At the time, Rich Road was nicknamed ‘Lover’s Lane’ by locals. It was a gravel road not yet connected to the highway, surrounded by privacy trees. It’s near a hang-out called Club Dallas, just a few blocks away. Meanwhile, the masked man sexually assaults Mary along the way for several minutes. Suddenly he saw the headlights of a vehicle passing that way and got scared and hid in the darkness.
Texarkana's phantom was not America's first serial slayer; he certainly was not the worst, either in body count or sheer brutality. But he has left a crimson mark on history as one of those who got away. Like the elusive Axeman of New Orleans, Cleveland's Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, and San Francisco's Zodiac Killer, the Phantom Killer left a haunting mystery behind.



Many have pointed to these two similarities – the flashlight and the hood/mask – as a possible link between the Zodiac and the Phantom. Both men were assassins operating at night in isolated areas, but there was a gap of about twenty-five years between their operations. The zodiac is described as relatively young, so the timeline doesn’t really match.
Seconds later, two shots were fired into the back of his head from a closed double-window three feet away. Katie didn't hear the shots; instead, she heard what sounded like "the breaking of glass". In 1946, The American twin city of Texarkana was plunged into the depths of panic and fear. Phantom Killer an unidentified serial killer known as the Phantom Killer and the Phantom Slayer. The Phantom Killer is believed to have committed Crime scene investigation in Texas between February 23rd and May 4th 1946. Sheriff W. E. Davis, who became head of the investigation.

The Phantom then told Jimmy Hollis to remove his pants and proceeded to beat him severely, fracturing his skull. Citizens bought weapons and stayed in their homes at night, literally dreading sundown. Law enforcement officials on both the Arkansas and Texas sides of the city worked the case. Texas rangers arrived, including the handsome and charismatic Manuel “Lone Wolf” Gonzaullas, and reporters from all over the country flocked to the town, adding a new level of chaos. When neighbors reported seeing strange lights from the Starks farmhouse, local police surrounded the home only to find Gonzaullas and a woman reporter from Life magazine taking photos of the crime scene with flash bulbs. The next month, on May 3, an isolated farmhouse in Miller County was the scene of another murder.
Then, he struck her and sexually assaulted her with the gun barrel. The killer ordered the couple out of the car, Hollis was told to remove his trousers. Paul's 1946 Ford Club coupe was found about three miles away from Booker's body and 1.55 miles away from his body. It was parked outside the Spring Lake Park with the keys still in it. Authorities couldn't tell who had been shot first but Sheriff Presley and Texas Ranger Captain Manuel Gonazullas said that examinations of the bodies showed they had both struggled greatly.

Larey remained in the area for a couple of months before moving to Frederick, Oklahoma with relatives, but returned from time to time to be interviewed. Both were shot in the back of the head, again apparently while out late on a Saturday night. An early rain washed away some of the possible physical evidence such as footprints, fingerprint and blood smear evidence.
His family told police they did not possess the weapons used to kill the five victims and that none of Tennyson’s fingerprints matched those found at the crime scenes. Dr. said that the killer will continue to attack randomly. Dr. said that there is a connection between the four crimes. Lapalla thinks, he undoubtedly believed, that the murder of Virgil Starks and the shooting of Katie Starks could be connected to the other three crimes. Dr. Lapalla described the killer as intelligent, clever and cunning, while he described the Phantom as between 30 and 50, who may have lived an ordinary life and appeared to be a good citizen in his personal life.
The killer, described by witnesses as wearing a white mask or sack with holes cut for eyes, was dubbed the Phantom Killer or Phantom Slayer—a name that, like so much about the case, seemed ready-made for drive-in theaters. This image shows the handprint of a suspect in the 1946 Texarkana Phantom Killer serial murder case. Amy Robinson was a young woman with mental disabilities. In 1998, she was abducted & murdered in her hometown of Arlington, Texas, by two men she believed were her friends. Blake Leibel lived a life of luxury, living off his wealthy parents in Los Angeles. In a case of life imitating art, Leibel murdered his girlfriend, Iana Kasian, in a crime which followed a script from his graphic novel, Syndrome.

Although Hollis believed he was a young, dark-tanned, white man under 30 years old, Larey believed he was a light-skinned African American. With no description from the other incidents, it cannot be certain if the same perpetrator or perpetrators were responsible, though it is generally assumed that the crimes were the work of a single individual. Some believed he was being secretly held at the Bowie County Jail or flown to another jail.
The killer’s MO remained the same throughout the attack. They always happened late at night, on weekends, in isolated areas. Three couples were attacked on a deserted road, while another was attacked inside their home. During the attack on the path of the three lovers, the female victim was sexually assaulted, but it is not known if the same fate awaited Katie Starks, because she managed to escape.

Titled ‘The Town That Dreaded Sundown’, the film is inspired by true events in Texana. Retired from the Rangers in the early 1950s to pursue a career in show business. It was based on an investigation conducted by Gonzalez. Many claimed that Captain Gonzávelas took credit for many things he was not responsible for, but that surprised no one at the time.
At Austin, Tex., Col. Homer Garrison, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said fingerprints that might have been those of the "phantom" do not match those of the suicide victim. Sheriff Hiram Waller said the death gun was of the same calibre as that used in the five Texarkana killings, but he did not definitely link the cases. The cotton-country county seat went on the alert as soon as the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Paola were found, each with two bullet holes drilled through the head. Four .22 caliber shells were found on th floor of their bedroom, Boyle said.

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.