Moonlight Murders

Youell Swinney was sentenced to life in prison in 1947 for being a habitual car thief. For twenty-six years, he insisted he was innocent of murder. Then in 1973, his conviction was overturned on constitutional grounds. The man everyone believed was the Phantom Killer walked free. He went right back to stealing cars. He died in 1994, never charged with the murders. Two years after the killings, a University of Arkansas freshman named Henry Tennison left a suicide note confessing to murdering Betty Jo Booker and Paul Martin. Then he left another note saying to disregard all other messages. In 1976, filmmaker Charles B. Pierce turned the tragedy into a horror movie. The families were devastated. Today, Texarkana screens that film every Halloween at Spring Lake Park, the actual crime scene where Betty Jo's body was found. Seventy-eight years later, the case remains officially unsolved. Was Youell Swinney the Phantom? The evidence is compelling but never proven. Sometimes evil leaves nothing but questions.#TexarkanaPhantom #UnsolvedMysteries #TrueCrimeHistory #PhantomKillerIf you're hooked on the Texarkana Phantom case and want more deep dives into fascinating true crime stories, check out my other podcast, 10 Minute Murder. Every episode delivers a complete true crime story in just ten minutes. Perfect for your commute, lunch break, or whenever you need a quick fix of compelling storytelling about history's most intriguing cases. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts.

By late 1946, prosecutors faced an impossible choice. They believed Youell Swinney was the Phantom Killer. The stolen car pattern was too perfect. Peggy's knowledge of Paul Martin's secret datebook was damning. That question about the electric chair haunted everyone who heard it. But Peggy had recanted everything. The star witness was gone. If they charged Swinney with murder and lost at trial, double jeopardy would protect him forever. He could never be tried again. So they found another way. Texas had a habitual offender law. Three felony convictions meant mandatory life in prison. Swinney already had two. The current car theft charge would be his third strike. They would lock him up for life without ever charging him with murder. Was this justice or a perversion of it? The families got no trial for their murdered loved ones. The case would remain officially unsolved. But the man investigators believed was a serial killer would die behind bars. Or so everyone thought. Twenty-six years later, something happened that nobody saw coming.#TexarkanaPhantom #YouellSwinney #TrueCrimeJustice #HabitudinalOffenderIf you're hooked on the Texarkana Phantom case and want more deep dives into fascinating true crime stories, check out my other podcast, 10 Minute Murder. Every episode delivers a complete true crime story in just ten minutes. Perfect for your commute, lunch break, or whenever you need a quick fix of compelling storytelling about history's most intriguing cases. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts.

Arkansas State Trooper Max Tackett saw what everyone else had missed. Before each murder, a car was stolen. After each attack, that car was abandoned. The Phantom wasn't using his own vehicle. He was stealing them. If Tackett was right, the key to catching a serial killer was finding the right car thief. On June 28th, 1946, a routine stakeout of a stolen Plymouth led to the arrest of Peggy Stevens. Hours earlier, she'd married a career criminal named Youell Swinney. The timing seemed deliberate. Spousal privilege meant she couldn't be forced to testify against him. When investigators finally got her talking, Peggy revealed details only the killer would know. She knew about Paul Martin's datebook, evidence never released to the public. But her story kept changing. Dates didn't match. Then came the San Antonio alibi. If the Swinneys were sleeping under a bridge 400 miles away, Youell couldn't have murdered Paul Martin and Betty Jo Booker. The case was falling apart before it ever reached trial.#TexarkanaPhantom #YouellSwinney #TrueCrimeInvestigation #UnsolvedCasesIf you're hooked on the Texarkana Phantom case and want more deep dives into fascinating true crime stories, check out my other podcast, 10 Minute Murder. Every episode delivers a complete true crime story in just ten minutes. Perfect for your commute, lunch break, or whenever you need a quick fix of compelling storytelling about history's most intriguing cases. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts.

