Vero - Wikipedia - User contributions [en]

Jason Baldwin

2025-10-27T19:24:25Z

2601:5C7:8480:21C0:151A:C344:C15B:7A88:

#REDIRECT [[West Memphis Three]]

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{{R from member}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Baldwin, Jason}}
[[Category:1977 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American murderers of children]]
[[Category:American people convicted of murder]]
[[Category:American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment]]
[[Category:Male juvenile murderers]]
[[Category:Minors convicted of murder]]
[[Category:People convicted of murder by Arkansas]]
[[Category:People who entered an Alford plea]]
[[Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Arkansas]]
[[Category:West Memphis Three]]

Gene McKinney

2025-10-27T18:00:47Z

2601:5C7:8480:21C0:151A:C344:C15B:7A88:

{{Short description|10th Sergeant Major of the US Army}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Gene C. McKinney
|image= Gene McKinney.jpg{{!}}border
|image_size=
|alt=
|caption= Master Sergeant (MSG) Formerly the Sergeant Major of the Army Gene McKinney in the 1990s
|nickname=
|birth_date= {{Birth date and age|1950|11|3}}
|birth_place= [[Monticello, Florida]], United States
|death_date=
|death_place=
|placeofburial=
|allegiance= United States
|branch= [[United States Army]]
|serviceyears= 1968–1998
|rank=[[Master Sergeant]]
|unit=
|commands=
|battles= [[Vietnam War]]
|awards= [[Legion of Merit]] [[Bronze Star Medal]] (2) [[Meritorious Service Medal (United States)|Meritorious Service Medal]] (4)
|relations=
|laterwork=
}}
'''Gene C. McKinney''' (born November 3, 1950) is a retired [[United States Army]] soldier who served as the 10th [[Sergeant Major of the Army]] (SMA), serving from July 1995 to October 1997.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.ausa.org/army/10th-sma-gene-c-mckinney|title=10th SMA – Gene C. McKinney|date=2016-06-06|work=Association of the United States Army|access-date=2018-11-30|language=en}}</ref> He was the first African American to reach that rank in the United States Army.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://cgsc.cdmhost.com/utils/getdownloaditem/collection/p15040coll2/id/6280/filename/6281.pdf/mapsto/pdf|title=Sergeant Major of the Army; Gene C. McKinney|last=Keith|first=Henry|date=18 April 2005}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In 1998, he was court-martialed on a variety of charges including [[sexual harassment]] and [[obstruction of justice]]. He was convicted of the obstruction of justice charge and demoted to the rank of [[Master sergeant#United States|master sergeant]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9803/16/mckinney.sentence./index.html|title=Gene McKinney sentenced to reduction in rank and reprimand|date=16 March 1998|website=www.cnn.com|access-date=2018-11-30}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=https://wtop.com/news/2011/12/ex-army-sergeant-major-gets-weekend-in-jail-for-slugging-incident/|title=Ex-Army sergeant major gets weekend in jail for slugging incident {{!}} WTOP|date=2011-12-11|work=WTOP|access-date=2018-11-30|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1998-03-14-9803140077-story.html|title=MCKINNEY CLEARED OF SEX ABUSE|last=Bureau|first=Michael Kilian, Washington|work=chicagotribune.com|access-date=2018-11-30|language=en-US}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
McKinney was born in [[Monticello, Florida]], on November 3, 1950. He is one of six siblings, all of whom served in the [[United States Army]]. One served as an officer; one retired as a Master Sergeant; another served in the [[Vietnam War]]; and an identical twin, James C. McKinney, was a [[Command Sergeant Major]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6492271|title=Gene McKinney, with his twin brother; James McKinney|date=26 June 1996|website=catalog.archives.gov|series=Series: Combined Military Service Digital Photographic Files, 1921 - 2008|language=en|access-date=2018-11-30}}</ref>

