The 16 Most Infamous Texas Serial Killers in State History

Everything is bigger in Texas – including, unfortunately, its true crime history.
From Gilded Age Austin to modern-day Dallas suburbs, the Lone Star State has faced
some of the most infamous serial killers in the United States. This list doesn’t
glamorize them. Instead, it traces the most notorious Texas serial killers,
how they operated, how they were finally stopped, and what their cases taught
investigators and communities across the state.

Because Texas sits at the crossroads of major interstate highways, has several
huge metro areas, and historically had rapidly growing law-enforcement systems,
it became a magnet for drifters, traveling offenders, and homegrown predators
alike. From the “Candy Man” in Houston to the
mysterious Phantom Killer in Texarkana, these cases helped shape modern homicide
investigation and cold-case work in Texas.

Why Texas Appears So Often in Serial Killer History

Before diving into individual killers, it helps to understand why Texas shows up
again and again in true crime histories and data sets:

• Sheer size and population: Texas is the second-largest state
  in both land area and population, which unfortunately means more opportunity
  for crime.
• Multiple major metro areas: Dallas–Fort Worth, Houston,
  San Antonio, Austin, and El Paso all attracted rapid growth in the 20th
  century, sometimes outpacing police resources.
• Highway and rail corridors: Interstate routes and rail
  lines crossing Texas made it easy for drifters like the “Railroad Killer”
  and “Coast-to-Coast Killer” to move quickly and offend in multiple states.
• Historic gaps in information-sharing: Before modern databases
  and DNA tools, Texas law enforcement agencies often worked in silos, which
  allowed mobile offenders to stay ahead of investigators for years.

With that context, here are 16 of the most infamous serial killers tied to
Texas – whether they were born there, operated primarily in the state, or left
an unforgettable mark on its criminal history.

1. The Servant Girl Annihilator – Austin’s First Serial Killer

Long before anyone had heard the phrase “serial killer,” Austin was terrorized
in the mid-1880s by an unknown assailant the press dubbed the
Servant Girl Annihilator, also called the “Midnight Assassin.”
Between 1884 and 1885, at least eight people – mostly Black women working as
domestic servants – were attacked and killed at night in their homes.

Victims were struck while they slept, dragged outside, and assaulted. The
brutality of the attacks and the lack of any solid suspect turned the city
into a frightened, heavily patrolled fortress. The case was never officially
solved, though some historians argue that a local man named Nathan Elgin,
who fit clues from the crime scenes and died shortly after the last attacks,
is the most likely culprit.

The case pushed 19th-century Austin to modernize its policing and remains one
of the earliest documented serial murder sprees in U.S. history.

2. The Phantom Killer – Texarkana’s “Moonlight Murders”

In 1946, the border community of Texarkana was rocked by a series of late-night
attacks on couples parked in lovers’ lanes. The unknown assailant, nicknamed
the Phantom Killer, killed five people and injured several
others, often while wearing a hood or mask.

The so-called Texarkana Moonlight Murders created one of the earliest
“masked killer” legends in American pop culture and inspired movies and urban
legends for decades. Despite massive manhunts, roadblocks, and armed patrols,
the Phantom was never definitively identified.

3. Dean Corll – “The Candy Man” of Houston

If you ask many Texans which case still haunts them, they will name
Dean Corll, the “Candy Man”, responsible for
what became known as the Houston Mass Murders. Between 1970 and 1973, Corll
abducted, assaulted, and killed at least 28–29 teenage boys and young men in
the Houston area, with help from two teenage accomplices, David Brooks and
Elmer Wayne Henley Jr.

Corll lured victims with offers of rides, parties, or work, then restrained and
murdered them, burying many in a rented boat shed and remote beaches. The killing
ended only when Henley turned a gun on Corll during a confrontation, killing
him and then leading police to multiple burial sites.

The case forced Houston authorities to reckon with how missing teenage boys had
been dismissed and led to new scrutiny on runaway reports and patterns of
disappearances.

