TEXARKANA MOONLIGHT MURDERS

Most of the facts of the original case were fictionalized which created much of the myth and lore for several years. Many of the rumors are still believed and spread by locals. One of the more prominent rumors is that blood-stained clothing hidden by The Phantom was found in a school attic many years after the crime spree.
Wells, who had played Mary Ann on the television show Gilligan’s Island, portrayed one of the victims, and Andrew Prine played a sheriff’s deputy. In an interview, Prine stated that he wrote the last part of the movie himself because the script did not yet have an ending. After his fifth murder and attack on Katie, the Phantom Killer cooled down his attacks. Investigators were not able to piece together and unveil the identity of the Killer as he committed the crimes intelligently.

Davis called in officers from the entire area to help, including the FBI and Texas Rangers. In the house, was found a trail of blood with scattered teeth. On the dining room table was Katie's work for making a dress. Gonzaullas, stated that, "It is beyond me why she did not bleed to death." There were only two bullet holes in the window, leading to Davis believing an automatic rifle was used. It was later declared that after Virgil was shot, he waited patiently outside to shoot Katie.
She narrowly escaped, but hadn't been able to see the killer because of the blood pouring from her facial wounds into her eyes. It all started with the murder of Mary Pratt in December of 1990, when she was shot, killed, and had her eyes surgically removed. The killer Wrongful convictions than moved on to Susan Peterson, killing her in the exact same way. The third victim, Shirley Williams, was found in March of 1991 – but the circumstances surrounding her murder were a bit different. Her eyes had been removed, but without the same amount of precision.

On Saturday, May 11, a teletype machine arrived from Austin, Texas in the afternoon and was installed in the Bowie County Sheriff's office. Gonzaullas explained that the machine would aid in the investigation by allowing them to be connected with other law enforcement offices in Texas. Sheriff Presley and Sheriff Davis suggested raising a reward fund of $2,500 for information that would help them catch the killer of Virgil Starks. They mentioned that if the slayer of Mr. Starks was the same killer responsible for the other murders, then the Starks reward would be combined with the other rewards making it a sum of $10,000.
The investigation is given extra heat to combat the threat known as ‘The Phantom Killer’. State-of-the-art police equipment was shipped from Austin, Texas, including a mobile radio station that enabled officers to communicate with each other via two-way radios in their vehicles. We know it as common police equipment today, but in 1946 it was revolutionary. Additionally, a teletype machine was installed in the Bowie County Sheriff’s Office, which facilitated communication between jurisdictions and departments. The first color photograph of the Gazette featured the flashlight on the front page.

Texarkana is a small highway town in north-east Texas. At the time of the killings it was a fairly large town, consisting of 2 major high-schools and middle-schools and a bustling down-town district. The killings took place just outside one of the high-schools, in a moderately large park/lake area called "Spring Lake park", this is where a majority of the killing took place. The main victims would be couples in there late teens to early twenties, usually done in while kissing or doing it in there cars.
Catherine Knight – The story of a female murderer that shocked Australia. Meanwhile, Katie Starks – the third survivor – is widowed following the murder of her husband Virgil Starks. She survived the injuries to her face and made a full recovery.
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.

However, the note admitted the three slayings mentioned a "viewmaster," a film viewing device. The boy said he had been watching someone who had left a private car and boarded a bus. He said he did not stop because he did not know the pursuing officers were police. One night Special Officer W. A. McAllister saw a young boy acting suspiciously and ordered him to halt. He was caught after a three-mile chase when police shot his tires. Helping him were the Federal Bureau of Investigation, officers from both Arkansas ad Texas, county and city officials from all nearby towns and the state highway patrols of two states.
Five persons were mysteriously slain here in the spring of 1946. Tennison's notes said he was responsible for three of the slayings. He listed the victims as Betty Jo Booker, 15, Paul Martin, 17; and Virgil Starks, 36. He said he remembered the date very well, because news of the shooting spread rapidly through the town. Police said other messages, including one suggesting a newspaper headline about his death, also were found in the room.

He said the boy had traveled with him during the summer and that he appeared to be rational in every respect. When told that his son had written notes in poetic rhythm, he said that to his knowledge his son had never tried to write poetry. In Memphis, the youth father expressed amazement that his son might have committed the Phantom murders or that he had taken his own life. No reference in the note was made to the death of Polly Ann Moore, 17, and Richard Griffin, 29, both shot to death on the outskirts of Texarkana on March 24, 1946. Mrs. John I. Smith, local news stand operator, said today Tennison had purchased a Viewmaster and film on Mexico from her either Oct 30 or Nov. 1.
Five persons were killed near Texarkana from March 24 to early May, 1946. Two young couples were waylaid on country roads and a man was killed in his farm home by an assailant who also shot and wounded his wife as she fled to a neighbor's home. On May 3, 1946, Virgil Starks, 36, was shot to death as he sat in his farm home. The assailant, standing outside the house, walted until Stark's wife ran to him and then shot her. Although seriously wounded, Mrs. Starks ran to a neighbor's home. B. Tennison, 17, of Texarkana, Ark., left a suicide note in his room at the University of Arkansas on Nov. 5, 1948.

"Three days after the murder the sheriff's office had already questioned 50 to 60 people about the murder and tracked down about 100 false leads," writes Greg Bischof, Texarkana Gazette staff writer. "The murders remained a baffling mystery, forcing the sheriff's office to eventually post a $500 reward for information. None came." Joining the investigation with the Bowie County patrol were members from the Texas Department of Public Safety, the city police forces and Miller County and adjacent Cass County law enforcement agencies.