The Phantom Killer: Unlocking the Mystery of the Texarkana Serial Murders: The Story of a Town in Terror (54 page)

Swinney’s statements to FBI agent Calhoun came from ASP files. Swinney’s note to Peggy is in the ASP files pertaining to Swinney and the Starks case. Copies of Peggy Swinney’s statements are in Johnson’s papers. Details of the movies showing at the Nashville theaters were found in ads in the
Nashville News
, courtesy of Cecil Harris. The plot and critic’s comment on
Jesse James
are in the online Wikipedia entry about the movie. The author viewed the film on Turner Classic Movies.

Copies of her statements are in the Johnson papers. The trip to Dallas with Peggy is documented in the ASP files, with report by Dallas detective Will Fritz. Bill Presley related the scene in Spring Lake Park where Peggy Swinney confirmed that Martin’s datebook had been taken from his pocket and thrown into the brush, a fact not reported in the newspapers and not known to anyone else, a critical bit of evidence assigning definite credibility to her on that specific matter. Bessie Brown’s statement about Swinney returning to the room after the Griffin-Moore murders and laughing is from Georgia Daily’s interview with her.

The 1920 census contained the data about Swinney’s family and himself as a child. The Swinney parents’ divorce records are in the Miller County Circuit Clerk’s office. Myrtle Swinney’s marriage records are in the Miller County Clerk’s office and divorce from Travis in Miller County Circuit
Clerk’s records. Additional material came from Clarence Swinney and Joyce Swinney Ward.

Because he was a juvenile, at twelve years of age, there is no regular record of young Youell Swinney’s 1929 brush with the law. However, it was reconstructed by comparing his name on the Bowie County District Court’s docket, which does list him by name, and the front-page news story in the
Texarkana Evening News
, September 25, 1929. There can be little doubt but that this is the same boy, for both match in age and all other aspects.

His FBI rap sheet documents the subsequent arrests and dispositions. Swinney’s 1941 Arkansas conviction: Miller County Circuit Court, Case # 5463, State of Arkansas vs. Youell Swinney, page 174, Criminal Court record, Volume N. The Texas prison system roll of inmates, in the Texas State Archives, contains detailed data about each prisoner as he’s processed in, including such matters as Swinney’s tattoos and scars. Data about the other inmates from Bowie County at that time also came from the prison rolls. Tackett’s reports to his supervisors, in the ASP files, provided details of the once-damp shoes and other information. Swinney’s statement to the Arkansas State Police is in ASP files. The Texarkana City Directory of that year contains addresses and residents of the Rose Hill community where Youell and Peggy lived briefly.

The several witness statements are in Arkansas State Police files, in regard to the Starks case. Tillman Johnson and Max Tackett each independently related how they collected samples from the welding shop to compare with slag found in the shirt pockets. A copy of J. Edgar Hoover’s message is in Johnson papers. Johnson described his search with the laundry mark and his visit with the brothel madam. Tackett’s log of Swinney’s day-to-day activities is in Tillman Johnson Papers. Sandie Olson, director of the Waynoka Historical Society, supplied the Waynoka, Okla., background.

Tackett’s reports also are in the state police files. Tackett’s attempt to find out what happened to a painter picked up by Swinney is in Tackett to Scroggins, Sept. 27, 1946, ASP files. Other reports from ASP files
include O. D. Morris to W. B. Jones, Oct. 1, 1946; W. L. MacGregory to W. B. Jones, Oct. 5, 1946; Albert O. Calloway, Oct. 4, 1946; MacGregory to Jones, Oct. 5, 1946, W. B. Jones to Sgt. O. D. Morris, Oct. 11, 1946; Morris to Scroggins, Oct. 13, 1946.

Regarding tracing of the pistols Swinney had disposed of and the Waynoka scene: Arkansas State Police files—Morris to Homer Garrison, Nov. 25, 1946; Morris to Scroggins, Nov. 26, 1946; Carl Miller report, Oct. 27, 1946; Tillman Johnson report, in Miller report, Oct. 27, 1946. Tackett notes in Tillman Johnson papers.

Memo drawing down Ranger force in Texarkana: Gonzaullas to Rangers, Aug. 15, 1946 (Johnson papers). Subsequent letters: Presley to Gonzaullas, Oct. 10, 1946, and Gonzaullas to Garrison, Oct. 12, 1946. Material in this section regarding the Reverend Stanley Swinney and family is based on Swinney family correspondence in Clarence Swinney papers, with each item of information coming from a letter, most of which the Rev. Mr. Swinney wrote. One of Youell’s sisters, Mildred Whetstone to her mother, Myrtle Chaffin, Sept. 15, 1946. “If something is not done.” Stanley C. Swinney, Sr., (SCS) to Cleo Swinney (CS), Sept. 20, 1946. “Perhaps we may.” Claude E. Love to SCS, Sept. 22, 1946. “something must be done . . .” SCS to CS, Sept. 23, 1946. re Supreme Court on appeal, SCS to Maxine Whetstone, Sept. 26, 1946;
ibid
., Sept. 27, 1946. re reward money, SCS to CS, Oct. 4, 1946; re the minister’s case involving missing funds, SCS to Maxine Whetstone, Oct. 4, 1946. Substitute suspect, SCS to CS, Oct. 5, 11, 19, 1946.

