Set in the rowdy, often lawless town of Texarkana shortly after WWII, The Phantom Killer is the history of the most puzzling unsolved cases in the United States The salacious and scandalous murders of a series of couples on Texarkana's "lovers lanes" in seemingly idyllic post-WWII America created a media maelstrom and cast a pall of fear over an entire region. What is even more surprising is that the case has remained cold for decades. Combining archival research and investigative journalism, Pulitzer Prize nominated historian James Presley reveals evidence that provides crucial keys to unlocking this decades-old puzzle. Dubbed "the Phantom murders" by the press, these grisly crimes took place in an America before dial telephones, DNA science, and criminal profiling. Even pre-television, print and radio media stirred emotions to a fever pitch. The Phantom Killer, exhaustively researched, is the only definitive nonfiction book on the case, and includes details from an unpublished account by a survivor, and rare, never-before-published photographs. Although the case lives on today on television, the Internet, a revived fictional movie and even an off-Broadway play, with so much of the investigation shrouded in mystery since 1946, rumors and fractured facts have distorted the reality. Now, for the first time, a careful examination of the archival record, personal interviews, and stubborn fact checking come together to produce new insights and revelations on the old slayings.
A female classmate phoned Ierry Atkins at 6:00 AM. on Sunday, asking if he knew where Betty was. Atkins replied, mistakenly, that Ernie Holcomb had driven her home. His confusion seemingly arose from Atkins joining fellow bandsman Sonny ...
Reppetto argues against these current policing systems and calls for a return to the primacy of the detective in criminal investigations. Purchase the audio edition.
"Entertaining, timely, and richly detailed, A Saga of Wealth is both an absorbing chronicle of the men who forged the energy frontier, and a critical evaluation of their powerful legacies"...
Hickman and fellow constable N. M. Burch were compelled to visit the saloons and corral rowdy drunks. In 1912, he was hired as a deputy by Sheriff Louis Bringham. Five years later, Bringham chose to not seek another term, ...
Austin : University of Texas Press , 1995 . Brands , H. W. Lone Star Nation : The Epic ... Carrigan , William D. The Making of a Lynching Culture : Violence and Vigilantism in Central Texas , 1836-1916 . ... Texas Ranger Tales II .
While not the brightest of Genovese's subordinates, Eboli proved himself both loyal and ruthless (suspected in at least 20 homicides). Thus he rose through the ranks, maintaining his sporting interest as a boxing promoter until he was ...
Toward that end, Coulson permitted Ellison to call in the second third-party negotiator: Robert Millar. Coulson dispatched a plane to Oklahoma to pick up the Identity patriarch. He arrived around noon and was permitted to join Ellison ...
Miriam C. Davis here expertly tells the story of the search for the Axeman and of the exoneration of the Jordanos.
The Freeway Phantom's first victim was 13-year-old Carole Denise Spinks, who was abducted on 25 April 1971. She lived in a quiet block of Wahler Place in Southeast Washington. That Sunday evening it was warm and her older sister sent ...
In back row, from left to right, are Tom's brothers Doc, Dudley, and Coley. In front are Tom's father, his grandfather, and then Tom. Credit 43 A group of Texas lawmen that includes Tom White (No. 12) and his three brothers, Doc (No.