Notes

‎Criminology: The Texarkana Moonlight Murders
The unknown killer did not acquire a nickname until after the death of Betty Jo Booker and Paul Martin. In the April 16th edition of the Texarkana Daily News, a heading read, "Phantom Killer Eludes Officers as Investigation of Slayings Pressed". The front page story was continued on page two with the title, "Phantom Slayer Eludes Police".
A fifteen-year-old girl was lying under the cover of a tree. Like the other victims, she was still fully clothed, but her body appeared to have been manipulated in some way. For her coat was buttoned up to her chin, and her right hand was resting in the pocket of her overcoat. Betty Jo’s body was found two miles from Paul Martin’s body.



On November 5, 1948 (two and a half years after the Phantom Killer’s last strike), Tennyson was found dead in his bedroom in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Washington County Sheriff Bruce Crider, a local police officer, discovered that Tennyson had purchased mercury cyanide two days earlier . As the investigation struggles to gain ground, a young officer makes a breakthrough.
Dubbed the “Texarkana Moonlight Murders” by the press, eight people were attacked and five were murdered within the span of three months. The film purported to be a true depiction of the crimes, with only the names of the victims changed. However, Charles B. Pierce’s Criminal profiling film was not an accurate depiction of what occurred, and took many liberties with the facts. A “meta-sequel” produced by Jason Blum in 2014 only helped to further blur the truth. N 1946 four brutal crimes occurred in less than three months in Texarkana.

There is little to none jittery cam or stale jump scare. Some are seemingly old fashioned but they are delivered with sophistication. Addison Timlin as Jami does a great job as the down-to-earth girl. She has the vibe of innocence that serves better as audience can easily invest to her story and also self-continuity. Script helps the authentic feel as much of the dialogues are deceptively plain yet sentimental.
Still, when police questioned her after emergency surgery, she couldn’t tell investigators who attacked her and her husband because they never saw who shot them outside their home. All that was left behind at the scene was a black and red flashlight that nobody could identify. Eight people were attacked in total, and five of the victims were killed, leading to an investigation full of mistakes. Texarkana saw its share of violence, but these attacks shook the residents of Texarkana to their very core.

Hall said James Freeman, 16 years old, told him tonight that he was a close friend of Tennison and spent the evening of May 3, 1946, with the youth listening to the radio in Tennison's home. It was in the note found in the strongbox in which Tennison "confessed" slaying three of the five victims attributed to the "Phantom" in 1946. He quoted Tennison's sister, Mrs. Alys Jo Daniel as saying the boy was a almost constant reader of comic books and an ardent follower of radio detective programs. "The man who shot those shots was calculating," said Sheriff W. E. Davis of Miller County, Ark., at the time.
Killings, robberies and other crimes were very common. It might make sense then, while the attack on Jimmy and Mary Jeanne was brutal, the community didn’t pay it much attention until another attack occurred a month later. Based on Freedom-of-Information requests made at different times, I have two sets of files that were distributed by the FBI as a result of those requests being made. Cartier replica sale I have posted the complete content of these two sets of FBI files online at the Texarkana Phantom Killer Theory Forum FaceBook Group Page. One thing that the FBI documents make clear is that there is not reliable evidence to conclude that Youell Swinney was the Phantom Killer.
The Phantom Killer committed his atrocities across and around the Texarkana region. He first attacked his victims along the lovers’ lane and later moved his attacks to a farmhouse. His fourth attack took place at a very isolated farmhouse in Arkansas. These murders and attacks were reported nationally and caused a state of panic which made residents arm themselves at dusk and locked themselves in early. Some youths tried to bait and ambush The Phantom Killer without success.

Mary Jeanne took off down the road, but was wearing high heels. The assailant quickly overtook her and hit her again, knocking her to the ground, where he began to abuse her. At this point, Jimmy struggled to his feet and managed to stop a passing car. It’s thought the assailant saw the car lights and fled from Mary Jeanne. Both Jimmy and Mary Jeanne received medical treatment. Many people only read headlines of newspaper articles.
Mary spoke to the police that night about the attack and the masked man who terrorized them at gunpoint. She reported that he was wearing a white bag on his head which had holes for eyes and mouth. Through the holes he had a partial view of the man’s face and described him as a negro. At the time, the police saw the attack as a personal vendetta.

A small quantity of the poison was found stuck to the end of a fountain pen, which he had referred to in several of his notes. A box which had contained the poison tablets was found in a waste basket. "The numbers which form the combination to the box were found Saturday afternoon inside a fountain pen, which he requested in another note be returned to a local store, where he said it belonged." The sheriff said the fountain pen used in the note containing the admissions had been purchased only a few days before the message was dated." It is also important to point out that Washington County Sheriff Bruce Crider had as much opportunity as anyone to consider the chronological order in which H. Sheriff Crider is one high-profile authority who believed that the Confession note had been written AFTER the "Final Word" note.
After waking up from his coma, he couldn’t find his rifle. Investigators heard the young man’s confession, but he did not provide any further information. All his information about the murders was gleaned from radio and newspaper reporting. He was also found to be psycho-neurotic and discharged from the army. Believing the man to be in need of psychiatric help, the police eventually let him go.

This was no place for a tired motorman to pull off the road, not with so many motels and other safer areas within a stone's throw. The driver, thinking he should investigate, approached the vehicle. When he peered inside, he shrieked at what he saw and scooted off to immediately notify authorities. This one-of-a-kind enterprise works well and its 60,000-some citizens think of themselves as being of one mind and one city. They work together well and play together well, and meet every October at their famous Fair and Rodeo.
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