Discovery of saxophone:
Texarkana Gazette
, Oct. 25, 1946: Gonzaullas to McLaughlin, Oct. 26, 1946; Glen McLaughlin to W. H. Presley, Oct. 29, 1946. re insanity plea, McVey to CS, Nov. 4, 1946. SCS affidavit, same date. SCS’s “substitute Phantom” and insanity plea are in SCS to CS, Nov. 4, 1946. McVey’s tirade, McVey to Goldman and McDonald, Nov. 9, 1946. His letter to John Frederick, Nov. 9, 1946. Judge’s order is in Book O, p. 120, Docket 5968, Miller County Circuit Court. Swinney’s records at the Arkansas State Hospital are also in Swinney’s files from Texas State
Archives. Tackett and Johnson told of their own memories of the trip to Little Rock and impressions at the time.

McLaughlin, re “strawberry blonde,” Mike Cox,
Texas Ranger Tales
, 261. Presley’s letter to Gonzaullas, Nov. 19, 1946 (Johnson Papers). Copies of Peggy Swinney’s statements at Austin are in Johnson Papers, as well as in other hands. McLaughlin’s assessment of Peggy’s polygraph questioning is in Cox, 261-262. The author applied Mark McClish’s techniques, as detailed in his book,
I Know You Are Lying!
, to analyze the statement. McClish supplemented the analysis with his own comments, e-mailed to the author. Cleo visits Youell Swinney in jail, McVey remarks, McVey to CS, Nov. 25, 1946. McVey’s theory of crimes and instructions, McVey to CS, Dec. 3, 1946; McVey on his substitute villain and analysis, McVey to Love, Dec. 3. McVey’s contact with Gov. Laney and his bill, McVey to CS, Dec. 2, 1946.

Bill Presley told the author about taking condemned prisoners to Huntsville. Sources for material on the Swinney family reactions and strategy in Youell’s case came from the Clarence Swinney papers, consisting, as in a previous chapter, of correspondence among the various members, as well as the attorney McVey. The extradition request by Texas Gov. Coke Stevenson to move Swinney from Arkansas to Texas is in: Record of requisitions and extraditions, 1939-1965, Texas Secretary of State fugitive records, Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Extradition, call to Gov. Laney, Frederick’s reactions and conversation with Maxwell Welch reported in McVey to CS, Dec. 10, 1946. Youell Swinney’s postcard of Dec. 9 is in Clarence Swinney papers. Details of the Titus County jail and the sheriff came from Robert Russell. “Phantom Lead . . . Dud,”
Gazette
, Dec. 11, 1946; two suspicious characters, McVey to CCS, Dec. 12, 1946; SCS to CS. undated (circa Dec. 12). McVey suspicious, etc., McVey to CS, Dec. 18, 1946. Tackett and Johnson escape death,
Texarkana Gazette
, Dec. 23, 1946. SCS and Seconal, SCS to SC, Nov. 17, 1946; Nella Swinney to CS, Nov. 24, 29, 1946; Rev. Swinney’s loss of pastorate, SCS to CS, Jan. 11, 1947. Rev. Swinney advice to Youell Swinney, enclosing letter from
Elmer Lincoln, Jan. 13, 1947; Rev. Swinney belief in light sentence, asks for Seconal. SCS to CS, Jan. 17, 18, 1947; Rev. Swinney advice to plead not guilty by reason of insanity, SCS to CS, Jan. 22, 1947. Buzz Hallett related what he saw and heard in the courtroom during his testimony years later at Swinney’s evidentiary hearing on a writ of habeas corpus. Hallett’s address is in the Texarkana City Directory of that time. The judge’s charge to the jury is a part of the evidentiary hearing documents. “This thing is not over,” McVey to CS, Feb. 17, 1947. “They have done exactly,” SCS to CS, Feb. 26, 1947.

