The Phantom Killer – Four Months of Terror in Texarkana

Jack the Ripper. Ted Bundy. John Gacy. These are the names of just a few of the most infamous serial killers who ever lived. One name that not a lot of people are familiar with is the Phantom Killer. If you live outside of the city of Texarkana and are under the age of 60, there is a good chance you have never heard of the Phantom. Sixty years ago in Texarkana, the Phantom terrorized the citizens for four months. Just as quickly as he began, his crime spree he stopped.

The Phantom has inspired articles, books and even a low budget 1976 movie called “The Town That Dreaded Sundown,” starring Ben Johnson. It’s a lousy B movie that has a few creepy moments mixed in with far too many scenes of comic relief that simply don’t fit. The definitive movie of the Phantom has yet to be made.

Here is a look at the crime spree that instilled fear into the residents of Texarkana in 1946.

February 22, 1946 – The night was like any other for nineteen-year-old Mary Jeanne Larey and her twenty-four year old boyfriend Jimmy Hollis. After an evening of double dating, which started with taking in the movie “House of Dracula” at the local theater, the pair dropped off the other couple and raced out to the lover’s lane for some harmless intimacy before Mary Jeanne had to go home. At approximately 11:45 the two were involved in some serious kissing when, suddenly, a shadow fell over them obliterating the moonlight that was illuminating the area. Jimmy glanced up half expecting to see the familiar face of a buddy who was parked nearby or that of a policeman there to move them on. Instead he saw something he couldn’t quite explain. Later described as a “thing,” he said this “thing” was bent over, peaking inside the driver’s window. This “thing” was wearing a hood made of white canvas with holes for the eyes and mouth. The “thing” tapped against the window and Jimmy immediately knew it wasn’t a person’s hand. The loud tapping was caused by only one thing – a pistol. The “thing” motioned them out of the car.

Fearing the worst, Jimmy opened the door and stepped out with Mary Jeanne tightly holding his hand as she exited the car. Mary Jeanne quickly told the “thing” he could have all the money they had but to not hurt them. Both Jimmy and Mary Jeanne intently stared at the canvas hood and both noted that you could not see his eyes through the slits but only “blackness,” like that of an unlit Halloween pumpkin. Suddenly the “thing” blinded them with a flashlight as if realizing they were trying to study him.

For reasons never known, the “thing” demanded Jimmy takes off his trousers or he would kill them both. When he complied, Jimmy was felled with two hits to the head from the butt of the gun. Jimmy fell to the ground unconscious.

Instantly he reached for Mary Jeanne who ducked and ran for what she believed might be her life. Not far away she could sense he was just behind her but never looked back. She felt the back of her sweater being grabbed and, in a flash, was on the ground facing him. He climbed on top of her to prevent her from moving and began to touch her with his pistol. Mary Jeanne could hear this “thing” breathing heavily from running but also believed that, despite not being able to see his face, he was smiling at her from underneath the canvas hood. In the glow of the full moon she could see his eyes probing her. It took a moment for both of them to realize it wasn’t the full moon but the headlights of an approaching car. Before he stood to run, the “thing” punched Mary Jeanne several times in the face. Then, as quickly as he appeared, he disappeared into the darkness.

Both Jimmy and Mary Jeanne were taken to the local hospital. Mary Jeanne had minor bruises but Jimmy’s skull had been fractured in two places. They were able to give police a sketchy description at best. Mary Jeanne would spend the next several months suffering from anxiety and nightmares. She eventually moved to Oklahoma to live. Years later she would recall that she would always remember the “thing’s” voice claiming she would ‘know it anywhere.’

Little did Jimmy, Mary Jeanne and the sleepy town of Texarkana realize it at the time, but they were the lucky ones. They had survived.

Despite some rough areas where murders weren’t completely uncommon, Texarkana was generally known as a safe place where one could walk the streets at night and keep their doors unlocked. The attack on the two kids had made the paper but was downplayed as an isolated incident with everyone believing the perpetrator was a transient who had since hopped on the next passing train and moved on.

