Charles Albright “Eyeball Killer, Dallas Ripper and Dallas Slasher”

Serial killer researched and summarized by Victoria Bedford, Maryann Bishop, Jillian Lee Allen, Lauren Blanks , Annemarie Bartholomew, & Ann Spangler Department of Psychology Radford University Radford, VA 24142-6946

Date Age Life Event

Aug 10, 1933 0 Born in Amarillo Texas, adopted as the only child of Fred and Delle Albright

No specific dates As a child he was doted upon and would be dressed in girl’s clothes and given a doll at times when his aunt was present. He was an impulsive child and would always manage to get out of the yard behind where his mother worked. She searched the fence and found no openings, but later learned he would wait for people passing by and simply would ask them to lift him over. Della ended up tying him to the porch to keep him away from the fence.

No specific dates As soon as he received his first gun, he began shooting small animals like squirrels and rabbits, etc, and wanted to become a taxidermist and with Delle’s help, learned to skin and stuff them but grew bored of small animals. As a teen he helped his mother in her real estate business

1946 13 Convicted of aggravated assault, mother goes to bat for him, as she always will.

1947 14 Owned property that his adoptive parents bought for him

1948 15 Had sex with local prostitute and received “crabs.”

1949 16 Stole $380.00 from a cash register, and after a police investigation, they found 2 handguns, and a rifle worth over $111.00.

April 21, 1951 17 Sentenced to prison for theft and receiving stolen goods, served 6 months of a 2 year term, and this began his fate of the 10’s… he has trouble with the law approximately every 10 years, but was apparently a successful thief and conman in between!

1951? 17 Went to Arkansas State Teacher’s College. Broke into a girl’s dorm and stole nude pictures, and also broke into a professor’s office.

1952? 18 Cut out the eyes of a friend’s ex-girlfriend and pasted them on the walls and onto another girl’s face (her picture).

1952-53? 19 Dated Bettye Nestor, an excellent prim and proper young lady, who worked in the president’s office and then he tricked her into stealing keys for all over the college and used them unethically to aid his schemes.

Dec 27, 1954 20 Married 2 days after Christmas, to Bettye Nestor, a teacher at Kimball HS. Rarely keeps a job more than 3 months and became a bullfighter to show friends he could, styled hair, manufactured baseball bats, became and illustrator, and was a designer for a company that made airplanes.

1954 20 Stole a bunch of equipment from the college and was ready to take it away at end of semester, but caught, which leads to expulsion from school, but did not lead to criminal prosecution.

1961 27 Arrested for receiving and concealing stolen goods. Charges didn’t stick so he was released and suffered no consequences.

1968 34 Forged papers from Arkansas State Teacher’s college, changing grades to A’s and B’s, and giving himself a Bachelor’s Degree, and then a Masters.

1970 36 Sentenced to 3 years probation in Hunt County for forgery and altering official records (to change his grades and get undeserved academic recognition for jobs).

1971 37 Arrested for forging cashiers checks. Only received probation.

1975 41 Separated from wife, Bettye.

April 1979 46 Was sentenced to a year’s probation after stealing 2 perfume atomizers from a Dallas store (he always loved giving gifts, even when unemployed, so assumed most were stolen).

1980 47 Sent back to prison after pleading guilty to stealing a miter saw and other items openly from a Dallas store ( Cut back door chain, shopped and took cart outside, was ready to load and leave when managers stopped him).

1981 48 Mother, Delle, dies. He travels and meets his birth mother.

1981 48 Is accused of molesting a 9 year old girl, and claims innocence and not understand why his friends and the girl would say such things, but accepted a guilty plea not to cause further problems.

1984 -87 51-54 Dated Mary White, who came back long after he was convicted and insisted she was afraid of him and knew he killed Pratt because of astrological tables he followed and knew he would kill again.

1885 52 Went to trial for sexual molestation case and received probation.

1986 53 Father, Fred, dies. Albright moves in with Dixie Austin. He inherits almost $100,000 from the savings and efforts of his parents. Even with his inheritance, Dixie worked at a gift shop and fully supported Albright and paid all the household expenses.

1987 54 Divorced Bettye Nestor, they had one daughter.

1988 55 Rhonda Bowie, 30, another Dallas prostitute, found dead from stab wounds, eyes not removed.

1990 57 He tries to start a romantic relationship with Glenda Durham until she learns about Dixie.

Note: 1990 57 Starts drawing pictures of mutilated women, -- the prostitutes he murdered? But not sure if it was before or after the first murder. Also, is beginning to display odd behaviors, such as mowing lawn in underwear and collecting serial killer books.

