The Town That Dreaded Sundown Page #5

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Lookin' for work.

Uh-huh, how long have you, uh,

been in Texarkana, Eddie?

I just got in today.

Look at my car, it's ruined.

Your car?

Your car is a stolen car, Eddie.

It's on the hot sheet, Captain.

That's him.

That's him.

Mister, you owe me a dollar for takin'

you up the road the other day.

And ten dollars

for takin' you to Lufkin.

And I want my damn money!

What's the matter

with that darkie?

Is he crazy?

Get him outta here.

That's the trashiest white man

I've seen in my life, right there.

That's the gun right there.

It's the gun he put in my face.

Right there, that's it.

Do you still deny

that you know this man?

Yeah, maybe I do.

Now, you think about this,

LeDoux, before you answer.

Did you state to this man that

you killed five people in Texarkana?

Yeah.

You got me.

I'm the phantom.

I killed them.

Bring on the newspaper

reporters and...

I'll give you a confession.

I want you to send one car

on in ahead of us.

Make sure the station's

cleared of any reporters.

Right.

He not the one who done it,

is he Captain?

No way.

Probably got a record

as long as your arm,

but he's not the phantom.

But if he keeps his story, he's gonna

cause us an awful lot of headaches.

Well, Captain,

if you got no objections,

I'll take the prisoner

with me in our car.

And I'll ride in the back seat with him

all the way to the police station.

I think that'd be all right.

Did you really want

to admit guilt?

Man!

Oh, no.

Wait, just hold wait!

I sure as hell ain't gonna ride

no further with him.

By the time LeDoux

reached headquarters.

Sergeant Mai Griffin had convinced him

he was not the phantom killer.

And summer had come once again

to this part of the South.

Long, hot days prevailed,

as people tried

not to think of the madness

that loomed around them.

It was now May 3, 1946.

Floyd?

- Floyd.

- Yeah.

Do you hear somebody

walkin' outside?

No, I don't hear anything.

Floyd?

Did you break something?

Floyd?

Floyd.

Oh, my God.

Operator?

Operator!

This is the operator,

what is you number?

Hello, go ahead, please.

This is your operator.

Hey, keep it down!

Call the ambulance.

Helen Reed did not die.

She lingered in critical condition

in the hospital for weeks.

Then gradually recovered.

People were afraid to walk

in front of their windows

after the sun went down.

Newspapers stopped making

early morning deliveries.

with newspaper boys waiting

until daylight to make their rounds.

And Western Union stopped

making night deliveries.

Over 150 police cars now cruised

the dark streets, alleys, parks,

and parking areas

of Texarkana

from darkness until dawn,

in the most intense manhunt

ever mounted in the Southwest.

Friday, May 25, Saturday, May 26,

and Sunday May 27,

the target dates for his regular

three week strikes

came and passed

with nothing happening.

The manhunt intensified.

Nine different police organizations

now had officers

in marked and unmarked patrol cars

operating in the Texarkana area.

Paul, you go with him.

It was right in there.

It was right in there.

Over by the door, I~

Move it back now,

the Captain's coming through here.

Come on, let's move back.

How long before you're going

to apprehend the killer?

Gentlemen, I'm sorry, we don't have

anything new to report.

We're continuing to work

around the clock,

checking out every

possible lead.

Captain, I wonder if you could tell us

Mrs. Reed's condition.

Mrs. Reed, we are told,

is slowly improving.

We've had some

very brief interviews with her.

And in my opinion,

nothing she can tell us

will positively identify the killer.

In fact, she never saw him,

except for one brief moment

he was behind screen wire

some distance from her

and wearing a mask.

Now, Captain, we have word

that a Texarkana doctor

has turned in his son as a suspect.

Is this true?

No, mam.

We've checked that out

and there's absolutely nothing to it.

Thank you very much, Captain.

Sir, the ballistics

department reports

that the bullets

removed from Reed's body

have similar markings

to the bullets removed earlier

from the bodies of Roy Allen

and Peggy Loomis.

Well, that pretty much

confirms one thing

that he killed at least three people

with the same gun.

That's all we've got.

What day is this?

He's four days

behind his schedule, Captain.

Maybe this last time

he went 20 days

instead of exactly three weeks.

This next time

he might go 19 or 22.

Who the hell knows?

He's quit, hasn't he, Captain?

He's either crawled back

into his shell

or he's moved on

to another town.

There's one other possibility.

What's that?

He could've been arrested

for some other crime.

You're thinking

about that fella in Shreveport.

He's a possibility.

But he can account for his movements

on the last two murders.

So, I don't know what to say.

He's killed five people

and he damn near killed three more

and we're no closer to catchin' him

than we were four months ago.

We ain't never gonna catch him,

are we Captain?

You want an official

or a private reply?

Private.

If we do catch him,

it's gonna be a miracle.

Please make log-

Stolen car found

one and a half miles

off Highway 82 on Crank Road.

Texas license plate, make- Chevrolet,

two-door, black coupe.

Base, this is unit two.

Would you give me a description

on that car again?

Yeah, unit two,

it's a black two-door coupe,

believed to be a 1939 Chevrolet

with Texas license.

Thank you, base.

That's a description

of the car I saw

the night I found Emma Lou Cook

and Howard Turner murdered.

You know, this might be our miracle.

Let's go get him.

Well, that's the same color.

And I'm almost positive

it's the same model and make.

How far is it down through

this timber here to the Sulphur River?

Oh, about a mile and a half.

Any people live down in there?

Nope, none that I know of.

Nothin' between here and that river

except that old sand pit.

Any kids ever park up in there?

They used to, but I don't think

they do anymore.

You wait here.

Radio Sheriff Barker and tell him

to stand by the bloodhounds.

Yes, sir.

- Sir.

- Let's go.

That pit can't be no more

than a quarter of a mile now.

Yeah, let's approach it

real careful, though.

All right.

Come on.

Probably got eight

or ten minutes ahead of us.

Damn!

I think he's done it

to us again.

One thing about it.

At least he knows

we've been here.

Let's get those bloodhounds.

The bloodhounds

that were brought in

quickly lost the scent

in this murky bayou

in the vast backwater wilderness

of southern Arkansas.

Some say of these swamps

that most men who go in,

never come out.

But there was little doubt

that the phantom killer

plunged deep into these swamps

that late Fall of 1946.

What happened to the phantom killer,

no one really knows.

Some believe he was convicted

of another crime

and today he is still serving his term

in a Kansas prison.

Some believe he died here

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