The story of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow began when the couple met in Dallas in 1930. By that time, Barrow boasted a lengthy rap sheet, spanning from petty theft to armed robbery. Just a few months after the couple’s first encounter, authorities arrested Barrow for auto theft and sent him to Eastham Prison Farm in Houston County. There he …
On February 6, 1961, Carolyn Lima and Leslie Elaine Perez (then known as Leslie Douglas Ashley) arrived at the Houston office of realtor Fred Tones for a prearranged sexual encounter. Authorities discovered Tones’ body later that night. He had been fatally shot six times and then burned. Lima and Perez evaded police for three weeks, driving Tones’ Lincoln to Galveston …
In the early morning hours of June 30, 1964, Houston socialite Candace “Candy” Mossler entered her estranged husband’s apartment to find him stabbed and bludgeoned to death. Jacques Mossler, the head of a $33-million banking and loan empire, had earlier moved out of the couple’s River Oaks mansion to live in Key Biscayne, Florida. While Candy had a solid alibi, …
On June 23, 1965, Marvin Martin called Houston police to request a welfare check on his aunt and uncle, Fred and Edwina Rogers, with whom he had been unable to get in touch for several days. When officers forced their way into the Montrose home, they found it empty. Noticing food left out in the kitchen, patrolman C. A. Bullock …
On May 16, 1967, Houston police blockaded the Texas Southern University campus in response to a student civil rights protest. By that evening, the social unrest escalated into an “Alamo-scale shootout,” according to the Houston Chronicle. Police fired an estimated 3,000 rounds into TSU’s Lanier Dormitory, where students were barricaded. Law enforcement raided the building in the early morning hours …
No criminals command more public attention than serial killers, and Texas hosted its share: the Servant Girl Annihilator, the Phantom Killer, the Candy Man. Fifty years ago, there was also Johnny Meadows. Between 1968 and 1971, a series of “lust murders” rocked Ector County in West Texas. The murder spree began on October 19, 1968, when bartender Linda Cougat disappeared from …
On May 5, 1977, Houston police arrested José Campos Torres, a 23-year-old Mexican American and Vietnam War veteran, at an East End bar for disorderly conduct. Rather than transport him to jail for booking, the six responding officers first took Torres to “The Hole,” an isolated area along Buffalo Bayou, and assaulted him. When Torres arrived at the jail several …
Between 1978 and 1979, the Tyler Police Department conducted what was then the largest drug bust ever attempted in East Texas. Officers Creig Matthews and Kim Ramsey (later Wozencraft) went undercover to investigate the city’s growing crime and narcotics scene, with local bar owner Ken Bora as the primary target. The duo assembled over 200 cases—resulting in over 100 arrests—but …
On October 16, 1991, 35-year-old George Pierre Hennard drove his 1987 Ford Ranger pickup through the front window of a Luby’s Cafeteria in Killeen. Emerging from his truck, Hennard, an unemployed former Merchant Marine from nearby Belton, began to open fire on the restaurant’s patrons and staff. Over the course of about 15 minutes, Hennard shot and killed 23 people, …
On March 31, 1995, singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez arrived at a Corpus Christi Days Inn to meet with her friend, fan club president, and fashion boutique manager, Yolanda Saldívar. The Quintanilla family suspected Saldívar of embezzling funds. When the women started to argue, Saldívar pointed a gun at Selena, shooting the singer in the back as she attempted to flee. Despite the …