1990-91? 57-8 Albright has an early morning shift delivering newspapers around which questions as well as alibis arose.

Dec 13 1990 57 Date of first slaying and eyeball removal, Mary Lou Pratt (age 35), prostitute, shot in the back of the head, eyes cut out and her body dumped in southern Dallas County. In about 3 mos, there was an encyclopedia think file on Albright, but by then, 2 others were killed in the same manner.

Feb.10, 1991 58 Second slaying- Susan Beth Peterson, 27, shot in the back of the head, eyes cut out and her bodies dumped in southern Dallas County.

Mar 19, 1991 58 Third slaying- Shirley Elizabeth Williams, 41-year-old black prostitute was found shot in the back of head, eyeballs removed, her body dumped in southern Dallas County, found in the 2800 block of Bently Ave. [Albright lived nearby at 1000 block of El Dorado Ave, Oak Cliff, TX.]

March 22, 1991 58 Albright’s home in the 1000 block of El Dorado Avenue is raided by police and searched where they found a pick-up truck that had been stolen from Chevrolet in 1988, and he is taken in for questioning, he is questioned for 7 hours.

March 23, 1991 58 He was not charged then, as the evidence from his home didn’t link him to the case, however it pushed the investigations further.

April18, 1991 58 Albright, indicted in the third of the three slayings on April 18, is in solitary confinement at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center. Before his March arrest in connection with the gruesome killings, murky undertows of vice, deceit and sexual depravity tugged quietly against the public persona of the amiable 57-year-old whom neighbors adored.

June 25, 1991 58 Albright’s lawyer, Brad Lollar, “challenged the state's right to hold Mr. Albright pending an indictment in the October 1988 death of Rhonda Bowie.”

Aug. 21, 1991 58 Albright is “charged with murdering four Dallas-area prostitutes, also has become the chief suspect in two Arkansas killings” and many other unsolved murders try to find their way to Albright as killer.

Nov.2, 1991 58 Prosecutors are consider dropping one of four murder cases against Albright (Rhonda Bowie) because witnesses say he was at a softball tournament in New Mexico when the 1988 killing occurred in Dallas, which had the same fiber or hair evidence as in the three other cases currently under way. Police said that hairs or fibers found on the body of 30-year-old prostitute Rhonda Bowie implicated Albright.

Dec.7, 1991 In more than 20 years of studying serial killers, FBI Agent Judson M. Ray testified Friday, he has never seen anything like the "precision cutting' used to mutilate three Dallas prostitutes. "What was interesting to us was the method in which these victims, these body parts, were taken,' the FBI agent said. "In my professional opinion, it's doubtful that you would have more than one person that deranged living in this city.'

Dec.11, 1991 58 Neighbor testified that Albright was a very pleasant neighbor who often gave gifts and did free electrical work.

Dec 12 1991 58 Defense Forensic expert, Samuel J. Palenik, a small particles expert, testified that hair samples representing much of the evidence against Albright may not belong to him, Charles Albright’s girlfriend Dixie also testified saying that Albright was not capable of committing such violent crimes and also insists he was with her for at least one murder time. Palenik also questioned if the evidence from Albright’s vacuum cleaner even came from the victims, while the prosecution expert, Charles Linch of Dallas, listened

Dec.17, 1001 58 Case goes to jury.

Dec ?1991 58 Jury convicts Albright on one murder, Shirley Williams, due to strongest evidence (also her yellow raincoat) and he is sentenced to life in prison.

Dec, 10, 1995 62 More multiple prostitute slayings in Dallas

Nov.17, 2004 71 After reading the book, and reading all the news articles, we feel Mr. Albright may have been wrongly convicted of Shirley William’s murder, and that whoever killed her likely killed the other two as well. We cannot guess if he has ever killed others, but lean towards his innocence in these three that qualify him as a serial killer. He does not seem to be a nice man, but maybe not a serial killer either.

General Information

Sex Male

Race White

Number of victims 3 (only convicted of one)

Country where killing occurred United States

States where killing occurred Texas

Childhood Information

Date of birth August 10, 1933

Location Amarillo, Texas

Birth order An adopted only child

Number of siblings None in adoptee family, 1 sister? birth mother

XYY? Unknown but not specifically mentioned

Raised by Both parents, Fred and Delle, Delle was doting and over-protective and controlling

Birth category Only child

Parent’s marital status Married

Family event Nothing notable until mother’s death, then later, father’s

Age of family event 48/53

Problems in school? Grades varied, bright, in trouble mostly in college.