==Military career==
McKinney enlisted in the United States Army in August 1968, and completed [[United States Army Basic Training|Basic Training]] as a Cavalryman at [[Fort Knox, Kentucky]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|title=Black American Military Leaders|last=Hawkins|first=Walter|publisher=Walter L. Hawkins (for U.S. Army)|date=19 March 2007|isbn=9780786444625|location=United States of America}}</ref> From 1969 to 1970, he saw combat in the Vietnam War with the [[173d Airborne Brigade (United States)|173rd Airborne Brigade]]. In more than 28 years, he served in all noncommissioned officer leadership positions. He was command sergeant major of the United States Army Europe; [[8th Infantry Division (United States)|8th Infantry Division (Mechanized)]], [[Bad Kreuznach]], Germany; 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division in Vilseck, Germany; 612th Quartermaster Battalion at [[Fort Bragg, North Carolina]]; 1st Battalion, 58th Mechanized Infantry, [[197th Infantry Brigade]] at [[Fort Benning, Georgia]]; 3rd Squadron, [[12th Cavalry Regiment (United States)|12th Cavalry Regiment]] in [[Büdingen]], Germany; 3rd and 4th Squadron, [[3d Armored Cavalry Regiment (United States)|3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment]] at [[Fort Bliss, Texas]]; and 2nd Squadron, [[2nd Cavalry Regiment (United States)|2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment]] in [[Bamberg]], Germany. He is a graduate of the [[United States Army Sergeants Major Academy]], Class 31.

===Sexual harassment allegations and dismissal===
In the fall of 1996, [[Aberdeen scandal|allegations of sexual misconduct]] by training cadre at [[Aberdeen Proving Ground]] and several other United States Army postings surfaced, and the Army instituted a substantial investigation with a toll-free telephone hotline that received nearly 60,000 calls within a matter of weeks. The task force established by [[United States Secretary of the Army|Secretary of the Army]], [[Togo D. West, Jr.]], to advise him about the situation included McKinney as the spokesman of the Army enlisted soldiers.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The Sergeants Major of the Army|last=Daniel Elder, Glen Hawkins, Preston Pierce.|first=Robert Mages, Mark Gillespie, Michael Kelly|publisher=United States Army Center Of Military History|year=2013|isbn=9781508448006|location=United States of America}}</ref><ref>Mckinney visits Aberdeen to talk to troops, Army Newslink, 11/21/96.</ref> In February 1997, McKinney was himself accused by a female former subordinate of improper advances.<ref>Army's top enlisted man, Sgt. Maj. Gene C. McKinney, denies sexual harassment charge, ''[[Jet (magazine)|Jet]]'', JFeb 24, 1997</ref> The Army suspended him from his duties that month while the charges were investigated; in May–October of that year, two Command Sergeants Major, one being McKinney's twin brother, James C. McKinney; the other Jerry T. Alley—took over his duties in rotation.<ref name=timesdailyJune1997>{{cite news|last=Schafer|first=Susanne|title=Army closes sex abuse hotline|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rk4eAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VMcEAAAAIBAJ&|access-date=21 April 2011|newspaper=[[TimesDaily]]|date=14 June 1997}}</ref> While McKinney was suspended from his duties as Sergeant Major of the Army, five more female soldiers accused him of similar improprieties.<ref name=gainesville1997>{{cite news|title=Officer Adds Accusations In Army Sex Case|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LkZWAAAAIBAJ&pg=2329,4113423|access-date=21 April 2011|newspaper=[[Gainesville Sun]]|date=19 June 1997}}</ref> In November 1997, the [[Article 32 hearing|Article 32 investigating panel]] (U.S. military counterpart to a grand jury) completed its investigation and recommended charges for a [[court-martial]]. McKinney was thereupon permanently reassigned out of his billet and laterally redesignated to the rank of Command Sergeant Major; his successor, [[Robert E. Hall (soldier)|Robert E. Hall]], was promptly installed.

McKinney was acquitted of all sexual harassment charges, but was convicted of obstruction of justice and received a reduction in grade to [[Master Sergeant#United States|Master Sergeant]] and a reprimand.<ref name=vindicator17mar1998>{{cite news|title=Army Sex Case: Jury Gives Mckinney Reprimand, Demotion|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-ylKAAAAIBAJ&pg=1324,401968|access-date=21 April 2011|newspaper=[[The Vindicator]]|date=17 March 1998}}</ref> Though he retired as a Master Sergeant, his retirement pay was calculated using the pay rate he earned during his tenure as Sergeant Major of the Army, in accordance with 10 USC § 1406(i)(1). That law was subsequently amended by 10 USC § 1406(i)(2)(A) to prevent a recurrence.<ref name=nytMay1998>{{cite news|last=Stout|first=David|title=Full Pension Is Backed for Former Top Soldier|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/12/us/full-pension-is-backed-for-former-top-soldier.html?ref=gene_c_mckinney|access-date=21 April 2011|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=12 May 1998}}</ref>

