The first attack, on Mary Jeanne Larey and Jimmy Hollis, had reached the newspapers. The officials thought it was just a weird attack, a one time thing, but man were they wrong.
For the start of the third murder, the police had no idea what to do. Neither of the victims had any enemies and even the FBI was called in, but they also came up blank.They had questioned nearly 60 people in one day.
By the third murder, the citizens began to panic. They knew the killer could be anyone and they were all on edge. This is when the Texas Rangers started to step in. They sent the ranger known as The Lone Wolf, or Manuel Gonzaullas. The first thing he did was put up a poster saying this,
"Wanted For Murder" "Person or persons unknown, for the murder of Betty Jo Booker and Paul Martin, on or about April 13, 1946, in Bowie County, Texas. Subject or subjects may have in their possession or may try to dispose of a gold-plated Bundy E-flat Alto saxophone, serial #52535, which was missing from the car in which the victims were last seen...This saxophone had just been rebuilt, replated and repadded, and was in an almost new black leather case with blue plush lining."
"It is requested that a check be made of music stores and pawn shops. Any information as to the location of the saxophone or description and whereabouts of the person connected with it should be forwarded immediately to the Sheriff, Bowie County, Texarkana, Texas, and the Texas Department of Public Safety, Austin, Texas."
By the forth and last murder, Texarkana was going crazy. "Rumors were flying as to who the Phantom Killer was, including someone on the police force, some prominent person or a serviceman returning from the war..." — Joe Bearden, Texarkana area resident. Police were questioning anybody that was out late or had been called weird by their neighbors but the police would stop if the fingerprints didn't match. Then something strange happened. The Texarkana police chief had noted that before each murder a car had been reported stolen and the found, then one of these cars was found in a shopping center parking lot. When the saw a young lady enter the car they immediately arrested her. She than sad that the car belonged to her husband, who was out of town. Then they followed him to Atlanta, Georgia where he was trying to sell a stolen car. They instantly arrested him.
The suspect was named Youell Swinney and when arresting officers approached him he said,"Hell, I know what you want me for. You want me for more than stealing a car!"
It turns out Swinney had quite a police record of stealing and other charges. When the police searched his apartment they found a shirt with STARK stenciled on the pocket, the last name of his last victims, but when he was asked about it he went quiet. But to the police's advantage, his wife did not go quiet. She did the opposite and was telling anything the police wanted to know. It turned out she had a small criminal record and was doing anything she could to save herself.
"She told things about the murders that the general public did not know," Officer Beck attests. "She even knew about a date book found at the scene of the Betty Jo Booker-Paul Martin murder that only Sheriff Bill Presley knew about."
But there were some problems. She would change the details of the murder each questioning exept the fact that Swinney was there. The police wanted to believe her but she was not considered a good witness because of her record. But the police were still curios and they transported him to Little Rock for further questioning.
"But fate was on the suspect's side," alleges Texarkana Gazette staff writer Kevin McPherson. "Interrogators, to his fortune, administered too much 'truth serum' (sodium pentothal) and the suspect fell asleep. ''Really, we should have kept him here,' Tackett told in a 1971 interview. 'I think we blew our case right there,'"
Even though the police lost the murder case against him they settled for the next best thing and put him in jail for life for multiple car thefts.