Serial Killers in Texas
ColdCaseIndex documents 14 serial killers whose murders took place in Texas, with first known killings from 1946 to 1992. 12 of them were caught; 7 linked case files document their victims. The earliest series is Phantom Killer of Texarkana (1946) and the most recent is I-70 Killer (1992). Profiles are added in order of public interest, so this page is not a complete census of the state.
All 14 profiles
Phantom Killer of Texarkana
The Phantom Killer
Unidentified. An attacker shot and beat eight people in four attacks around Texarkana, Texas and Arkansas, between February and May 1946, killing five.
Henry Lee Lucas
The Confession Killer
Died in prison in 2001. Texas drifter convicted of 11 murders who confessed to about 600 killings in 1983 to 1985 and then recanted; a 1986 Texas Attorney General report found most confessions false, and his death sentence was…
Kenneth McDuff
The Broomstick Murderer
Executed 1998. Texas killer sentenced to death for three 1966 murders, released on parole in 1989 after his sentence was commuted, and convicted of two 1991 to 1992 murders; his case drove Texas parole reform.
Dean Corll
The Candy Man
Killed by his accomplice in 1973 and never charged. Dean Corll, Houston's 'Candy Man', is linked by police to 28 murders of boys and young men from 1970 to 1973; accomplices Elmer Wayne Henley and David Brooks were convicted.
Samuel Little
Samuel McDowell
Died in prison. Samuel Little was convicted of eight murders in California, Texas and Ohio. He confessed to 93 killings from 1970 to 2005, and authorities said nearly 60 were confirmed. He died in December 2020, aged 80.
Coral Eugene Watts
The Sunday Morning Slasher
Died in prison in 2007. Confessed in 1982 to 12 murders under a Texas plea deal that granted immunity and a 60-year burglary sentence, then convicted by Michigan juries in 2004 and 2007 of two earlier stabbings.
Paul John Knowles
The Casanova Killer
Killed. Paul John Knowles, the Casanova Killer, was linked to at least 18 killings across several states in 1974 after escaping a Jacksonville jail.
Robert Charles Browne
Robert Browne
Serving life. Robert Charles Browne pleaded guilty to the 1991 murder of Heather Dawn Church and the 1987 murder of Rocio Sperry near Colorado Springs.
Genene Jones
Genene Ann Jones
Imprisoned. Texas pediatric nurse convicted by a jury in 1984 of murdering 15-month-old Chelsea McClellan and injuring another child; pleaded guilty in 2020 to the 1981 murder of 11-month-old Joshua Sawyer.
Christopher Wilder
The Beauty Queen Killer
Died before trial. Christopher Wilder, an Australian-born Florida businessman, is linked by the FBI to at least eight murders and eleven or more abductions across the United States between February 26 and April 13, 1984, when he…
Angel Maturino Resendiz
The Railroad Killer
Executed in Texas in 2006. Angel Maturino Resendiz, the Railroad Killer, was convicted of the 1998 murder of Dr. Claudia Benton near Houston, admitted 11 killings along rail lines in Texas, Florida, Kentucky and Illinois, and…
Tommy Lynn Sells
Coast to Coast Killer
Executed. Drifter Tommy Lynn Sells was sentenced to death for the 1999 murder of 13-year-old Kaylene Harris near Del Rio, Texas, and pleaded guilty to a second child killing in San Antonio.
Robert Ben Rhoades
The Truck Stop Killer
Serving life. Long-haul trucker Robert Ben Rhoades pleaded guilty to the 1990 murder of 14-year-old Regina Walters in Illinois and, in 2012, to the Texas capital murders of Patricia Walsh and Douglas Scott Zyskowski.
I-70 Killer
I-70 Serial Killer
Unidentified. Six shop workers were shot in the head in small stores in Indiana, Kansas and Missouri between April 8 and May 7, 1992, all linked by a .22-caliber weapon.