==Felony vehicular charge==
On October 25, 2010, McKinney allegedly hit a man with his car on purpose, and was charged with felony malicious wounding.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/01/AR2010110105450.html|title=Former Army Sergeant Major charged with striking vehicle passenger|last=Zapotosky|first=Matt|date=1 November 2010|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=2018-11-30}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite news|url=http://wjla.com/news/local/gene-mckinney-spends-weekend-in-jail-after-guilty-plea-70193|title=Gene McKinney spends weekend in jail after guilty plea|last=Group|first=Sinclair Broadcast|work=WJLA|access-date=2018-11-30|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite news|url=https://www.stripes.com/blogs/stripes-central/stripes-central-1.8040/army-s-former-top-nco-charged-with-running-down-pedestrian-1.123942|title=Army's former top NCO charged with running down pedestrian|work=Stars and Stripes|access-date=2018-11-30}}</ref> This occurred following an incident in which McKinney drove erratically after picking up two [[Slugging|slug]] passengers in [[Occoquan, Virginia]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":6"/><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite news|url=https://www.arlnow.com/2010/11/01/man-arrested-in-arlington-was-former-top-army-soldier/|title=Man Arrested in Arlington Was Former Top Army Soldier|date=2010-11-01|work=ARLnow.com – Arlington, Va. Local News|access-date=2018-11-30|language=en-US}}</ref> When the passengers exited the car, one of them attempted to take a photograph of McKinney's license plate, and claimed that McKinney drove his car into him.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Former-Top-Soldier-Accused-of-Running-Down-Slug--106449408.html|title=Former Top Soldier Accused of Running Down Slug|work=NBC4 Washington|access-date=2018-11-30|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://casetext.com/analysis/former-sgm-mckinney|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181130202002/https://casetext.com/analysis/former-sgm-mckinney|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 30, 2018|title=former SGM McKinney {{!}} Casetext|website=casetext.com|language=en|access-date=2018-11-30}}</ref>

Based on the [[preliminary hearing]] in April 2011, a judge ruled that the evidence in the case was sufficient to proceed to trial.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.platewire.com/viewblog.aspx?bid=6890|title=PlateWire – Member Blog Entry|last=Ingenero|first=Novus|website=www.platewire.com|access-date=2018-11-30}}</ref> McKinney was [[indicted]] for malicious wounding (a felony) and reckless driving (a misdemeanor).<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":6"/>

