Plainview, Texas Crime Spree Shocks Residents

West Texas can be a wonderful place to start a family or business, but sometimes safety is not always practiced or considered. Throughout the month of October, the City of Plainview has had its fair share of notable crimes that turn the heads of law enforcement and civilians alike.

Let’s take a look at a few, according to My Plainview.

October Crimes in Plainview, Texas

Firearm Theft and Fake Calls

On October 5, a teenager was busted after breaking into vehicles and stealing belongings. Their stint of having sticky fingers ended when they were caught stealing a firearm—a felony in the State of Texas.

Read More: Texas Fine-Only Offenses That Won’t Land You in Jail

The next day, a 39-year-old woman was arrested for making a total of three 9-1-1 calls but staying silent when the dispatcher picked up the phone each time. On the third attempt, officers tracked the number and showed up to her door to find… that she was just fine.

Assault in Plainview

Then, on October 11, an assault was reported when a 29-year-old man attacked a woman and choked her before cops arrived and he fled. It turned out that he had multiple active warrants for his arrest for driving while intoxicated and probation violations. Unfortunately, he just added another felony to the list.

Read More:Misdemeanor vs. Felony: Breaking Down Texas Law

Finally, on October 14, a 27-year-old man was claimed to have assaulted his girlfriend while holding a knife . Not only did he resist officers when they tried to frisk him to find the weapon, but he also lied about his name after being placed inside the police cruiser. He was slapped with charges including assault, resisting arrest, search, or transportation, and failure to identify.

