave their house after sundown and some chose to not leave their house at all. Citizens began going to hardware stores and gun stores in droves, purchasing as many guns and as much ammunition as they could. They were buying deadbolts and anything else they could use to defend themselves and make their homes more secure. They could use to defend themselves and make their homes more secure. If you are a horror person like me, you might have heard of or have seen the movie the Town that Dreaded Sunset. It's loosely based on this case and the title comes from the fact that this case had people really scared to leave their homes because they just weren't sure if they would be the target of the next attack.

Speaker 4:

Hello my friends. My name's Naomi and I am the host of Weird Mythic Podcast. It is a podcast all about that strange and unusual things that are not easily explained in this world. Talk a lot about cryptids, everything from the bunyip all the way to Bigfoot.

Speaker 3:

Pukwudgies, thunderbirds, you name it. I'llirs played at the local VFW, which is where they performed on a weekly basis. Vfw, which is where they performed on a weekly basis. Betty Jo Booker, a 15-year-old straight-A student who played the saxophone in the band, got a ride home from Paul Martin, an old classmate of Betty's, who was visiting. Paul was a 16-year-old junior at Kilgore Texas High School and he was just three weeks shy of his 17th birthday. Paul and Betty had known each other for about 10 years, meeting in elementary school in Arkansas.

Speaker 3:

Around six o'clock in the morning the following day, a family traveling through Texarkana discovered Paul's car on the side of the road with his keys still in the ignition. Approximately two miles from the vehicle, paul's body was found. He was shot four times. One bullet entered the back of Paul's neck, exiting the front of his skull. Another bullet went through his face. One bullet went through his shoulder his left shoulder shot from behind, and another one went through his hand. Betty Jo's body was found over five hours later, three miles away from the car. She was shot twice, once in the heart and once in the head. Investigators were able to make an assumption, based on the trajectory of the bullets, with Betty that the killer was facing her when he shot her and that he was also likely right-handed.

Speaker 3:

In the April 16th edition of the Texarkana Daily News there was a headline that read Phantom Killer Eludes Officers as Investigation of Slayings Pressed. This was a front story page that then continued on to page two that stated Phantom Slayer eludes police. So this was the first instance that this serial killer was given a moniker. However, national news called him the Moonlight Murderer, so he was either known locally as the Phantom Killer or nationally as the Moonlight Murderer. Local press caused a lot of issues in this investigation. They started to spread rumors and publish things that weren't true, and it impeded the investigation several times because the police would go and investigate things that were frivolous. And also the rumors that were spread by local media caused a lot of damage to various people's reputations, as they would just say, oh, this person's being investigated or oh, this person's being looked into, and really none of it was true.

Speaker 3:

Virgil and Katie Starks were a practically inseparable married couple that grew up together in Texas before settling down on their farm in the Homan community of Miller County, arkansas. Virgil celebrated his 37th birthday, as well as their 14th wedding anniversary in March of 1946, and Katie's birthday was following in September. The Starks, who were childless, lived a quiet life on their land about 10 miles from Texarkana. The Starks had deep roots in the Texarkana region, both born in 1909. Their families had farmed nearby lands in Bowie County, texas, until Virgil's family moved to Arkansas in the late 20s. Virgil and Katie were married in 1932, and this was the second union between the Starks and the Strickland families. Despite their rural setting, the Starks weren't isolated. Their farm sat along US-67, which connects Texarkana and Little Rock, and they had a lot of family close by. They were well-known and active in their community, with Virgil having a reputation as a progressive farmer. The couple had even recently modernized their farm with electricity and a telephone. The latter landed Virgil a spot in the Texarkana directory.

