The Phantom Killer

by James Presley

Overview

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Killer, exhaustively researched, is the only definitive nonfiction book on the case, and includes details from an unpublished account by a survivor, and rare, never-before-published photographs.Although the case lives on today on television, the Internet, a revived fictional movie and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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781605987231
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	11/15/2014
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

?James Presley ?has a Ph.D. in history from the University of Texas and has won numerous awards for his journalism, including the Anson Jones Award and the John H. McGinnis Memorial Award. He is the author of ?A Saga of Wealth: The Rise of the Texas Oilmen, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. He lives in Texarkana, Texas.

Table of Contents

Author's Note xi

The Town xiii

Chapter 1 Stranger in the Dark 1

Chapter 2 Conflicting Perceptions 10

Chapter 3 Double Death in a Car 21

Chapter 4 A Baffling Case 27

Chapter 5 A Boy, a Girl-And a Gunman 41

Chapter 6 Palm Sunday Horrors 51

Chapter 7 Rising Terror 64

Chapter 8 A Legendary Ranger 71

Chapter 8 Fear Stalks by Night 78

Chapter 10 Murder Strikes Home 89

Chapter 11 Nobody Is Safe! 106

Chapter 12 A Media Invasion 122

Chapter 13 Law and Disorder 129

Chapter 14 Behind a Serial Killer's Facade 139

Chapter 15 An Accidental Break 153

Chapter 16 Incriminating Revelations 165

Chapter 17 The Primary Suspect 186

Chapter 18 Tightening the Noose 203

Chapter 19 Mounting Pressures 218

Chapter 20 A Quiet "Solution" 242

Chapter 21 Behind Walls Again 259

Chapter 21 Back in Court 273

Chapter 23 On the "Witness Stand 285

Chapter 24 "Beyond Belief and Incredible" 293

Chapter 25 Life After "Life" 304

Chapter 26 Cracking a Cold Case 321

Epilogue 345

Source Notes 353

Selected Bibliography 369

Acknowledgments 373

Editorial Reviews

08/11/2014
Pulitzer Prize–nominee Presley (A Saga of Wealth) effectively conveys the fear that gripped Texarkana in 1946 in the wake of a series of murders—and goes on to offer a persuasive solution to the unsolved crimes. The killer first struck on February 22, assaulting a young couple who managed to survive the brutal assault but were unable to give much of a description beyond noting that the perpetrator wore a white mask. About a month later, another man and woman were attacked, this time fatally. The murderer ended up taking five lives and seriously injuring three other people before his rampage stopped. The search for the so-called “phantom killer” was hampered by some police missteps in preserving evidence and the lack of certain forensic tests available today. Diligently researched, this gripping, page-turning account would be a standout true-crime narrative even without the material Presley gathers to buttress his identification of the serial killer. Agent: Mickey Novak, Writers House. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Fascinating and riveting. Will still raise the hair on the back of your neck almost seventy years later. Presley's book is a triumph.

The Dallas Morning News

The Pulitzer Prize-nominated author focuses his new book on a terrifying cold case that rocked his town in 1946. A series of fatal attacks—couples on “lovers lanes”—was never solved, but Presley uses extensive research, including interviews with a survivor, and rare photographs to offer his solution to an unsolved crime from nearly 70 years ago.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

In this gripping and well-researched look back on one of the most fascinating and horrific crime sprees in Texas history, Presley ably proves that hard facts trump decades of myth, fantasy and speculation.

Carlton Stowers

Presley is thorough, incredibly thorough, as he plunges back in time almost 70 years to attempt to bring closure to one of the most puzzling serial murder cases in the country. Fascinating, dexterous work.

Austin American Statesman

★ 11/15/2014
In 1976, the film The Town That Dreaded Sundown was released; it was loosely based on the mayhem in Texarkana, TX, in 1946. Now comes the authoritative book by Pulitzer Prize-nominated author Presley (A Saga of Wealth), who provides the details of the crime that held the city in fear. Eight people were brutally assaulted by a criminal the media dubbed the Phantom Killer, with five dying of their injuries. Since Texarkana was a city in two states (Texas and Arkansas), both state police forces and the FBI joined in the investigation. Law enforcement suspected Youell Lee Swinney but did not have enough evidence to get a conviction. Instead, Swinney was arrested for stealing a car and tried as a habitual offender in Texas, which would give him a life sentence and get him off the street. However, in 1972, Swinney convinced the appeals court to overturn his conviction, claiming that he was indigent and not advised of his rights. He was later convicted of counterfeiting money. When paroled for the last time, he was 72 and later died from lung cancer. Because Swinney was never found guilty of the Texarkana crimes, as a group they remain Texas's no. 1 unsolved case. VERDICT Well researched and solidly written, Presley's book brings a forgotten crime to the forefront. Readers will be spellbound and want to consume it in one sitting. This book belongs in all true crime collections and will attract a general audience, not just fans of true crime. With a remake of the 1976 movie due for 2014 release, expect demand.—Michael Sawyer, Pine Bluff, AR

Library Journal

2014-10-05
An examination of the spasm of violence popularly dubbed the "Texarkana moonlight murders."Texas historian Presley (A Saga of Wealth: The Rise of the Texas Oilmen, 1978) doesn't much like that name, since the eight murders of late winter and spring 1946 took place in different moon phases—but always deep in the night. As the author notes, Texarkana, split between two states, was a town where crime was constant and violence frequent; still, serial murder was quite another thing. Presley writes portentously of the windup to this savage, strange episode: "The snow melted. The weather grew cooperative. Fears of a roving mad dog evaporated. The war was over. What could happen next?" What could happen did happen: A sociopath scared the town into near-paralysis, drawing the attention of law enforcement officials and the press nationwide. Presley's narrative takes us through the cat-and-mouse chase that served up dozens of suspects before narrowing in on several likely cases, and he concludes that justice was eventually served, if it wasn't quite as neat and evidentially definitive as in these days of forensic analysis and DNA testing. Much of the narrative is given over to showing where the investigation was right—surprisingly often, given the paucity of clues and evidence—and where it was wrong, as well as to looking at the key players. The asides into criminal psychology, however, are too plentiful—e.g., "The offender failed to develop a conscience at the critical age and never will"; "He probably didn't think of it in the way normal persons would have, insuring tragedy for everyone, himself included." The inexpert prose diminishes the compelling interest of the story itself, though anything with Texas Rangers in it is likely to hold the attention of readers. A thoroughgoing but occasionally plodding story that awaits a better writer. For now, though, this is the best available account of a crime that, though a cold case, still has people talking.

Kirkus Reviews