The Texas prison roll, a part of the Texas State Archives, contains the inmate’s information as noted. Inmate photos are in Texas Department of Corrections files. The elder Swinney remained, CSC to CS, May 6, 1947. “I am wondering,” McVey to CS, Dec. 17, 1947. In midsummer 1948, SCS to CS, July 31, 1948. “Would you get me . . .” SCS to CS, Aug. 13, 1948. Elmer L. Lincoln to Youell Lee Swinney, #108586, March 10, 1948 (Clarence Swinney papers). Donaldson suicide, death certificate; Ted Asimos, Jerry Atkins interviews. Peggy Swinney’s divorce, remarriage: divorce records, Bowie County District Clerk’s office; marriage license, Miller County Clerk’s office. Bench warrant, Bowie County District Court docket, which provides no details; other documents providing more details could not be produced; Henslee testified to the trip to Huntsville during Swinney’s evidentiary hearing. Inez Martin to Garrison, March 14, 1949; Garrison to Martin, March 18, 1949, Johnson papers. The correspondence of Swinney’s sister with Patman is in the Youell Swinney folder, Wright Patman Papers, LBJ Library, Austin, Texas: Maxine Childs to Wright Patman, Jan. 12, 1959; Patman to Childs, Jan. 16, 1959; Patman to Jack Ross, chairman, Board of Pardons and Paroles, Jan. 16, 1959; Childs to Patman, Jan. 19, 1959; Ross to Patman, Jan. 22, 1959; Patman to Childs, Jan. 27, 1959.

The author reviewed Swinney’s records at Texas Department of Corrections in 1971 and obtained extant records permitted under Freedom of Information requests subsequently. Items not released in the FOI request but seen in 1971 included a letter to the warden of his fear of becoming an “oral queer,” his short story, and records related to the sexual act,
from which notes were taken. Documents related to Swinney’s application for writ are in the complete file of the evidentiary hearing, Texas State Archives. Visitor to Bill Presley in 1971, told by him to author.

The documents and transcripts of the evidentiary hearing and related motions and papers provide the details of this chapter, supplemented by interviews with Jack Carter, A. M. Adams, Tillman Johnson, and others.

The transcript of the evidentiary hearing provided the chapter’s material.

The proceedings in this chapter come from the transcript of the hearing and related documents, Texas State Archives. The five members of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals at the time included Carl E. F. Dally, Leon Burr Douglas, Wendell Albert Odom, John Frank “Jack” Onion, Jr., and Truman Ernest Roberts. The court later was expanded to nine. Jack Carter told of the call from Lynn Cooksey and his meeting Bessie Booker Brown.

Judge Jack Carter recalled Swinney’s visit to his home. Swinney’s record after release from prison in 1973 has been documented from FBI files obtained through a Freedom of Information request. The files contained Swinney’s rap sheet, or record of criminal arrests, and statements from witnesses and federal agents related to his various activities. Robert Kerr’s review of the movie appeared in the magazine
Arkansas Times
, November 1986. He also published an excellent report on the case after forty years, along with a review of the movie, in the
Texarkana Gazette
, March 23, 1986. An online search yielded the foreign title versions. Other background came from Clarence Swinney and the short stories are in the Clarence Swinney collection.

Interviews with Glenn Owen presented his argument for closing the case by exception. Facts regarding closing cases by exception were found online. Among others, the FBI website details conditions for the process. Go to http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/frequently-asked questions/nibrs_faqs_inspec and then scroll to Exceptional Clearances, which lists the conditions to be met. Other searches offer information on how such a clearance is accomplished in various locales, as well as discussion about whether specific clearances were proper or abused. See, for example, the Goldwater Institute in Arizona and its brief, “Justice Denied: The Improper Clearance of Unsolved Crimes by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.” Similar searches may yield information about the process in Portland, Oregon, and Miami, Fla., the latter of which may be read in the article by Wanda J. DeMargo and Jay Weaver, “How reform turned into curse for sheriff,”
The Miami Herald
, posted March 13, 2005. For a breakdown of Clay County, Florida, 2005 crimes solved by arrest and by exception, see www.claysheriff.com/documents/AnnualUCR2005_ool.pdf.

Louis Graves told of his conversation with Jones Floyd in an interview with the author in Nashville, Ark. Mark Bledsoe recounted his experience to the
Texarkana Gazette
in 1996.

Tillman Johnson reported his dreams during several conversations. The transcript of Gonzaullas’s final interview, conducted by Bob Mitchell and Alva Steen on January 26, 1977, at his home in Dallas, is a part of the E-Book Project of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, Waco, Texas. It was at this interview that he made the statement on the epigraph of this book, regarding the panic that he found in Texarkana. Andrea Anderson, Richard Griffin’s niece, made her remark at a Griffin family reunion in 2010 which the author attended as a guest and spoke about the case. Helen Morrison’s idea of a dignified memorial for serial-killer victims is in her book,
My Life Among the Serial Killers
, 213.