March 24, 1946 – One month after the first attack a driver on a rural highway noticed a car parked about 100 yards off the road in a grove with a man sitting behind the wheel. The driver pulled over and decided to approach the vehicle thinking the man might need some help. What he found made him let out a scream that echoed through the fields.

Inside the car police found the bodies of two people, both shot in the head. Behind the wheel was 29-year-old Richard Griffin. In the backseat was his girlfriend Polly Ann Moore. Forensic tests revealed that both had been shot with a revolver, 32 caliber.

Evidence showed that Moore had been sexually assaulted and killed outside of the car due to bloodstains and drag marks. For unknown reasons her killer placed the body back in the car. Unfortunately a heavy rain had hit overnight and key evidence was likely washed away. There was no known motive and, despite aid from the FBI and other local law enforcement agencies, local authorities drew a blank. So desperate were they to solve the case that a reward of $500 was posted for any information leading to the identity of the killer. No one came forward.

At this time, despite rumors and gossipers amongst the townspeople, the two cases were not believed to be connected. The sexual assault on Moore was not reported in the press though whispers of it were everywhere. Mary Jeanne had not been sexually assaulted but believed firmly that had the motorist not passed by, that’s what would have occurred. Rumors or not, women in town – especially those who lived alone or had husbands that worked nights, started locking their doors.

April 13, 1946 – A rousing Saturday night at the VFW Hall. Betty Jo Booker, 15, was a saxophonist with the local band, The Rhythmaires, who were playing the VFW that night. Jerry Atkins was the group’s leader and a teenager himself. Atkins was well liked and trusted by the mother’s of the band members who were all teenagers as well. Atkins always agreed to give rides to the band members, especially when they played at events that offered alcohol. Atkins was particularly impressed with Betty Jo’s musical talent and firmly believed she had a successful musical career awaiting her maturation.

At approximately 1 a.m. on the morning of the 14th, the band had just finished up another successful evening of playing. Betty Jo came up to Atkins with Paul Martin in tow. Martin was an old friend of Betty Jo’s and she told Atkins that Martin would drive her to a slumber party where some other girlfriends were. Atkins looked Martin over and, liking his clean-cut looks, agreed.

The next morning both Martin and Betty Jo were found dead. Martin’s car was found at the entrance of a park some fifteen miles away from where the slumber party was. Martin’s body was found a mile and a half away from the car. He had been shot several times. Betty Jo was found two miles further away outside a patch of woods. She, too, had been shot several times. She was also sexually assaulted and this time that fact was not kept from the press.

Ballistic tests showed that the bullets came from the same gun used in the earlier murders. Once again there was no evidence found at the scene but police now realized their worst fears – there was a serial killer at large in their community and he was targeting teenagers on secluded roads. Police also realized for the first time that the original attack on the two survivors was also likely the work of the same man.

To this day no one has been able to explain how Martin’s car ended up so far away from its destination. Everyone knew the two as friends who were never romantically linked, so being found in a Lover’s Lane was confounding. Popular belief is that they either picked up the wrong hitchhiker or the killer was at the dance and waited for them in the parking lot. Unfortunately no one remembers seeing the two in the parking lot that night. Jerry Atkins also believed that the killer was among those in attendance at the dance that night and stalked them.

Four days later Atkins was one of the pallbearers at Betty Jo Booker’s funeral. In honor of his lost and extremely talented sax player, Atkins decided to retire the band in Betty Jo’s honor. After the night of the murder, the Rhythmaires never played again. Several months later, Betty Jo’s saxophone was found half submerged in a marsh, still sitting in the spot where her killer had thrown it.

It was after this incident that the editor of the Gazette labeled the killer “the Phantom.” While it might have made for exciting headlines, it would only increase the fears of the townspeople.

The streets of Texarkana had now taken on a new aura. People once trusted by their neighbors were now suspect. Strangers in town could feel the piercing stares of those wondering what they were up to. At sundown the streets, once busy with teenagers and families, were now deserted.