4. Charles Albright – “The Eyeball Killer”

Dallas-area offender Charles Albright earned one of the most
chilling nicknames in Texas: the “Eyeball Killer.” In 1990 and
1991, three women, all sex workers in Dallas County, were found shot to death,
and each had their eyes surgically removed.

Albright, an avid taxidermist with a history of fraud and petty crime, became
the prime suspect due to ballistics, witness statements, and his background
in working with animal eyes. Convicted largely on circumstantial evidence and
testimony, he received a life sentence and died in prison in 2020.

The case underscored how vulnerable populations, like sex workers, are often
targeted and how pattern recognition across seemingly “isolated” murders can
bring a hidden serial offender into focus.

5. Kenneth McDuff – “The Broomstick Killer”

Kenneth McDuff may be the single most controversial offender
in Texas corrections history. In 1966 he and an accomplice kidnapped and murdered
three teenagers; one victim’s neck was broken with a broomstick, giving McDuff
the nickname “The Broomstick Killer.” He was originally
sentenced to death, but after the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily halted the
death penalty in the 1970s, his sentence was reduced and he was eventually
paroled.

Once free, McDuff resumed killing, targeting young women in Central Texas in the
late 1980s and early 1990s. His new murder spree triggered public outrage and a
major overhaul of Texas parole laws, tightening release rules for violent
offenders. McDuff was recaptured, returned to death row, and executed by lethal
injection in 1998.

6. Carl Eugene Watts – “The Sunday Morning Slasher”

Carl Eugene Watts, known as the “Sunday Morning
Slasher,” was a mobile serial killer whose crimes stretched across
several states. In Texas and Michigan, he targeted women he believed had “evil
in their eyes,” attacking them at random by strangling, stabbing, bludgeoning,
or drowning. Infoplease credits him with 14 confirmed victims and far more
suspected.

Watts was finally stopped through a combination of survivor testimony and
persistent detective work. He died in prison in 2007, but investigators still
suspect he was responsible for dozens of unsolved homicides.

7. Joseph Ball – “The Butcher of Elmendorf”

In the 1930s, South Texas folklore was permanently altered by
Joseph Ball, a tavern owner in Elmendorf nicknamed the
“Butcher of Elmendorf” and the “Alligator Man.” Ball kept
alligators in a pit behind his bar and reportedly fed them meat – some of which,
rumor has it, came from murder victims. Police could confirm only a couple of
deaths, but locals feared many more.

When investigators closed in, Ball died by suicide rather than face trial.
His story blurred the line between documented crime and tall tale, but he remains
a fixture in lists of Texas’s most infamous killers.

8. Angel Maturino Reséndiz – “The Railroad Killer”

Angel Maturino Reséndiz, the “Railroad Killer,”
used freight trains to move across the U.S., hopping off near small towns or
suburbs to attack people in their homes. In the 1980s and 1990s, he murdered
victims in several states, including brutal home-invasion killings in Texas,
and was eventually placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list.

After a multistate manhunt, Reséndiz surrendered to authorities at a Texas
border crossing in 1999, mediated by a Texas Ranger and a family member. He was
convicted and executed in 2006. His case highlighted how crucial federal–state
cooperation is when an offender moves constantly by rail and highway.

9. Genene Jones – “Angel of Death” in Pediatric Wards

Few stories are more disturbing to Texans than that of Genene Jones,
a licensed vocational nurse once trusted to care for critically ill children.
Working in a San Antonio pediatric ICU in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Jones
was linked to an unusual surge of medical crises and deaths. Later evidence and
expert reviews suggested she injected infants and toddlers with medications such
as digoxin or muscle relaxants to create emergencies she could “solve.”

Jones was convicted in two child death cases and is suspected in dozens more
pediatric deaths. Texas prosecutors have pursued additional charges to keep
her incarcerated for life. Her crimes pushed hospitals to tighten medication
tracking, incident reporting, and internal investigations when mortality rates
suddenly spike.

10. William Lewis Reece – A Killer Tied to the Texas Killing Fields

The “Texas Killing Fields” along a stretch of Interstate 45 between Houston and
Galveston became notorious for the discovery of multiple female victims over
several decades. In the 1990s, William Lewis Reece abducted
and murdered young women in Texas and Oklahoma, later confessing to four killings,
three of them in Texas.

