See No Evil... Charles Albright

Mary Lou Pratt
Mary was a well known sex worker. She was well liked around town, and didn't need to stand on the side of the road to find money. After a long night of work Mary would often have one of her regulars drive her home, to her parents house.
On December 13, 1990 Mary was found lying face-up, nearly nude, shot in the back of the head, she was 35 years old. They easily determined that Mary had been killed in one location and moved to another. It wasn't until her autopsy that they discovered both of her eyes had been removed. The procedure was precisely done and no visible marks were found on Mary. The case went cold.

Susan Peterson
Susan was also a sex worker, and on March 18th, 1991 was found naked, on her side, shot through the top of her head, chest, and stomach. Once again she was found to have no eyes. Susan was found on the same road as Mary Pratt, but far enough away that there were in different jurisdictions. As soon as the pathologist mentioned Mary Pratts' case the two cases were compared, and the detectives started working together.

Potential Victim Veronica Rodriguez
At this point the detectives did not have a lot to go off of. The bodies had been moved, no one had been seen with them. There was one sex worker who came forward and told many stories of how she had seen Mary get shot, how she had met a man who told her how he killed Mary. Her name was Veronica Rodriguez, she frequently changed the race of the killer, and some minor details. Many people discredited her as having a drug-fried brain. Veronica was raped in a field in Dallas, one story she never changed. In this story she mentioned an Axton Schindler, who claimed to live at 1035 Eldorado, Veronica said that he had saved her from her attacker.

Shirley Williams
Had been working at the Avalon Motel as a maid in the day, and a sex worker at night. A friend who saw her leave for the night said she seemed to be high on drugs, and was alone walking down the street. The next morning, March 20th Shirley was found, naked, with an unopened condom next to her body. This time a medical examiner on the scene noted that Shirley's eyes had been removed. During Shirley's autopsy the examiner found a broken tip of an X-Acto blade in her right eye.

Brenda White had been a sex worker for almost 17 years. She told cops after the third murder that a man had attacked her in his station wagon. She had demanded to get out of his car when he suggested that they go to his place, instead of using a motel. The man, who she described as white man with salt and pepper hair, had started yelling at her and started to reach for Brenda and she shot mace at him, and jumped out of the car.

With little to no leads to follow the detectives decided to look back into Veronica's story. When they ran the address, 1035 Eldorado, Fred Albright came up as the owner. Further research showed that Fred was now deceased, but more of his properties showed up. The deputy constable helping the detectives mentioned that an unidentified woman called the County's office and said that She had been friends with Mary Pratt. The caller stated that she had met a man through Mary who was very nice, but had an off fascination with eyes. She said that the man's name was Charles Albright.
Brenda White identified Charles out of a photo lineup as the man who had attacked her. Veronica Rodriguez was too scared to go through the lineup, until she was brought into an interrogation room, where she finally identified Charles as her attacker.

Charles Albright was born on August 10th, 1933. He was adopted from an orphanage by Delle and Fred Albright. Dell Albright was very protective over her adoptive son, and very strict. Delle, who always reminded Charles that she would not leave him, had some strange traits. He spoke of times where his mother would put him in a dress and give him a doll to hold. Delle also changed Charles' clothing two to three times a day, to keep the dirt off. Terrified of polio, Delle warned Charles of the dangers of dog feces, and even took Charles to a hospital to show him people in iron lungs. When Charles misbehaved punishments were in order, if he would not nap, Delle would tie him to his bed.

As a young child Charles showed interest in becoming a taxidermist, and as a teenager his mother would help him stuff animals he had shot. The small family was poor and could not afford the glass eyes most taxidermists would use, so instead Charles would use buttons.
Delle had more interesting ideas on how to raise a teenage boy. She found that her husband would try to 'grab' her if he saw Delle in undergarments, and made sure to raise Charles to be better than that. She insisted on being a chauffeur on all his dates. A number of girls parents would receive a call from Delle, who would reassure them that her son would act like a gentleman, before their daughter would go on a date with Charles.

At thirteen Charles was convicted of aggravated assault.
At seventeen he was found guilty of stealing guns and spent six months in prison.

Once released Charles attended Arkansas State Teacher's College, he was an active member of many clubs, and excelled in his classes. There is a story of Charles around this time cutting up pictures of a friends ex girlfriend, removing her eyes from the picture and pasting them around his own room, and photos of another girl. Charles was caught breaking into a girl's dorm, in pursute of nude photos. Before he could graduate he was found with stolen items, and was expelled. Charles went on to fake his degrees by stealing documents, and forging signatures

Charles managed to marry his College sweetheart, Bettye Nestor in 1954. Bettye went on to become a teacher, while Charles continued to steal. They had a daughter together before separating in 1965, and finally divorcing in 1974. Charles was then caught stealing from a hardware store and sentenced to two years in prison, he was let out in just six months.

In 1981 Charles met his birth mother and his adoptive mother died. This same year a nine year old girl accused Charles of molesting her while he was visiting her parents, Charles pled guilty. He then later said that he was innocent, he just didn’t want a "hassle". in 1985 Charles started dating a woman named Dixie Austin. He picked up a morning paper route, while Dixie maintained an evening job and paid most of the bills.
In 1986 Charles' adoptive father died and Charles inherited around $100 000, and all of his parent's properties. He soon began to rent out a tiny frame home on Cotton Valley St, to a truck driver named Axton Schindler. Charles and Dixie then moved to the family's main home at 1035 Eldorado.
Four years after his father's death Charles had gone through his inheritance, and took up a job delivering papers between 4 and 6 in the morning.
Axton Schindler didn't put his own address on any government documents, and drivers license. Axton thought that everyone else should stay out of his business and listed 1035 Eldorado as his home address.

Some sex workers claimed that Charles Albright frequented the Star, a run down hotel Mary Pratt worked out of. Charles was said to have known many sex workers. Some he kept a platonic relationship, taking them out to only talk, and buy them a burger. The women claimed that after a time the date would become more and more sexual. One woman who said she had been sleeping with Charles for a long time, put a stop to their standing Friday dates in 1987 due to Charles getting more and more aggressive.

On March 22 Charles Albright was arrested. During a search of one of his houses police found X-Acto blades, a dozen true-crime books, a copy of Gray's Anatomy, a hidden compartment with pistols and rifles, but not the murder weapon.
Veronica Rodriguez decided to testify for the defense, saying that she and Charles had never been together. Axton claimed that he had not saved Veronica from her attacker, but a man named Joe had brought her to Axton's door.
The prosecutor had hair evidence that connected Albright to the first two victims. Tina Connolly stated that she had never seen Charles go out during the night, except for the night that Shirley went missing.
The jury convicted Charles to life in prison.