In the pre-dawn hours of September 14, 1980, the city of Ann Arbor, Michigan, was the scene of a brutal and terrifying crime. Rebecca Greer Huff, a 30-year-old white female, was returning to her home in the Waldenwood Apartment Complex on Pauline Boulevard at approximately 4:30 a.m. A graduate student at the University of Michigan pursuing a master's degree in Business Administration, Huff also worked as a flight attendant and was known to her friends as 'Greer.'
As she made her way to her apartment, she was viciously attacked and stabbed 54 times in the chest. A witness reported hearing screams and seeing a man flee the scene. Despite the horrific nature of the assault, Huff was not sexually assaulted or robbed.
The murder of Rebecca Greer Huff sent a wave of fear through the Ann Arbor community, as it was the third in a series of strikingly similar homicides that year. The other victims were 17-year-old Shirley Small and 27-year-old Glenda Richmond, both of whom were also attacked and stabbed to death in the early morning hours on a Sunday near their residences. The consistent method of the attacks led investigators to believe they were the work of a serial killer, whom the local press dubbed the 'Sunday Morning Slasher.' The Ann Arbor Police Department assigned all 31 of its detectives to the case in a desperate attempt to find the person responsible for the string of violent deaths.
The investigation eventually focused on a man named Coral Eugene Watts, who had a history of violence against women. Watts was arrested in November 1980 after being observed stalking a woman in downtown Ann Arbor, but he was released due to a lack of evidence. He later moved to Texas, where his violent behavior continued. In 1982, Watts was arrested in Texas for breaking into an apartment and attempting to drown a woman. In a plea agreement with Texas authorities, Watts confessed to 13 murders, including the murder of Rebecca Greer Huff. However, in exchange for his confessions, he was granted immunity from prosecution for those crimes. Michigan authorities did not agree to this deal, and the murder cases in their state, including that of Rebecca Greer Huff, remained officially open.
