One of the main problems with finding proof that Youell Swinney was the real Killer had been with Mrs. Swinney. The two had just been married in Shreveport, La. before she was interviewed on June 28th by police. In a trial, a wife could not be made to testify against her husband even after she told them what she knew. Also the wife, who was 21 years of age at the time, had been in trouble with the law herself and had made four different statements to lawmen while she was being questioned which did not make her a good witness. In all of those stories, she claimed to have been with her husband during the murders.
Story #1
The wife of the main suspect in the case had told police that she had been with her husband on the night of the Booker/Martin murders. On the night of April 13, the couple had driven in from Dallas, Texas and stopped at a cafe on New Boston Road at about 6:30pm. After eating a steak dinner, they went to a movie at the Joy theater. Afterwards, they drank a beer at the Drivers Cafe and took some beer with them. They later ended up at behind spring lake park near a dairy. After finishing their beer, the suspect left the car, saying he had to take a leak. He was gone from the car for about one hour when his girlfriend heard 2 gunshots. It was just getting daylight when the suspect returned to the car. He never said where he had been and she says she never asked but his pants were wet up to his knees.
Story #2
The wife said that the suspect told her that he was going to Spring Lake Park to find someone to rob. This time she claims she got out of the car with him after they had spotted Martin's coup and drove up ahead of it about 200 yards and walked back to it. She said the suspect walked up to the window with his pistol drawn and told them to give him all their money. He then told the couple to get out of the car and he shot Martin twice with a 32 caliber pistol. He took Betty Jo to his 1941 Green Plymouth sedan and forced her inside. The girl-friend/wife stayed behind in Martin's coup. The suspect told his girl-friend/wife that he tried to have sex with the girl and then shot her and placed both bodies where nobody could find them. He then drove to the Spring House where he changed his clothes and washed himself off.
Moment of Truth
After the suspect was arrested by Max Tackett of the State Police, he was transported to Little Rock to be questioned under "Truth Serum" and by a strange twist of fate, he was given too much serum and fell asleep. Tackett said investigators had found a bloody shirt and towell in the suspects motel room. The shirt had the name "STARK" printed on it. "Starks" was the name of the last couple to be attacked. Many lawmen believe they lost the case when he was transported to Little Rock. The suspect had escaped the "Electric Chair" by pure Luck!
The suspect, Youell Swinney, finally was sentenced to prison for car theft and being a habitual criminal and finally ended up in a nursing home where he died many years later.
Return to The Phantom Killer