Residents resorted to setting up pots and pans by the door to announce the Phantom should he arrive at their home. Hardware stores reported that screen door braces, guns and ammunition were selling so fast they couldn’t keep them in stock.

Despite the stifling heat that was hitting even before the official start of summer, residents kept their windows and doors shut tight preferring to suffer the heat then risk giving easy access to a killer.

Locals began forming vigilante posses going out in search of the Phantom. This proved to be more of a setback to police, who were busy trying to break them up instead of concentrating on catching the Phantom.

Soon after the Texas Rangers entered the investigation headed by Manuel Gonzaullas, known as the “Lone Wolf” for his ability to single handedly capture criminals. Within weeks over 300 people were brought in for questioning. Many of these people were those caught roaming secluded areas at night and others who were considered “weird” by neighbors. Loners and transients were brought in, as was anyone with a criminal record. Not a single one of them was detained after the initial questioning.

A reward fund was established by the city council with many businesses donating in an effort to capture the Phantom. The amount got up to over $4,200.

Now the Phantom was becoming big news around the country and soon enough reporters were spilling in to Texarkana by the dozens. Gonzaullas, a well-known publicity hound, was eating up the attention and made it a daily routine to meet with the reporters. Other officers began to complain, as Gonzaullas was so busy giving colorful interviews he had little time to hunt the Phantom. In one memorable interview, Gonzaullas was asked what advice he could give to frightened listeners. His response was, “Check the locks and bolts of your doors and get a double-barreled shotgun to blow away any intruder who tries to get in.” The interview was abruptly ended.

The chase for the Phantom had suddenly become a media circus with an attention-loving Texas Ranger as its lead star.

May 3, 1946 – Virgil Starks, 36, and his wife Katy, 35, lived in a farmhouse in Miller County, Arkansas about twelve miles southeast of Texarkana. The area was remote with only Katy’s sister across the road and the next nearest neighbor over 50 yards away.

That Friday evening found Virgil sitting in his chair after a hard day’s work reading the newspaper. Virgil was lying on an electric heating pad hoping to ease the pain of his sore back. Perhaps because of his attentiveness to the paper or plain fatigue, Virgil didn’t notice someone standing on the front porch.

Katy was in the bedroom changing into her nightclothes. She heard the sound of crashing glass caused by two gunshots. She put her slippers on and ran down the hallway to the entrance of the living room where she found Virgil dead with two bullet holes in the head. Her immediate reaction was that it was the Phantom and she raced for the phone in the kitchen. She dialed up the operator but before she had a chance to speak she heard another crashing sound from behind and the phone flipped out of her hand. Her right cheek burned from where the bullet had hit. She turned toward the sound of the crash and another shot hit her lower jaw causing teeth to fly out of her mouth.

Despite the pain and dizziness, Katy remained conscious. She fell to the floor fearing another shot would kill her. As she crawled she could hear the distinct sounds of the back rear screen door trying to be ripped from its hinges. She could hear the sound of the attacker’s groans as he fought to open a door that was locked. Through the curtain on the window of the door she could see the silhouette of her attacker.

Determined not to become the Phantom’s next victim, Katy struggled to her feet and ran through the living room, passing her dead husband and out the front door. As she exited the house she heard the back door break open and the horrifying sounds of her frustrated attacker. She ran for her life and never looked back for fear that if she saw her attacker, her screams would give away her position. Katy got to her sister’s farm only to find that no one was home. She then cut through the fields and made the trek down to the next farmhouse some 50 yards away. The farm owner summoned an ambulance and the police.

Police arrived just shortly after the call from the farmer came in. All they found in the house was the lifeless body of Virgil Starks. Bloody handprints were found on the walls and furniture. It was later determined to be Virgil Starks’ blood. For some reason the killer had dipped his hand in his victim’s blood. Muddy footprints were found starting at the kitchen leading to the bedroom and then out the front door all the way across the highway towards the sister’s house. He had gone out searching for Katy!