Teased while in school? Not mentioned, other than mother and aunt dressing him like a girl at home while very young

Physically attractive? Fairly so, very charming

Physical defect? No

Speech defect? No

Head injury? No (none known)

Physically abused? No

Psychologically abused? No, but Mother was always in his life trying to control him, and she and his aunt sometimes dressed him as a girl

Sexually abused? No,

Father’s occupation Not noted, but saved and bought land

Age of first sexual experience 15

Age when first had intercourse 15 with a prostitute, and acquired lice

Mother’s occupation Mother/wife and in real estate

Father abused drugs/alcohol No

Mother abused drugs/alcohol No

Cognitive Ability

Highest grade in school 12, graduated from Adamson HS in Oak Cliff (15)

Highest degree Diploma, GED, associates, bachelors… some he forged

Grades in school Not noted either way, but spoken of as smart

IQ Not noted

Work History

Served in the military? No

Applied for job as a cop? No

Worked in law enforcement? No

Fired from jobs? Seems more he got bored and quit.

Types of jobs worked Baseball bat designer, H.S, biology teacher, Football coach…

Employment status during series Delivering morning newspapers for Dallas Morning News? But didn’t seem to need to work very often due to funds from his parents, left to him when they died and Dixie worked in a gift shop to pay all the household bills.

Relationships

Sexual preference Seemed hetero, not stated, but rarely had sex with the prostitutes, more into sadistic demeaning and beatings.

Marital status Married, divorced, remarried

Number of children 3 by first wife, Bettye

Living with Girl friend, Dixie at time of murders

Triad

Animal torture No

Fire setting No

Bed wetting No

Killer Psychological Information

Abused drugs? No

Abused alcohol? No

Been to a psychologist? Not noted

Time in forensic hospital? No

Diagnosis None, may be Axis II but personality, NPD, etc.

Killer Criminal History

Committed previous crimes? Yes, long history of petty theft, burglary, and cons

Spend time in jail? Yes, on and off, but frequently paroled

Spend time in prison? Yes “ “

Killed prior to series? Age? No killings before these 3, 1988 suspicious was unfounded even w/ same evidence as that which convicted him, and evidence is shaky for his one conviction and he has requested “Project Innocence” to test the sparse evidence to prove his innocence.

Serial Killing

Number of victims 3

Victim type Prostitutes (3)

Killer age at start of series 58

Gender of victims Female

Race of victims 2 white, one black

Age of victims 27, 35 & 41 yrs old

Method of killing Shot with 44 magnum with silver tips

Type of serial killer Not noted, as he insists innocence, but precision and posing bodies seemed to be of a pre-planned organized thinker.

How close did killer live? Lived in same city, drove to outside town to do killings, and brought bodies back in town where they could easily be found.

Killing occurred in home of victim? None, possibly property he owned, rented by Speedy, another suspect once, who has dropped off face of earth before trial.

Killing occurred in home of killer? No, in field or his rental property

Weapon Killer brought with him

Behavior During Crimes

Rape? Unknown, victims were prostitutes, and it was before DNA testing.

Tortured victims? No torture, but liked aggressive, rough sex anyway, and seemed to hate prostitutes so much he refused to admit he had been with them, even though that would have set him free.

Stalked victims? Trolled for prostitutes regularly so they trusted him

Overkill? No

Quick & efficient? Yes, seemingly so.

Used blindfold? No

Bound the victims? Not during the kill, used surprise and trust

After Death Behavior

Sex with the body? No, not noted but for one source that claims he removed the eyeballs to have intercourse in the sockets.

Mutilated body? Yes, skillfully removed their eyes such that it was not noticed till the coroner opened the lids to observe their eyes and was shocked they were not there.

Ate part of the body? No, unless he ate the eyeballs, which were never found

Drank victim’s blood? No

Posed the body? After death

Took totem – body part Eyes

Took totem – personal item Not mentioned

Robbed victim or location No

Disposal of Body

Left at scene, no attempt to hide No

Left at scene, hidden No

Left at scene, buried No

Moved, no attempt to hide Moved after murder and eye removal, so were easy to find, and posed them lewdly.

Moved, buried No

Cut-up and disposed of No

Moved, to home No

Sentencing

Date killer arrested March 1991

Date convicted Dec 18, 1991 by a jury of 9 women and 3 men

Sentence Life in prison

Killer executed? No

Name and state of prison Amarillo, Texas

Killer committed suicide? No

Killer killed in prison? No