The Texarkana Phantom Killer
A Community Terrorized by an Unknown Assailant
The Texarkana Phantom Killer was an unidentified serial murderer associated with a series of nighttime attacks committed near Texarkana, a border community divided between northeastern Texas and southwestern Arkansas. The crimes, commonly called the Texarkana Moonlight Murders, occurred during a ten-week period between February and May 1946. Eight people were attacked in four separate incidents, and five of them were killed.
The assailant primarily targeted young couples who had driven to secluded roads or lovers' lanes after dark. According to the survivors of the first attack, the man concealed his face beneath a white cloth hood with openings cut for his eyes and mouth. Newspapers began calling him the "Phantom Killer" after investigators repeatedly failed to identify or capture him.
The attacks created intense fear throughout Texarkana. Residents purchased firearms, installed stronger locks, covered their windows and avoided traveling at night. Law-enforcement officers patrolled residential streets and isolated roads, while armed citizens guarded their homes. Despite an extensive investigation involving local police, county authorities, Texas Rangers and other agencies, no one was ever convicted of the murders.
The Attack on Jimmy Hollis and Mary Jeanne Larey
The first known attack occurred shortly before midnight on February 22, 1946. Jimmy Hollis, 25, and Mary Jeanne Larey, 19, had attended a movie and then parked on a secluded road near Texarkana, Texas. Approximately ten minutes later, a man approached the driver's side of their vehicle and shined a flashlight through the window.
The intruder wore what Larey described as a white cloth mask resembling a pillowcase. He ordered the couple out of the automobile and forced Hollis to remove some of his clothing. The attacker then struck Hollis in the head with a handgun so violently that Hollis suffered serious skull fractures.
Larey was ordered to run toward the road. When she initially attempted to escape in another direction, the masked man chased her, knocked her down and sexually assaulted her with the barrel of his firearm. Larey eventually escaped and reached a nearby house, where she obtained help. Hollis also survived, although he remained hospitalized for several days. Their descriptions gave investigators their only detailed eyewitness account of the presumed Phantom Killer.
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