Speaker 3:

Katie and Virgil were aware and concerned about the phantom shootings in the area, and this is particularly because they had strong ties to Bowie County and they personally knew Sheriff Bill Presley who was in charge of the investigation. On Friday May 3rd 1946, just after 9pm, virgil was enjoying a nice mellow evening at home, relaxing with his heating pad, but unfortunately Virgil was oblivious to the danger lurking outside. Katie, who was ready for bed, was startled by a loud noise and before the couple knew it, their peaceful night turned into a horror show. An assailant just inches away from the window fired at Virgil, fatally shooting him with two bullets into the back of his head. After Katie had heard the noise, she rushed to check on Virgil and she found him. She then tried to go call for help, but she didn't realize that the shooter was still standing outside watching her. As Katie reached for the phone, the gunman fired, again, hitting Katie. Despite her grave injuries, katie managed to escape the killer's line of sight and she crawled to safety and was eventually able to leave. Now she was injured and she was terrified because Katie was shot twice. One bullet entered her cheek and exited by her ear, and the other went through her jaw.

Speaker 3:

Katie struggled to get to a neighbor's home, but she managed to do just that. She was a little bit nervous when she got to the home because she noticed that the lights were off and it was kind of early, just after 9 pm still at this point, and she tried banging on the door anyways. But nobody came to the door and Katie was disappointed to realize that there was nobody home. Katie had to muster up the strength to then go to another neighbor's house, and thankfully these neighbors were home. Katie had to muster up the strength to then go to another neighbor's house, and thankfully these neighbors were home. They came outside and saw Katie's condition. They pulled out their gun and fired a shot into the air to get the attention of surrounding neighbors, and that it did. Help arrived and Katie was quickly driven to the hospital in Texarkana.

Speaker 1:

Despite her critical state, she was stable and for the first time that night since the incident, Katie was safe. Imagine setting sail on an adventure where the waves whisper the tales of criminals.

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The link is found in our show notes. One of the issues of the investigation was because the unique location of Texarkana. There are a lot of different investigators that got involved with this case. William Bill Presley, who I mentioned, knew the Starks, was the Bowie County Sheriff who was the first lawman on the scene of the first three attacks lawmen on the scene of the first three attacks. Another prominent law enforcement figure in this investigation was Jackson Runnels, and Jackson was the Texarkana chief of police who was among the first called to the scenes of the two double murders. We Davis was the sheriff who led the investigation of the Starks murder and he was a Miller County sheriff. The Miller County sheriff's deputy, who was another one that led the investigation in the case was Tillman Johnson. Trooper Max Tackett was an Arkansas state police detective and he was the first person on scene during the investigation into the Starks murder and he was the arresting officer of the lead suspect. And the last prominent figure in the investigation was a man named Manuel Gonzalez and he was a captain in the Texas Ranger Division Texas Ranger Division. So having all of these agencies involved made things really complicated and on top of that the FBI got involved as well.

Speaker 3:

State troopers Tackett and Boyd were the first to respond to the shooting at the Starks farmhouse and they sped towards the farmhouse as fast as they could, but they noted that they saw a strange vehicle parked on the side of the road earlier in the day. Inside, tackett and Boyd found Virgil dead, slumped in his chair and his blood had mixed with the water from the heating pad that he was using. The troopers knew that they had to act quickly and examine the scene before other law enforcement officers arrived and likely disturbed the scene, but unfortunately it wasn't long until the scene was swarmed with officers from all over and likely compromised any remaining evidence on the scene. Trooper Tackett actually noted how clumsy and mishandled the investigation was of this crime scene, and any hope that he had of preserving critical evidence or clues just diminished the second that people started flooding in Miller County. Sheriff Johnson arrived on scene not long after and he too began to work quickly. He tried to secure the perimeter with whatever he had at his disposal, but the flood of onlookers, neighbors and officers was overwhelming Inside the house. The FBI quickly took over, while Sheriff Johnson collected .22 caliber casings as evidence. Sheriff Johnson also realized that this was becoming very convoluted. Authorities established roadblocks and gathered anybody that could have potentially been nearby when the crimes took place with a lot of

