Texarkana is a weird place. It’s a city split right down the middle by the Texas and Arkansas border, where you can stand with one foot in a dry county and the other in a wet one. But if you visit today, you’ll notice something deeper than just geography. There’s a lingering shadow. It’s been decades, but people still talk about the "Phantom Killer." In 1946, this border town was paralyzed by a series of brutal, unexplained attacks that changed the DNA of the community forever.
They call it the town that dreaded sundown.
It isn't just a catchy movie title from the 70s. It was a literal reality for thousands of residents who spent the spring of ’46 bolting their doors, buying out every locksmith in town, and sitting in the dark with shotguns across their laps. The Moonlight Murders, as they were known, remain one of the most haunting unsolved mysteries in American history. To understand Texarkana, you have to understand those ten weeks of absolute terror.
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The Attacks That Started the Nightmare
It began on a cold February night. Jimmy Hollis and Mary Jeanne Larey were parked on a secluded stretch known as a "lovers' lane." A man in a white mask—some say it looked like a pillowcase with eye holes—approached their car and ordered them out. He didn't just want their money. He beat Hollis so severely his skull was fractured in two places. Larey was sexually assaulted before she managed to flee toward a nearby farmhouse. They lived. Others wouldn't be so lucky.
Weeks later, the violence escalated. On March 24, Richard Griffin and Polly Ann Moore were found dead in their car. Then came the April attack on Paul Martin and Betty Jo Booker. Booker was a talented 15-year-old saxophonist; her instrument case was found miles away from her body.
The pattern was terrifying because there wasn't a clear "why." The killer seemed to target young couples in isolated spots, but then he changed his tactics entirely. He stopped lurking in the woods and started coming into homes.
The Starks Attack: A Shift in the Pattern
On May 3, 1946, the Moonlight Murders took a sharp, domestic turn. Virgil Starks was sitting in his living room reading the newspaper when he was shot twice through a window. His wife, Katie, heard the glass shatter and ran to his side. She was shot twice in the face.
Miraculously, Katie Starks didn't die.
She ran. Bleeding out, she sprinted to a neighbor’s house for help. This specific attack flipped the town’s fear into a full-blown hysteria. If you weren't safe in your own living room behind a locked door, where were you safe? Texarkana became a fortress. Businesses closed early. The streets were deserted by 8:00 PM. People literally nailed boards over their windows.
Enter the Lone Wolf: Manuel Gonzaullas
When local police realized they were outmatched by a phantom who left almost no evidence, they called in the big guns. Captain Manuel "Lone Wolf" Gonzaullas of the Texas Rangers arrived in town with a reputation for being a legendary lawman. He was the kind of guy who looked like he walked off a movie set—polished, stern, and incredibly capable.
He set up shop at the Hotel McCartney. He worked around the clock. He even tried setting traps using undercover officers as "decoys" in lovers' lanes. But the killer was smart. Or lucky. Or both. Despite the presence of the Rangers, the FBI, and hundreds of deputized locals, the Phantom never struck again after the Starks incident.
It’s like he just evaporated.
Who Was the Phantom?
If you ask a local today who did it, you’ll probably hear the name Youell Swinney. He’s the most popular candidate for the mantle of the Phantom Killer. Swinney was a career criminal with a history of car theft and assault. His wife actually implicated him, providing details about the murders that she supposedly shouldn't have known.
But there was a problem.
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Texas law at the time prevented a wife from testifying against her husband. Without her testimony, the prosecution didn't have enough physical evidence to link him to the murders. Swinney was eventually sent to prison for life as a habitual offender (mostly for car theft), and interestingly, the murders stopped once he was behind bars. He died in 1994 without ever being charged with the Texarkana killings.
Was it him? Most experts, including the late Texarkana historian Jerry Atkins, leaned toward yes. But others aren't so sure. Some think the Starks murder—the only one involving a house and a different caliber weapon—was a copycat or a completely unrelated crime. We’ll likely never know for certain because the DNA evidence from 1946 is practically nonexistent.
The Movie That Changed Everything
In 1976, Charles B. Pierce released The Town That Dreaded Sundown. It’s a "semi-documentary" style horror flick that took the real events and turned them into a drive-in legend. While it got the general vibe right, it played fast and loose with the facts.
- The Mask: The movie popularized the "bag head" look, which was based on the Hollis/Larey description.
- The Trombone: There's a famous, gruesome scene involving a trombone slide. That never happened. It was a creative invention to add shock value.
- The Ending: The movie depicts a dramatic chase through the swamps. In reality, there was no such confrontation.
The film did something weird to Texarkana. It turned a real-life tragedy into a piece of pop culture. For years, the city struggled with how to handle this. Do you embrace the macabre fame? Or do you ignore it out of respect for the victims?
Visiting Texarkana Today: A Dark Tourism Perspective
If you’re a history buff or a true crime fan, Texarkana is a fascinating case study in how a town lives with its ghosts. You can still see many of the locations involved in the 1946 saga, though many are now private property or have changed significantly.
The Museum of Regional History in Texarkana, USA, is the best place to start. They have an exhibit dedicated to the 1940s era and the Moonlight Murders. It’s a grounded, factual look at the timeline that strips away the Hollywood sensationalism.
Every year around Halloween, there’s usually a screening of the 1976 film at Spring Lake Park. It’s a surreal experience—watching a movie about a killer in the very park where some of the tension originally unfolded. It’s become a bit of a local tradition, though it still feels a little "too soon" for some of the older families in the area.
Common Misconceptions to Keep in Mind
- The Killer was never caught: This is technically true but practically debated. Swinney is the guy, but the "unsolved" status adds to the mystique.
- It happened at night: Actually, many of the attacks happened in the late evening, not the dead of night. "Sundown" became the symbolic deadline for safety.
- The movie is a documentary: It’s not. If you want the real story, read The Phantom Killer by James Presley. He’s a journalist who grew up in Texarkana and his father was one of the lead investigators.
The Lasting Impact on the Border City
The town that dreaded sundown isn't just a label; it's a piece of psychological history. The 1946 murders ended the era of "small-town innocence" for this part of the South. It was one of the first times a serial-style killer dominated the national headlines, predating the Zodiac or the Son of Sam by decades.
It taught the people of Texarkana to lock their doors. And in a way, they never really stopped.
If you’re planning to dive into this story, don't just watch the movies. Look at the archives. The Texarkana Gazette has digitized many of the original reports from 1946. Seeing the frantic headlines from that era gives you a much better sense of the panic than any jump-scare in a film ever could.
What to do next:
If you want to explore the history of the town that dreaded sundown in person, head to the Texarkana Museum of Regional History first to get the facts straight. Then, take a drive down Richmond Road toward the site of the Starks house—though please stay on the public road as it’s a private residence. For the best deep-dive reading, pick up a copy of James Presley’s "The Phantom Killer" at a local bookstore like Books-A-Million on the Texas side. It’s widely considered the definitive account of the case.