McKinney submitted an [[Alford plea]], which the court accepted.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":6" /> As a part of his plea agreement the felony charge was reduced to disorderly conduct. He was also sentenced to twelve months of incarceration, of which the judge suspended all but 10 days. McKinney was given credit for time served and only had to serve an additional two days.<ref>{{cite web|title=Gene McKinney spends weekend in jail after guilty plea|date=12 December 2011|url=http://www.wjla.com/articles/2011/12/gene-mckinney-spends-weekend-in-jail-after-guilty-plea-70193.html|access-date=14 March 2012|archive-date=29 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131129123453/http://www.wjla.com/articles/2011/12/gene-mckinney-spends-weekend-in-jail-after-guilty-plea-70193.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Awards and decorations==
{|
|[[File:Combat Infantry Badge.svg|125px]] [[Combat Infantryman Badge]]
|-
|[[File:United States Air Force Parachutist Badge.svg|90px]] [[Parachutist Badge (United States)|Basic Parachutist Badge]]
|-
|[[File:US Army Expert Marksmanship Qualification Badge-Generic.png|75px]] [[Marksmanship Badge (United States)|Expert Marksmanship Badge]]
|-
|[[File:USA - 3rd Cavalry DUI.png|90px]] [[3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment]] [[Distinctive Unit Insignia]]
|}
{|
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Legion of Merit ribbon.svg|width=60}}
|[[Legion of Merit]]
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Bronze Star Medal ribbon1OLC.png|width=60}}
|[[Bronze Star Medal]] with [[oak leaf cluster]]
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=3|type=oak|ribbon=Meritorious Service Medal ribbon.svg|width=60}}
|[[Meritorious Service Medal (United States)|Meritorious Service Medal]] with three oak leaf clusters
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Army Commendation Medal ribbon.svg|width=60}}
|[[Army Commendation Medal]]
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Army Achievement Medal ribbon.svg|width=60}}
|[[Achievement Medal|Army Achievement Medal]]
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=United States Army and U.S. Air Force Presidential Unit Citation ribbon.svg|width=60}}
|[[Presidential Unit Citation (United States)|Presidential Unit Citation]]
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Meritorious Unit Commendation ribbon.svg|width=60}}
|[[Meritorious Unit Commendation]]
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Army Good Conduct ribbon 9.jpg|width=60}}
|[[Good Conduct Medal (United States)|Good Conduct Medal]] (9 awards)
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=service-star|ribbon=National Defense Service Medal ribbon, 2nd award.svg|width=60}}
|[[National Defense Service Medal]] with one [[service star]]
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=1|type=service-star|ribbon=Vietnam Service Medal ribbon.svg|width=60}}
|[[Vietnam Service Medal]] with one service star
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=numeral|ribbon=Non-Commissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon.svg|width=60}}[[File:Award numeral 4.png|11px]]
|[[NCO Professional Education Ribbon]] with [[award numeral]] 4
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Army Service Ribbon.svg|width=60}}
|[[Army Service Ribbon]]
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Army Overseas Service Ribbon.svg|width=60}}[[File:Award numeral 5.png|11px]]
|[[Overseas Service Ribbon]] with award numeral 5
|-
|[[File:Gallantry Cross Unit Citation.png|60px]]
|[[Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation]]
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Vietnam Campaign Medal ribbon with 60- clasp.svg|width=60}}
|[[Vietnam Campaign Medal]]
|}
* 9 [[Service stripe]]s.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Official website|https://web.archive.org/web/20090514082653/http://www.army.mil/leaders/sma/Former/sma_bio10.html}}
*[http://www.cnn.com/US/9803/16/mckinney.sentence./ CNN story on McKinney's acquittal]

{{S-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{Succession box|before = [[Richard A. Kidd]] |title = [[Sergeant Major of the Army]] |years = 1995–1997 |after = [[Robert E. Hall (soldier)|Robert E. Hall]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mckinney, Gene}}
[[Category:1950 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War]]
[[Category:African-American United States Army personnel]]
[[Category:American prisoners and detainees]]
[[Category:Sergeants Major of the Army]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Legion of Merit]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel who were court-martialed]]
[[Category:20th-century American criminals]]
[[Category:21st-century American criminals]]
[[Category:American male criminals]]
[[Category:American people convicted of obstruction of justice]]
[[Category:Criminals from Florida]]
[[Category:Sexual harassment in the United States]]
[[Category:Identical twins]]
[[Category:American twins]]
[[Category:People from Monticello, Florida]]
[[Category:People who entered an Alford plea]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of Virginia]]
[[Category:21st-century African-American military personnel]]
[[Category:African Americans in the Vietnam War]]
[[Category:Violence against women in Maryland]]

Carl Eugene Watts

2025-10-27T17:53:51Z

2601:5C7:8480:21C0:151A:C344:C15B:7A88:

{{Short description|American serial killer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox serial killer
| name = Carl Eugene Watts
| image = Carl Eugene Watts 2004.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Watts in 2004
| birth_name =
| alias = The Sunday Morning Slasher Coral
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1953|11|07}}
| birth_place = [[Killeen, Texas]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2007|09|21|1953|11|07}}
| spouse = Valeria Goodwill (1979–1980)
| children = 1
| death_place = [[Jackson, Michigan]], U.S.
| victims = 15–100+
| country = United States
| states = [[Michigan]] [[Texas]]
| beginyear = 1974
| endyear = 1982
| apprehended = May 23, 1982
| conviction = '''Texas''' [[Burglary|Aggravated burglary]] '''Michigan''' [[First degree murder]] (2 counts)
| sentence = '''Texas''' 60 years imprisonment '''Michigan''' [[Life imprisonment]]
}}

'''Carl Eugene Watts''' (November 7, 1953 – September 21, 2007), dubbed the '''Sunday Morning Slasher''',<ref name="walter">{{cite web |url=http://maamodt.asp.radford.edu/Psyc%20405/serial%20killers/Watts,%20Coral%20Eugen%20_2008,%20spring_.pdf|title=Coral Eugene Watts |website=radford.edu|access-date=27 August 2023 |last=Walter |first=Kristy |author2=Christopher White |publisher=[[Radford University|Radford University Psychology Department]] }}</ref> was an American [[serial killer]] who murdered numerous women and girls between 1974 and 1982.<ref name=Cbs2004/> Watts is suspected of being the most prolific serial killer in United States history.<ref name="auto">{{Cite book |last=Mitchell |first=Corey |title=Evil Eyes |year=2006}}</ref> He died of [[prostate cancer]] while serving two sentences of [[life imprisonment]] without parole in a [[Michigan]] prison for the murders of Helen Dutcher and Gloria Steele.