The Phantom had a pattern. Every three weeks, a young couple on a lovers' lane. Police saturated those roads, waiting for him to strike again. But on May 3rd, 1946, everything changed. Virgil and Katie Starks were a farming couple in their late thirties, miles from town, safe in their own home. When bullets shattered their window that Friday night, it proved no one in Texarkana was truly safe. Katie's survival would make her the first person to escape the Phantom and live to tell about it. Then, as suddenly as the terror began, the attacks stopped completely. The killer vanished. Arkansas State Trooper Max Tackett refused to let the case go cold. His focus on a pattern of stolen cars would lead him to a career criminal named Youell Swinney. And the question Swinney asked after his arrest would send chills through everyone who heard it: "Will they give me the chair?"#TexarkanaPhantom #TrueCrimeHistory #UnsolvedMurders #1940sCrimeIf you're hooked on the Texarkana Phantom case and want more deep dives into fascinating true crime stories, check out my other podcast, 10 Minute Murder. Every episode delivers a complete true crime story in just ten minutes. Perfect for your commute, lunch break, or whenever you need a quick fix of compelling storytelling about history's most intriguing cases. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts.

Easter weekend 1946 brought Texarkana's worst nightmare to life. Fifteen-year-old Betty Jo Booker was a talented saxophonist with the Rhythmaires, playing gigs around town and building a promising future. After finishing a late-night performance at the VFW Club, she left with her childhood friend Paul Martin. By Sunday morning, both teenagers were dead, shot by the same .32 caliber pistol used in the previous murders.Betty Jo's death sent shockwaves through the community. She had run two miles through the woods before the Phantom caught her. The discovery of her missing saxophone six months later only deepened the mystery. Why would a killer take a musical instrument? What did it mean?This episode explores the murders that pushed Texarkana into mass hysteria. Families abandoned their bedrooms, sleeping together on floors with loaded shotguns. Schools released students early. Downtown emptied at dusk. The city transformed into a ghost town after dark, everyone counting down to the three-week mark when the killer would strike again.Four people dead. A pattern emerging. And law enforcement no closer to identifying the monster hunting their streets.

Episode 2: Double Murder on Spring Lake RoadMarch 24, 1946. A motorist discovers Richard Griffin and Polly Ann Moore shot execution-style in Griffin's Oldsmobile on South Robison Road near Spring Lake Park. Both victims have been shot in the back of the head with a .32 caliber pistol. A pool of dried blood twenty feet from the car reveals the killer moved the bodies after shooting them. The crime scene is compromised by rain and poor security. Texarkana realizes the February attack wasn't isolated. A serial killer is hunting lovers' lanes.This episode chronicles the double homicide that transformed a local crime story into national news and unleashed mass panic across Texarkana. Discover how jurisdictional chaos between Texas and Arkansas law enforcement agencies hampered the investigation from the start. Learn about the arrival of legendary Texas Ranger Manuel "Lone Wolf" Gonzaullas, whose media-savvy approach prioritized headlines over forensic protocol. Witness the birth of the killer's infamous nickname and the gun-buying frenzy that followed.Featuring detailed crime scene analysis, the questionable tactics that contaminated evidence, and the escalating pattern that predicted another attack in three weeks. The Phantom was just getting started.

Episode 1: The Town Between Two StatesFebruary 22, 1946. A masked attacker with a white hood and pistol terrorizes a young couple on a secluded Texas lovers' lane. Jimmy Hollis suffers multiple skull fractures. Mary Jeanne Larey is sexually assaulted and flees half a mile for help. The brutal attack on the outskirts of Texarkana goes largely unreported by local newspapers. Police dismiss it as an isolated incident. No warnings are issued to the public. Three weeks later, the killer strikes again.This episode introduces the Texarkana Moonlight Murders, one of America's most infamous unsolved serial killer cases. Discover how this unique border city spanning Texas and Arkansas became the hunting ground for a predator known as the Phantom Killer. Learn about the lovers' lane culture of 1940s America, the post-war boom that transformed Texarkana, and the first violent attack that law enforcement fatally underestimated. The victims' conflicting descriptions of their attacker would complicate the investigation for decades. Featuring detailed accounts of the February 22nd assault, the geographical complexities that hindered the investigation, and Jimmy Hollis's chilling warning: "If you don't find him, he's going to kill someone."