Reece was identified years later thanks to DNA evidence and his own admissions
while already serving time for a kidnapping. He received a death sentence in
Oklahoma and a life sentence in Texas. His case showcased how cold-case DNA
and multi-jurisdictional teamwork can finally break long-stalled investigations.

11. Tommy Lynn Sells – The “Coast-to-Coast Killer”

Tommy Lynn Sells was a drifter whose crimes spanned much of the
United States, but Texas played a decisive role in stopping him. In 1999 he broke
into a home near Del Rio, Texas, killing 13-year-old Kaylene “Katy” Harris and
slashing the throat of 10-year-old Krystal Surles. Remarkably, Surles survived
and was able to give investigators a description that led to Sells’s arrest.

Sells later confessed to dozens of murders across multiple states; law
enforcement has been able to corroborate at least 20-plus of them. He was
executed in Texas in 2014. The case illustrated the power of survivor
testimony and interstate cooperation in identifying a highly mobile offender.

12. Henry Lee Lucas – The “Confession Killer”

Henry Lee Lucas became infamous not only for murder, but for
his avalanche of confessions. After his 1983 arrest in Texas, Lucas began
claiming responsibility for hundreds of unsolved murders nationwide. For a time
he was touted as one of the most prolific serial killers in history, until
investigators and journalists showed many of his “confessions” were impossible
or obviously coached.

Lucas was ultimately convicted of 11 killings, including one in Williamson
County, Texas. His wildly inflated confession spree embarrassed multiple
agencies and led to reforms in how Texas Rangers and local departments handle
interrogations, corroborate statements, and clear cold cases.

13. Billy Chemirmir – Murders in Senior-Living Communities

More recently, Texans have followed the disturbing case of
Billy Chemirmir, a healthcare aide and home-care worker accused
of targeting elderly women in Dallas-area senior living communities. Prosecutors
said he posed as a maintenance worker or caregiver, then smothered victims and
stole their jewelry or valuables.

Chemirmir was convicted in two capital murder cases and indicted in many more
deaths; civil suits and investigative reviews link him to as many as 22–24
victims. In 2023, he was himself killed by a cellmate in a Texas prison. The
case has forced regulators and families to rethink security, visitor tracking,
and suspicious-death investigations in senior-care settings.

14. Edward Harold Bell – Confessed to “The Eleven Who Went to Heaven”

Edward Harold Bell was a Texas sex offender who shot and killed
a young Marine, Larry Dickens, in 1978 after exposing himself to neighborhood
children in Pasadena. He fled the country and became one of the first fugitives
featured on Texas’s version of America’s Most Wanted before being
captured in Panama in the early 1990s.

While serving a 70-year sentence, Bell wrote letters claiming he had also
murdered 11 teen girls around Galveston in the 1970s – victims sometimes
referred to as “the eleven who went to heaven.” Those confessions have never
been conclusively proved, but Bell remains a prime suspect in multiple unsolved
coastal homicides. He died in prison in 2019.

15. Samuel Little – The U.S.’s Most Prolific Killer, Including Texas Cases

Samuel Little is considered the most prolific serial killer in
U.S. history, with the FBI deeming 93 of his confessions credible. While he
operated nationwide, Texas was part of his hunting ground. DNA and his own
detailed recollections tied him to murders in Lubbock, Odessa, Wichita Falls,
Houston, and other cities, mostly involving marginalized women.

Little’s slow unraveling came only after a Texas Ranger built rapport with him
and encouraged him to describe victims from memory, right down to hair, clothing,
and city landmarks. His case shows how older, long-incarcerated offenders can
still unlock decades of cold cases when investigators are willing to invest time
and empathy into interviews.

16. Robert Eugene Brashers – Linked to Austin’s Yogurt Shop Murders

The 1991 Yogurt Shop Murders in Austin – in which four teenage girls were killed
in a shop after closing – long stood as one of Texas’s most infamous unsolved
cases. For years, multiple suspects were questioned, and some were even
wrongfully convicted and later exonerated.