Bloodhounds were brought in and they traced the killer’s scent for over 200 yards when it just stopped. The killer must have had his car parked there and simply gotten in and drove away.

Katy survived the brutal attack despite two gunshot wounds, one that entered her cheek and exited her ear and the other that lodged in the muscle under her tongue. When questioned later she could not give a description of the killer having only seen his silhouette.

Many law enforcement officials believed this was not the work of the Phantom. The bullet casings had come from a 22-caliber semi-automatic shotgun and the Starks’ were a far cry from lover’s lane teenagers. Others, especially the townspeople, scoffed at this claiming there was nothing that said the Phantom had to use the same weapon. The fact that he chose a couple in a farmhouse only indicated his increasing savageness and willingness to kill anyone.

The investigation now fanned out beyond Texarkana’s city limits and fear had become widespread, especially due to the fact that the latest attack had caught the immediate attention of the entire country’s newspapers. Soon after copycat attacks were reported as far away as New York and the Texas Rangers investigated each attack. None of the attacks were believed to be related to the Phantom as none matched the fingerprints left at the Starks house.

In late June authorities got a break they felt might blow the case wide open. Arkansas State Police Chief Max Tackett had made note that just before each of the attacks a car was reported stolen and then recovered soon after. On June 28th one such car was found in a parking lot in Texarkana. Police staked out the car waiting to see who would claim it and soon arrested a woman who approached it having just exited a grocery store. She told police the car belonged to her husband who was out of town at the time. Tackett followed the man’s trail to Atlanta, Texas where he discovered the man had tried to sell another stolen car. Two weeks later the man returned to Texarkana on a bus and was promptly arrested.

The man was identified as twenty-nine year old Youell Swinney. When Tackett arrested him, Swinney reportedly said to him, “Hell, I know what you want me for. You want me for more then stealing a car.”

Swinney had a long criminal record for car theft, burglary and assault. When police searched the hotel room he and his wife were staying, they discovered a shirt with the name “Starks” stenciled on the pocket. When questioned, Swinney refused to answer.

Swinney’s wife was more then eager to talk to police hoping to save herself serious jail time. She told them that she and Swinney had recently married in Louisiana and had come to Texarkana just before the first attack. She then admitted that not only was Swinney the Phantom, but that she had been there for most of the attacks though she didn’t participate.

Police were ecstatic at this break but problems arose. First, each time she told her story the details changed with the exception of implicating her husband. Second, she was a convicted felon and, in the eyes of the law, considered unreliable as a witness. Lastly, she refused to take the stand against her husband. By law, a wife cannot be forced to take the stand against her husband.

By and large it is believed that the next action was the costliest in the case against Swinney. He was transported to Little Rock for further questioning. Investigators administered sodium pentothal (truth serum) to Swinney, but administered so much that he ended up falling asleep. Tackett believed that if they had kept Swinney in Texarkana he would have eventually cracked under interrogative pressure.

There are no existing records to confirm or deny whether Swinney’s fingerprints matched those found at the Starks’ farmhouse. Police were able to settle with charging Swinney with car theft and he was sentenced to life in prison due to being a habitual offender.

Opinions differ on whether Swinney was the Phantom or not. Tackett and local Texarkana law enforcement believe he was but “Lone Wolf” Gonzaullas remained skeptical and never closed the case officially.

Swinney filed a request for Habeus Corpus in 1970, contending an attorney did not represent him at his trial in 1947. A Court of Appeals, burdened by witnesses that were either dead or had sketchy memories, overturned the conviction and Swinney was released in 1974. He died in a Dallas nursing home in 1993.

What happened to the Phantom killer? Was he caught when Youell Swinney was arrested? Was he arrested on another charge? Did he simply move on either killing elsewhere with a different modus operandi or retiring to a crime free life? Perhaps he remained in Texarkana and simply lived normally, walking amongst the once frightened citizens not aware of whom he was. Technically the case remains open and unsolved.

One thing is for certain. Once Youell Swinney was arrested the Phantom killings stopped for good.