Watts officially confessed to the murders of thirteen women but later claimed he had killed forty women and also implied that there were more than eighty victims in total. He would not confess outright to having committed these murders, however, because he did not want to be seen as a "mass murderer." Police consider Watts a suspect in ninety unsolved murders,<ref name="Cbs2004"/> and he is now suspected to have killed more than one hundred.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Sept. 23|first1=L. A. Times Archives|last2=Pt|first2=2007 12 Am|date=2007-09-23|title=Coral Eugene Watts, 53; murderer claimed he had killed 80|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-sep-23-me-passings23.s2-story.html|access-date=2021-12-10|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.courts.michigan.gov/siteassets/case-documents/uploads/Opinions/Final/COA/20060425_C266959_35_266959.OPN.PDF |title=PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN V CORAL EUGENE WATTS |website=Michigan Courts |date=April 25, 2006 |access-date=December 16, 2022}}</ref>

== Early life and criminal history ==
Carl Eugene Watts was born on November 7, 1953, to Richard Eugene Watts and Dorothy Mae Young, both natives of [[Coalwood, West Virginia]].<ref name="walter" /> Watts' father was a [[private first class]] in the [[United States Army]], and his mother was a [[kindergarten]] art teacher. In 1942, before Watts was born, his father was transferred to [[Fort Hood]] in [[Killeen, Texas]], the location of the Army's [[tank destroyer]] training center. Three days after Watts' birth in Killeen, the family returned to [[West Virginia]]. The couple's second child, a daughter named Sharon, was born a year later.<ref name="walter" />

Watts' parents divorced when he was less than two years old, and his mother raised him as a [[single parent]]. In 1962, Watts' mother married a mechanic named Norman Caesar, with whom she had two daughters. The family moved to [[Inkster, Michigan]], where she found employment as a high school art teacher. Watts disliked his new stepfather, however, which made it difficult for him to adapt to his new familial environment. Watts later claimed that he often worried about losing his mother's attention.<ref name="auto2">{{cite news |title= Coral E. Watts, Imprisoned Serial Killer, Dies at 53 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/22/us/22watts.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=September 22, 2007 |access-date=June 29, 2009}}</ref>

Watts, his sister and his mother frequently visited his maternal grandmother in Coalwood. In the rural region near his grandmother's home, Watts learned to hunt and skin rabbits with his grandfather, an activity he enjoyed. Watts later adopted the nickname "Coral," which was the southern pronunciation of his name, as a result of his passion for the Coalwood and the relatives who lived there. Watts reportedly had academic difficulties in [[Michigan]] but yet managed to earn decent grades.

When he was eight years old, Watts and his sister contracted [[meningitis]], which nearly killed him.<ref name="auto2"/> He was brought to the [[Herman Kiefer Hospital]] in [[Detroit]] for treatment and was kept apart from other patients and underwent [[Spinal tap (medical procedure)|spinal tap]]s. Journalists claim that Watts' body temperature was so high that physicians worried it might have caused [[brain damage]]. Family members noticed a change in his personality following his illness, describing him as bashful, quiet and introverted. Watts' performance at school worsened, resulting in him being held back one grade. Watts also started having violent dreams about battling off and killing the wicked spirits of women, which interrupted his sleep cycle. When detectives later asked why he killed women, Watts responded that he wanted to "free their spirits" because they had "evil eyes."<ref name="auto2"/>