Only in recent years did new DNA work link Robert Eugene Brashers,
a serial offender already tied to homicides and sexual assaults in other states,
to the Austin crime. Brashers died by suicide in 1999, but forensic genealogy
and DNA comparisons have posthumously connected him to multiple murders,
including the yogurt shop case.

His case is a prime example of how new technology can radically rewrite long-held
theories about a crime and finally offer answers to victims’ families.

What These Texas Serial Killer Cases Have Taught Us

Looking across these 16 infamous cases, you can trace a rough timeline of how
Texas – and the country – learned to deal with serial offenders. That history
offers several hard-earned lessons and “experiences” that now shape modern
policing and public awareness.

1. Information-Sharing Can Make or Break a Case

Early cases like the Servant Girl Annihilator and Phantom Killer unfolded in an
era without centralized databases or even reliable communication between
departments. Later cases – such as those involving Samuel Little, Tommy Lynn
Sells, and Angel Maturino Reséndiz – show that even in the late 20th century,
fragmented records allowed mobile offenders to slip across state lines for
years. Today, Texas agencies rely on shared systems, task forces, and federal
partnerships to flag patterns more quickly.

2. Parole and Sentencing Policies Carry Real-World Risk

The McDuff case is a textbook example of how policy decisions can have lethal
consequences. When his death sentence was converted and he was eventually
paroled, the result was another wave of murders. Public outrage over his release
drove Texas to tighten violent-offender parole rules and review how risk is
assessed. Modern risk-assessment tools and more conservative release policies
are, in part, a reaction to this single offender’s wake of damage.

3. Vulnerable Victims Require Extra Safeguards

Many of Texas’s most notorious killers targeted people who were less likely to
be believed, searched for, or vigorously protected: sex workers in Dallas,
children in ICUs, elderly women in senior-living centers, runaways in Houston,
and low-income or marginalized women across the state. Cases involving Genene
Jones, Billy Chemirmir, Dean Corll, and Charles Albright show how predators
exploit gaps in social concern and institutional oversight.

In response, Texas hospitals have improved tracking of medication errors and
pediatric deaths; senior communities have tightened visitor and employee
screening; and advocacy groups have pushed for better reporting and follow-up
when sex workers, homeless people, or teens go missing.

4. Science and Survivors Are Game-Changers

Advances in forensic science – particularly DNA testing and, more recently,
forensic genealogy – are responsible for major breakthroughs in cases tied to
Reece, Brashers, Little, and other offenders. Cold cases that once seemed
unsolvable now see fresh life when stored evidence is retested. At the same
time, survivor testimony has been crucial: a 10-year-old Krystal Surles
identifying Tommy Lynn Sells; witnesses remembering details about the Phantom
Killer; families and communities insisting that missing persons cases get
proper attention.

5. True Crime Culture Needs Balance

Finally, Texas’s serial killer history feeds a huge true crime media ecosystem –
books, podcasts, documentaries, dramatized series. That attention can drive
tips, funding, and renewed interest in cold cases, but it also risks turning
real suffering into entertainment. The best coverage keeps victims and families
at the center, emphasizes systemic lessons (like better parole screening or
hospital oversight), and avoids glorifying the killers themselves.

If there is any “experience” worth holding onto, it’s that vigilance, empathy,
and good systems matter. Communities that listen when people disappear, push
for answers, and support evidence-based policing are the ones most likely to
stop the next predator before they become another infamous name on a list like
this.

Final Thoughts

The stories of Texas serial killers are grim, but they’re also stories of
change: better science, smarter policy, and families who refused to let cases
go cold. From the unidentified killers of the 19th century to the DNA-driven
breakthroughs of today, Texas has been a rough laboratory for modern homicide
investigation.

Learning about these cases isn’t about indulging morbid curiosity. It’s about
understanding the patterns, the systemic failures, and the reforms that make
communities safer. In that sense, the darkest chapters of Texas history have
pushed the state – and the country – toward better tools, better laws, and a
deeper respect for victims whose names deserve to be remembered far more than
the killers who took their lives.