13 Notorious Serial Killers Linked to Texas Many consider America’s first serial killer came from Austin and may have left to become the world’s most famous killer. Gallery Credit: Michael Gibson / Townsquare Media YouTubeAngel Maturino Reséndiz – The Railroad KillerAngel Reséndiz was known as The Railroad Killer because most of his murders were committed close to a railroad. He would jump from train to train and travel across the country. A majority of his murders were committed in Texas including one in East Texas. Reséndiz broke into the home of 87-year-old Leafie Mason in Hughes Springs in 1998. He beat her to death with a fireplace tool. His other murders were just as violent. Reséndiz died by lethal injection in Huntsville in 2006. YouTubeDean Arnold Corll – The Candy ManDean Corll abducted, tortured, raped and murderd at least 28 teenage boys and young men between 1970 and 1973 in the Houston area. Corll would lure his victim’s with the offer of a ride or an invite to a party. He then would then restrain the victim, carry out whatever evil deed against them then strangle or shoot the victim. The bodies were then buried at either a boat shed or near Lake Sam Rayburn in deep East Texas. One victim was buried in Jefferson County. Corll had two accomplices, David Owen Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley. Henley shot Corll in 1973. Brooks died at the Terrell Unit in 2020 and Henley is serving a life sentence at the Mark Stiles Unit in Jefferson County. Phantom Killer – Never IdentifiedIn 1946, right after World War II, there were four unsolved murders in Texarkana on both the Texas and Arkansas side. These attacks happened between February and May of that year and mostly involved young couples who were stopped along a “lovers lane.” A couple that survived an attack described the man as wearing a pillow case over his head with holes cut out for his eyes. The perpetrator was never caught. It is believed that the slasher movie genre began with The Town That Dreaded Sundown in 1976 which used these killings as the basis of the movie’s plot. Getty Images/iStockphotoServant Girl Annihilator – Never IdentifiedIn the 1880’s, servant girls were being killed in a gruesome manner late at night. This went on for about a year with no clues into who was doing it. Townsfolk of Austin at that time lived in fear. In total, seven women and one man were killed while six women and two men were seriously injured by the so-called Servant Girl Annihilator. No one was ever caught for these murders. Some believe whoever this person was traveled to England and became Jack the Ripper as that killing spree started about three years after these attacks and the killer used similar killing methods. YouTubeJoseph Douglas Ball – Butcher of ElmendorfJoseph Ball was born in Illinois and was a descendent of notorious slave trader and breeder and kidnapper John Hart Crenshaw. Ball made his way to Elmendorf, Texas after the end of prohibition. It is here that he murdered as many as 20 women throughout the 1930’s but only two of those killings were proven. He was also known as The Alligator Man as it was thought that he fed most of his victims to a pet alligator. When authorities came to question him at his job in 1938, he pulled a gun from the cash register and shot himself. YouTubeGenene Anne Jones – The Angel of DeathGenene Jones was an LVN at Bexar County Hospital (now the University Hospital of San Antonio) where an unusual amount of children began dying. The hospital asked all the LVNs to resign in the hopes of avoiding a lawsuit. Jones moved on to a clinic in Kerrville. The doctor began noticing puncture marks in a bottle of succinylcholine, a drug that causes temporary paralysis of all skeletal muscles, as well as those that control breathing, and can cause cardiac arrest in small children. Jones was mixing this drug with water and used that to poison six children at that clinic. She used the same drug to kill 15-month-old Chelsea McClellan and was sentenced to 99 years in prison in 1985. In total, it is believed that Jones may have killed up to 60 infants and children though that real number may never be known. She is still in prison today. YouTubeKenneth Allen McDuff – The Broomstick KillerKenneth McDuff murdered 16-year-old Edna Sullivan, her boyfriend 17-year-old Robert Brand and Brand’s cousin 15-year-old Mark Dunnam. McDuff abducted all three at random after seeing Sullivan with the two men at a baseball field. McDuff repeatedly raped Sullivan and eventually killed her by choking her with a broomstick. He shot and killed Brand and Dunnam. McDuff would later turn himself him. He died by lethal injection in Huntsville in 1998. YouTubeHenry Lee Lucas – The Confession KillerIt’s hard to tell how many people Henry Lucas actually killed because he confessed to about 600 murders. It was determined that a majority of those confessions were false and meant to throw authorites off the trail of his actual crime. This seemed to work on Texas Rangers. They used his confessions to close many cases prematuarlly just to get them off the books. After The Dallas Times Herald investigated this, massive changes were made in the law enforcement organization. Lucas was arrested in 1983 in Texas for unlawful possession of a firearm. He confessed to killing two people, 82-year-old Kate Rich of California and 15-year-old Frieda Powell of Florida. He is thought to have committed murders in Michigan and Florida as well. Lucas died of congestive heart failure in 2001 while serving a life sentence in Huntsville. YouTubeTommy Lynn Sells – The Coast to Coast KillerIn total, Tommy Sells is believed to have murdered 22 people. His murder spree went from Texas to Arkansas to Nevada to New York and several points in between. Sells committed two of his murders in San Antonio in 1998 and 1999 and one in Del Rio in 1999. Thomas Brose was a carnival worker that Sells shot and killed in his motorhome in 1998. Mary Perez was a 9-year-old girl Sells kidnapped in 1999 that he raped and murdered. Katy Harris was sexually assaulted then stabbed sixteen times and had her throat slashed. Sells died by lethal injection in Huntsville in 2014. YouTubeCharles Albright – Eyeball KillerCharles Albright was adopted from an orphanage by a very strict and overprotective teacher and her husband. He got his first gun when he was a teenager and began killing small animals that he and his mom would stuff because he wanted to be a taxidermist. He was very smart and graduated high school at 15. He enrolled at North Texas to become a surgeon. Albright stayed in and out of trouble with the law for theft, forging checks, falsifying a degree and sexually assaulting a 14 year old girl. Between December of 1990 and March of 1991, Albright was accused of murdering three women. All three were prostitutes and were shot and killed. The most gruesome part of their murders was that their eyes had been removed. Albright was only found guilty of one of the murders in December of 1991. Albright was sentenced to life without parole and died in 2020. YouTubeCarl Eugene Watts – The Sunday Morning SlasherCarl Watts was born in Killeen but committed most of his crimes in Michigan. It is believed that the number of his victims is close to 100. He contracted meningitis when he was 8 years old that almost killed him and may have lead to some brain damage. He would have violent dreams about fighting and killing the spirits of evil women. Watts would kidnap his victims, torture them followed by killing them. He was arrested in Texas after killing