By age 12, Watts began to relish his dreams of torturing and killing girls and young women. He began [[stalking]] girls as a teenager, and it is thought that he killed his first victim before the age of 15. On June 29, 1969, while delivering newspapers on his route, Watts knocked on the apartment door of 26-year-old Joan Gave. Watts savagely assaulted Gave when she answered the door, then continued on his route as if nothing had happened. Gave immediately contacted the authorities, who apprehended Watts at his home. He was ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment at the Lafayette Clinic in Detroit.<ref name=Dallas>{{Cite news|url=https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/evil-eyes-6388157?showFullText=true |title=Evil Eyes |publisher= Dallas Observer| date=June 19, 2003 }}</ref>

During a psychiatric evaluation, when asked if his dreams disturbed him, Watts replied, "No, I feel better after I have one," and claimed that they were not nightmares because "he enjoyed them." He further elaborated that his motivation for assaulting Gave was because he "just felt like beating someone up." According to a psychiatric assessment, Watts was revealed to have a mild [[intellectual disability]] with an [[intelligence quotient]] of 75,<ref name="kids">{{cite web | title = Serial Killers' IQs | publisher = Kid's IQ Test Center | url =http://www.kids-iq-tests.com/famous-serial-killer-IQ.html | access-date = 7 May 2012}}</ref> and to have a [[delusional]] thought process and no evidence of [[psychosis]]. However, a police officer interrogating Watts after his arrest later stated that he appeared to be "very, very intelligent" with an "excellent memory."<ref name=Cbs2004>{{cite news | url = https://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-deal-with-the-devil-14-10-2004/ | title = A Deal With the Devil? | publisher = [[60 Minutes]] | date = October 14, 2004 |access-date = June 28, 2008}}</ref> Watts' psychiatrist later reported that he was an "impulsive individual who has a passive-aggressive orientation to life" and who is "struggling for control of strong homicidal impulses." He thought Watts posed a threat to society and hoped that the adolescent would benefit from outpatient therapy. Watts was discharged from the Lafayette Clinic on his 16th birthday and visited the facility nine more times for outpatient care throughout the ensuing years. During his time in various mental institutions, he was diagnosed with [[antisocial personality disorder]].<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/coral_watts/4.html|title=Random acts of murder}}</ref>

Watts graduated from high school in 1973 at the age of 19 and was given a football scholarship to [[Lane College]] in [[Jackson, Tennessee]], despite his subpar grades and sporadic drug use after his release. Watts said that exercising allowed him to let out his suppressed rage. He was able to achieve stardom as a football player and even greater success in [[boxing]], becoming a [[Golden Gloves]] fighter. After just three months, he was [[expulsion (education)|expelled]] from Lane College after being charged with stalking and assaulting women and receiving minor leg injuries. The fact that many people at Lane College thought Watts was a suspect in the violent killing of a female student—even though there was insufficient evidence to hold him accountable for the crime—was another factor in his dismissal. Watts briefly resided in [[Houston, Texas]], following his expulsion, and then spent a year working as a mechanic for a Detroit wheel manufacturer. In 1974, when Watts enrolled in [[Western Michigan University]] in [[Kalamazoo, Michigan|Kalamazoo]], a string of heinous assaults and attacks on women started to occur.<ref name="auto2"/>

==Murders==
Watts' first confirmed murders took place in 1974, by kidnapping his victims from their homes, torturing them and then murdering them. He attacked in several different [[jurisdiction]]s and even different states. Most of his victims were thin, attractive white women, and he used methods such as [[strangulation]], [[stabbing]], [[bludgeon (weapon)|bludgeon]]ing and [[drowning]]. His victims ranged between the ages of 14 and 44. Watts murdered dozens of women between 1974 and 1982, and despite the scale of his killings, he was not discovered for almost eight years.<ref name="walter" /> Even with the advent of [[DNA]] testing, it was still nearly impossible to connect them because he rarely performed sexual acts on his victims; his crimes were not thought to be sexually motivated.<ref name="auto"/>

On September 6, 1972, the body of Zenaida Tomes, aged 20, was discovered in a field in [[Taylor, Michigan]], adjacent to North Line Road and Lange Close. She had suffered forty-five stab wounds. Over the years, rumors have circulated that Tomes' death may have been caused by Watts, who was present in the area at the time.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.thenewsherald.com/2004/12/04/brother-sister-still-seek-answers-in-brutal-death/ | title=Brother, sister still seek answers in brutal death | date=4 December 2004 }}</ref> However, Tomes was taken from Detroit and murdered somewhere else, which is contradictory with Watts' known ''[[modus operandi]]''. Watts may also have been involved in the disappearance of 16-year-old Nadine Jean O'Dell, who disappeared on August 16, 1974.<ref>{{cite web|title=Nadine Jean O'Dell|url=https://charleyproject.org/case/nadine-jean-odell|publisher=Charley Project|accessdate=May 1, 2013}}</ref> O'Dell was last seen walking down John Daly Street in Inkster, on her way to babysit at her boyfriend's house. Her body has never been found, and no one witnessed her presumed abduction.<ref name="auto"/>

