The Texarkana Moonlight murders were four murders that occurred in 1946; they remain unsolved. They all happened in the Texarkana region in Arkansas and Texas.
The same person committed all four; a serial killer was on the loose that no one could catch. The unknown perpetrator attacked eight people in total, five of which died over ten weeks.
The murders had a clear pattern. The victims were all couples. They were targeted during the weekends and were killed on known lovers’ lanes or quiet stretches of road.
First Attack
At 2345 on 22nd February, Jimmy Hollis, aged twenty-five and his girlfriend nineteen-year-old, Mary Jeanne Larry, parked on a secluded road known as lover’s lane.
Ten minutes after parking, a man wearing a white cloth mask appeared at Hollis’s driver’s door, shining a flashlight into the car. The mask, which resembled a pillow case with eyes cut out, hid his identity.
Hollis stated that the perpetrator must have the wrong car, to which he replied, ‘ I don’t want to kill you, fellow, so do what I say.’
The killer ordered the couple out of the car, Hollis was told to remove his trousers. He was then struck twice in the head with a pistol.
Larry stated that the noise was so loud she thought her boyfriend had been shot; he had received a fractured skull. A blunt object then struck her.
When she recovered, the assailant told her to run towards the road. She reached an abandoned car where the attacker caught up with her. He asked her why she was running, even though he had told her. Then, he struck her and sexually assaulted her with the gun barrel.
After the attack, Larry made it to a farmhouse. Meanwhile, Hollis had regained consciousness and flagged a passing motorist down.
Moreover, both victims gave contrasting descriptions of the attacker. Both stated he was 6 feet tall. However, Hollis said he was a tanned man; Larry stated he was African American.
First Double Murder
Richard Griffin was twenty-nine; his girlfriend of six weeks, Polly Ann Moore, was seventeen when they were found dead in Griffin’s car. A passing motorist discovered them on 24th march 1946.
Griffin was found between the front seats on his knees; his head was resting on his crossed hands; his pockets had been turned out.
Moore was found face-down in the back of the car. Evidence showed she had been placed there after being killed outside the vehicle.
Both had been shot in the back of the head and were fully clothed. A patch of blood-soaked grass supported the theory they had been killed outside the car.
Second Double Murder
At approximately 0130 on 14th April, Paul Martin (17) picked up Betty Jo Booker (15). Martin’s body was found at 0630, lying on the left side of North Park Road. He had been shot four times.
Booker’s body was not found until five hours later, two miles away. She had been shot twice. Evidence showed that the same .32 Colt pistol had been used in all murders.
Martin’s car was found three miles from his girlfriend’s body, with the keys still in it.
The autopsy could not say who had been shot first. It was evident, though, that they had fought with their attacker, to stay alive.
Fifth Murder
On 3rd May before 2100, Virgil Starks (37) and his wife Katie (36) were on their farm northeast of Texarkana.
Whilst sitting in his armchair reading the paper, he was shot twice in the back of the head through the window.
Katie had heard the glass break; she ran to see what had happened. Unfortunately, whilst calling the police, she was shot twice in the face through the same window.
Regaining her footing, she ran from the house barefoot to a neighbour and collapsed. She was taken to hospital, where she recovered, helping County Sheriff Davis with the investigation.
Texarkana Murder Investigation
Many police were involved in the man-hunt for the unknown perpetrator. They constantly challenged Larry’s account of the first attack; they believed she knew the attacker.
They were also concerned that the fifth murder was not connected as a different gun had been used to shoot Starks. By November 1948, they no longer considered the murder connected the MO was too different.
It was several months before they connected the first attack to the other murders. The police launched a citywide investigation. Over two hundred people were questioned; it provided no substantial leads.
Suspects
Several men were investigated, but none were found to match the killer’s profile.
In May 1946, a man was found on Kansas City Railway tracks. He was lying face-down; it was found that the man had been killed with a sharp object and then placed on the tracks.
The victim was identified as Earl McSpadden; it was largely believed that this man was the Texarkana killer. Even though this was never proven, the murders never occurred again.
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