Speaker 3:

urgency. What threw authorities for a loop with this attack was that it did not appear to be a robbery at all. There was money that was on the dining table that remained untouched. Katie's purse was open and undisturbed. So it was obvious that this wasn't driven by robbery, but it was driven by a more sinister motive, maybe even no motive at all. Bloody footprints were found on scene, and there was a discarded flashlight beneath a window, which they thought maybe the killer had left behind in haste, and they found 22 caliber bullets and shells that suggested a semi-automatic gun, potentially an old model Colt Woodsman. Authorities were disappointed at the lack of evidence that they were able to collect from the scene. However, it was much more than they were able to get from any other scene, and initially they weren't even sure if this was connected to the other attacks. What threw them off was the .22

Speaker 3:

caliber weapon. Law enforcement and the community were left reeling after this attack, and the killer remained a shadow. His identity was unknown, and now the motive behind his attacks were unknown as well. Authorities were able to piece a few things together of the suspect. The first they were able to gather a description of the phantom as seen by Jimmy and Mary, who survived. Both Jimmy and Mary had described him as a six-foot-tall man who wore a mask. One thing about the mask is it fluctuates based on what resource you read. A lot of sources say it was a white mask. A lot of sources say it was almost like a burlap sack. There are some sources that say that there were two slits where the eyes were, but then there are other sources that say that there were two cuts in the eyes as well as a cut where the mouth is. Either way, jimmy believed that the man was white, but he was dark. Maybe he worked outside and he was really tan and he thought that he was under 30. Mary Jean thought that he was potentially not white. Either way, it is not a great descriptor. There's really not a lot for authorities to

Speaker 3:

work with. Unfortunately, they were able to establish a modus operandi because he had a very obvious pattern of attacks. He always targeted young couples, usually in isolated areas. But there was a large deviation in his last attack. Previously he had only attacked couples in their cars With the Starks. He had approached them in their home. Additionally, he had used a .32 caliber gun, but with the Starks he used a .22 caliber gun. With the Starks he used a .22 caliber gun. The Phantom did always commit his attacks late at night on the weekends and he did typically wait about

Speaker 3:

three weeks between each attack. A psychologist at the Federal Correctional Institution in Texarkana, dr Anthony LaPala, had his own theory that the killer was going to continue his assaults. Dr LaPala did believe that the same person committed all of the murders, so he did think that the phantom killer was responsible for the attack on the Starks as well, and he believed that his motive and drive was sadism and sexual compulsion. He posited that the perpetrator was intelligent and clever and he likely shifted his attack with the Starks because he thought that it was exceedingly difficult to continue to attack people on vacant roads. Again, after the second attack, there was an increase in officers that were patrolling these back roads. Throughout the investigation there

Speaker 3:

were several suspects that emerged. Henry Booker Doody Tennyson, who was known as HB, was an 18-year-old university freshman that unfortunately died by suicide on November 4th of 1948. But what's strange about HB's death is that he left behind cryptic instructions that led investigators to a note where he confessed to the murders of Betty Jo and Paul, as well as Virgil Starks. Hb played the trombone in the same high school band as Betty Jo Booker did, but they weren't friends and, in spite of this confession, investigators found no evidence that linked him to the murders. Additionally, one of HB's friends, james Freeman, provided an alibi for the night of Virgil Stark's murder, and he had told police that they were playing cards together. When the news of the attack broke, ralph Bauman, a 21-year-old ex-Army Air Force machine gunner, claimed that he woke from a fugue state the day of Virgil Stark's murder and when he woke he discovered that his rifle was missing. Bauman said that he heard about a suspect matching his description and he then hitchhiked to Los Angeles feeling as if he was fleeing from murder. On May 23rd, just 20 days after Virgil Stark's murder, he told Los Angeles police that he thought that he might be the Phantom, stating quote I'm my own suspect. Police did arrest him, but investigators later stated that a lot of parts of his story had little factual basis, if any at all. Bauman also stated that he was discharged from the Army Air Force for being psychoneurotic and had previously confessed to three killings in Texarkana within three days, but that didn't align with the