three women, two of whom were drowned in a bathtub. Watts was sentenced to 60 years in prison but through a loophole (at that time a bathtub wasn’t considered a dangerous weapon) Watts was released. He was arrested and tried for murders he committed in Michigan. He was sentenced to life in prison and died of prostate cancer in 2007. YouTubeWilliam Lester Suff – The Lake Elsinore KillerWilliam Suff was convicted of killing his two-month-old daughter in 1974 in Texas and sentenced to 70 years in prison. He only served 10 years. Upon his release he moved to California and killed twelve women between 1988 and 1991. Most of those women were found nude and were killed by either strangulation or were stabbed. He is currently sitting on death row at San Quentin State Prison in California. YouTubeAnthony Allen Shore – Tourniquet KillerAnthony Shore is believed to have killed one woman and three girls between 1986 and 2000 in Houston. He claimed that his father beat him and his mother molested him when he was 13. As a young kid, he was very antisocial, he killed a neighbor’s cat and would harras and molest female classmates and friends of his two sisters. He also abused and molested his two daughters. He would use a ligature to kill his victims with a toothbrush or piece of bamboo to tighten the ligature. He died by lethal injection in Huntsville in 2018. 10 ‘Old Sayings’ That Still Help Predict Texas WeatherTexans love a good wives-tale, and I know for a fact many of us have heard many about weather predicting. But when it comes down to it, are any of them based in fact? Turns out, some are: CanvaA Red Sky If you see red skies at sunset, it implies a dry, calm, high-pressure zone — or a clear day. But if you see red skies at sunlight, it means a low-pressure, stormy zone could be coming. CanvaIn Your BonesMany people claim to feel ‘under the weather’ during certain weather events — but is this really a thing? Turns out it could be. As barometric pressure falls with a coming storm, you could feel more pain. CanvaCrickets You’ll often hear crickets chirping, but if you pay attention you may notice that their chirping correlates with the air temperature, so you can use them to detect temperatures. If it’s warm, thy chirp faster, and vice versa. CanvaCowsIf you see a cow lying down, it could have to do with the weather. But growing up on a farm, I do have to say I saw a lot of cows laying with no change in weather…
BUT, apparently, cows will sometimes lay to contain body heat, so it could be a sign of colder weather or a storm. CanvaLunar Halo Scientifically speaking, I had some trouble understanding how a halo around the moon could correlate to rain. So just know that if you see a moon with a halo, rain could be coming. CanvaA Clear Moon A clear night — and even day — can mean cold is coming. This has to do with dry, continental high-pressure zones. So if you see a cloudless night, especially around winter months, beware because frost could be coming. CanvaMarchMarch is when we typically move from winter to spring. So it is to be expected that March could start brutal (lion) and end calm and warmer (lamb). CanvaPine Cones I’ve seen a lot of pine cones in my day, but I never knew some people used them to… tell the weather?
There are a couple of ways people say you can use pine cones to predict weather, but according to How Stuff Works, only one is true. That is watching when they open and close. In dry weather, the cone will open, but for wet weather, they are more likely to remain closed. CanvaMackerel and Mare’s TailsJust know if you see either of these clouds, a storm could be on the way. CanvaCounting Lightening/ThunderAs a kid, I was told to count lightning and thunder to tell how far away a storm was. Since light is faster than sound, if you count the seconds between a lightening strike and thunder (in that order) you can get the brought distance of a storm. Each second equates to approximately 1 mile. 15 Famous Graves in TexasFor many fans, visiting these graves is about paying respects. It’s a unique way to feel a real, tangible connection to the legends of our culture. Getty ImagesBen HoganBen Hogan was a professional golf player who won a total of 63 PGA sponsored tournaments. The golfing legend is buried at Greenwood Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Fort Worth. Getty ImagesTom LandryTom Landry was the legendary coach of the Dallas Cowboys, known for his trademark fedora. He led the team for 29 seasons, winning two Super Bowls, and is buried at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin. Getty ImagesBuddy HollyBuddy Holly was a pioneering rock and roll musician from Lubbock in the mid-1950s. After his death in a 1959 plane crash, he was buried in his hometown at the City of Lubbock Cemetery. Getty ImagesSherman HemsleySherman Alexander Hemsley was a famous actor best known for his role as George Jefferson on “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons.” The US Air Force veteran is laid to rest at Fort Bliss National Cemetery in El Paso. Getty ImagesPat SummerallPat Summerall was a professional football player who became an iconic sports broadcaster for four decades. Following his long career, he was buried at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery in Dallas. Getty Images”Dimebag” Darrell AbbottDarrell “Dimebag” Abbott was the Texas-born lead guitarist for the heavy metal group Pantera. He was shot and killed while performing on stage and is buried at Moore Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Arlington. Getty ImagesGeorge H.W. BushGeorge H.W. Bush served as the 41st President of the United States and was a decorated WWII veteran. He is buried on the grounds of the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station. Getty ImagesStevie Ray VaughanStevie Ray Vaughan was an influential rock and blues musician and a Texas native. His life was cut short in a helicopter crash at age 35, and he is buried at Laurel Land Memorial Park in Dallas. Getty ImagesMickey MantleMickey Mantle was a Hall of Fame Major League Baseball player for the New York Yankees. Considered one of the greatest switch-hitters ever, he is buried at Sparkman Hillcrest Memorial Park in Dallas. Getty ImagesDavid KoreshDavid Koresh was the leader of the Branch Davidian cult involved in the tragic 1993 Waco siege. He is buried at Tyler Memorial Park and Cemetery in Tyler. (Photo is American actor Tim Daly as Branch Davidian leader David Koresh) Getty ImagesAnn B. DavisAnn B. Davis was a famous actress most known for playing Alice on the television show “The Brady Bunch.” The two-time Emmy Award winner is buried at Saint Helena’s Columbarium and Memorial Gardens in Boerne. Credit: CanvaBonnie Elizabeth ParkerBonnie Elizabeth Parker was a notorious outlaw and one half of the duo “Bonnie and Clyde.” After being killed by law enforcement, she was buried at Crown Hill Memorial Park in Dallas. Getty ImagesDavy Crockett Davy Crockett was a famous American frontiersman, US Congressman, and folk figure. He was killed at the Battle of the Alamo and is buried at the San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio. Getty ImagesClyde BarrowClyde Barrow was the other half of the infamous “Bonnie and Clyde” criminal duo. He was also killed by law enforcement and is buried at Western Heights Cemetery in Dallas. Getty ImagesSelena Quintanilla-PérezSelena Quintanilla-Pérez was a rising Tejano music star who had already won a Grammy Award. She was killed at 23 years old and is buried at Seaside Memorial Park in Corpus Christi.