At a glance
| Name | Alias | State | Active | Convicted | Confessed | Suspected | Legal status | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phantom Killer of Texarkana | The Phantom Killer | Texas, Arkansas | 1946 | — | — | 5 killed and 3 wounded in 4 attacks | Unidentified | Unknown |
| Henry Lee Lucas | The Confession Killer | Texas, Michigan, West Virginia | 1960 to 1983 | 11 | 600 | Disputed: a Texas task force once attributed 200 or more killings to him; the Texas Attorney General's 1986 report found most of his confessions false, and DNA later excluded him from at least one murder he was convicted of | Convicted | Died in prison |
| Kenneth McDuff | The Broomstick Murderer | Texas | 1966 to 1992 | 5 | — | 9 to 14 or more | Convicted | Executed |
| Dean Corll | The Candy Man | Texas | 1970 to 1973 | 0 | — | 28 attributed by Houston police; 27 bodies recovered in 1973; a 2025 forensic review points to at least 30 | Died before trial | Killed |
| Samuel Little | Samuel McDowell | California, Florida, Ohio, Texas | 1970 to 2005 | 8 | 93 | about 60 confirmed by the FBI, of 93 confessed | Convicted | Died in prison |
| Coral Eugene Watts | The Sunday Morning Slasher | Texas, Michigan | 1974 to 1982 | 2 | 12 | roughly 90 unsolved cases (Michigan task force estimate, 2004); some estimates exceed 80 | Convicted | Died in prison |
| Paul John Knowles | The Casanova Killer | Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Nevada, Texas, Connecticut, Virginia | 1974 | — | — | 18 to 35 | Died before trial | Killed |
| Robert Charles Browne | Robert Browne | Colorado, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas | 1980 to 1991 | 2 | 48 | 9 to 48 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| Genene Jones | Genene Ann Jones | Texas | 1981 to 1982 | 2 | — | more than a dozen to as many as 60 | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| Christopher Wilder | The Beauty Queen Killer | Florida, Texas, Kansas, Utah, California, New York | 1984 | 0 | — | At least 8 killed; 11 or more abducted | Died before trial | Killed |
| Angel Maturino Resendiz | The Railroad Killer | Texas, Florida, Kentucky, Illinois | 1986 to 1999 | 1 | 11 | 15 to 23 | Convicted | Executed |
| Tommy Lynn Sells | Coast to Coast Killer | Texas | 1987 to 1999 | 2 | — | 18 to 70 | Convicted | Executed |
| Robert Ben Rhoades | The Truck Stop Killer | Texas, Illinois | 1989 to 1990 | 3 | 3 | 4 to 50+ | Convicted | Imprisoned |
| I-70 Killer | I-70 Serial Killer | Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Texas | 1992 | — | — | 6 killed in 1992; 2 more killed and 1 wounded in Texas in 1993 to 1994 are a disputed possible link | Unidentified | At large |
Serial murder case files from Texas
Victim-centred case pages from the cold case index, with their own timelines and sources.
Charles Albright Victims
Charles Albright was convicted in December 1991 of murdering Shirley Williams, one of three women found shot in Dallas between December 1990 and March 1991 with their eyes removed.
Robert Ben Rhoades Victims
Long-haul trucker Robert Ben Rhoades is serving life sentences for three murders. He pleaded guilty in Illinois in 1992 to killing 14-year-old Regina Walters of Pasadena, Texas, and in Texas in 2012 to the capital murders of…
Texas Killing Fields Victims
Since the early 1970s the bodies of more than 30 women and girls have been found along the Interstate 45 corridor between Houston and Galveston, including four found in a field off Calder Road in League City known as the Killing…
Dean Corll Victims
Dean Corll, with accomplices David Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley, tortured and murdered at least 28 young men and boys in Houston. Corll was shot and killed by Henley in 1973, who then led police to multiple burial sites.
Henry Lee Lucas Victims
Henry Lee Lucas confessed to hundreds of murders but most were unverifiable. He was confirmed in several cases including the murder of his mother and with accomplice Ottis Toole.
Texarkana Moonlight Murders
Five people were killed and three wounded in four nighttime attacks in and around Texarkana, on the Texas-Arkansas border, between February 22 and May 3, 1946. The attacker, called the Phantom Killer, was never identified.
The Servant Girl Annihilator (Austin Axe Murders)
The 'Servant Girl Annihilator' was an unidentified serial killer who terrorized Austin, Texas, in 1884 and 1885, murdering eight people, most of them young Black servant women, in a series of nighttime axe and knife attacks.