Speaker 3:

actual timeline of the murders. The night that Betty Jo Booker was murdered she had a saxophone with her because she was playing with her band at the VFW, but that saxophone was missing. When they discovered her body, investigators thought that this could potentially be a lead and on April 27th a man who was acting suspiciously was arrested in Corpus Christi, texas, because he was trying to sell a saxophone, but he fleed when the music store manager questioned him. When he was apprehended there wasn't a saxophone found with him, but there was a bag of bloody clothing that was discovered in his hotel room. He was interrogated and he was cleared as a suspect, and Betty Jo's saxophone was eventually discovered on October 24th. It was caught in underbrush not too far from

Speaker 3:

where her body was discovered. Around 6 am on May 7th, earl Cliff McSpadden's body was discovered on the Kansas City Southern Railway tracks near Ogden, arkansas. The train had severed his left arm and leg. The coroner's jury declared that he had died at the hands of persons unknown and he was dead before his body was placed on the tracks. On the tracks Because the murders remained unsolved. There was a lot of local speculation that suggested that Earl might have been a sixth victim, but then there were also rumors that circulated that Earl might have been the Phantom himself and he perhaps committed suicide by jumping in front of the train. In spite of a slew of potential suspects, there was really only one who was, and still is today, considered

Speaker 3:

to be the main suspect. In the midst of the Moonlight murders investigation, trooper Tackett made a critical observation Each murder is preceded by a report of a stolen car that is later found abandoned along a roadside. This pattern led police to suspect that the phantom killer was using these stolen vehicles to escape the crime scenes and then discarding them after. So the next time there was a reported car theft, police went off on an operation, hoping to catch the killer in the act. However, instead of the expected murderer behind the wheel of the stolen vehicle, they found a woman named Peggy Stevens behind the wheel. Investigators took Peggy into custody and, under questioning, peggy revealed a very shocking twist. Peggy claimed that a man named Ewell Swinney, known in Texarkana for car theft, gave her the car. But that's not all. Peggy then accused him of being the phantom killer, and she provided details about the crimes that were not made public, which obviously would be information known only to the police and to the killer. But the case took another turn because Peggy then retracted her statement and she claimed that her previous confession was a lie and that Swinney was not the phantom killer. But that revelation came alongside the discovery that the pair were actually recently married, which granted her the legal right not to testify

Speaker 3:

against her husband, super convenient. While Ewell remained the prime suspect, the police found themselves at a standstill. Despite his reputation and criminal background, which included charges for counterfeiting, burglary and assault, his connection to the Moonlight murders remained circumstantial. Interestingly, the police found a .32 Colt revolver, potentially the murder weapon, along with a shirt that said Stark on the pocket in his possession. But the evidence just was not conclusive. Uell was eventually arrested for car theft in 1947, and, despite attempts to connect him to the murders, a lack of concrete evidence and a failed truth serum interview, the case was left unresolved. Ul served his time for car theft and was released from prison in 1973. Throughout his imprisonment and even after his release, he never admitted to the murders, despite rumors and stories suggesting his involvement. Ul Swinney died in 1994, leaving behind unanswered questions and persistent suspicions about his role in the Moonlight murders. Even though he was never convicted for these crimes, many still consider him to be the prime suspect in this case. To this day, the story of Texarkana and its Moonlight Nightmare remains just that a story without an end. The phantom killer left a trail of questions and vanished, leaving behind a

Speaker 3:

town forever looking over its shoulders. If you liked what you heard today, please give me a like, review, subscribe. If you're looking for ad-free content, bonus content, archived episodes, live events, find me on Patreon, at fthatpod. You can find me on all social media fthatpod, except for Instagram, which is fthat underscore pod, and the website is fthatpodcom we always recommend more bubbly and less oj cheers if you'd like to see pictures from today's episode, you can find us at murdermimosas on Instagram.

Speaker 2:

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