At 10:45 a.m. on October 25, 1974, Watts knocked on the apartment door of 23-year-old Lenore Knizacky.<ref name="walter" /> He called for "Charles," which was the name of one of his siblings, when she unlocked the door while the door was still chained. When she responded in the negative, she asked if he would like to leave a note, and she undid the chain lock and went to get paper. Watts then attacked Knizacky and choked her into unconsciousness. Police were later alerted by Knizacky, but were unable to find her attacker.<ref name="auto"/>

Gloria Steele, a 20-year-old student at [[Western Michigan University]] (WMU), was tortured and killed by Watts on October 30, 1974, having suffered a crushed windpipe and thirty-three stab wounds to the chest. There were no witnesses other than Diane Williams, an apartment manager, who saw a black man "searching for Charles" strolling throughout the complex.<ref name="auto"/> When Watts saw Williams, he grabbed her, pushed her door open and dragged her inside her own apartment. Williams' phone started to ring as the two were fighting, so she knocked it off the hook and yelled for help. She spotted the attacker getting into a tan [[Pontiac Grand Prix]] after he fled.<ref name="walter" /> Police assembled a line-up, and Williams and Knizacky recognised Watts, who had just been apprehended stealing plywood from the WMU campus. For both the Knizacky and Williams cases, Watts was taken into custody and charged with assault and battery.<ref name="auto"/>

After being diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, and attempting [[suicide]] with a length of cord at the Kalamazoo Mental Hospital, Watts was moved to the Center for Forensic Psychiatry in Michigan.<ref name="auto1"/> When he was questioned about the Steele killing in 1975, he acknowledged that he had been nearby the day before the murder, but insisted that he had not killed Steele despite having admitted to attacking around fifteen other young women.<ref name="walter" /> When Detroit police executed a search warrant for Watts' residence, they discovered wooden carving tools but no evidence connecting him to Steele. Watts entered a "no contest" plea at his trial for the assault and battery of Knizacky and Williams and was sentenced to a year in county jail. Watts' psychologists classified him as being extremely hazardous, lacking in remorse for his crimes, impetuous, careless and emotionally distant, with a high likelihood of [[recidivism]].<ref name="auto"/>

Watts returned to Inkster after being released from prison in 1976 and moved in with his mother and stepfather. In 1979 he impregnated Deloris Howard, a childhood friend, resulting in the birth of Nakisha Watts. Watts and Howard soon split, and he wed Valeria Goodwill not long after.<ref name="walter" /> Goodwill claimed that shortly after their wedding, Watts started behaving oddly. Watts kept moving the furniture around, using knives to chop up houseplants, broke candles and melted them into the table and dumped trash all over the floors without picking it up. He would also get up and depart after they had sex or had an "intimate encounter," and would disappear for several hours at a time. Their union only lasted six months.<ref name="auto1"/>

Five women were attacked and killed in the Detroit region over the course of a year by a perpetrator who was dubbed by [[Ann Arbor, Michigan|Ann Arbor]] newspapers as the "Sunday Morning Slasher," since all of the attacks took place on Sunday mornings at around 4 a.m.<ref name="walter" /> On October 31, 1979, Jeanne Clyne, a 44-year-old reporter for ''[[Detroit News]]'', walked home after a doctor's appointment and was attacked. She was approached in broad daylight next to her Grosse Point Farms home and stabbed eleven times, resulting in her death. Insufficient evidence was discovered by police to identify a suspect. Detectives initially suspected Clyne's husband, but once Watts admitted to her murder, they ruled him out.<ref name="auto"/>

Shirley Small, a 17-year-old high school student from Ann Arbor, was fatally stabbed twice in the heart outside her home on April 20, 1980. Glenda Richmond, aged 26, was the victim of a comparable assault on July 13, 1980, in front of her summer residence in the Ann Arbor region.<ref name="walter" /> A diner manager, Richmond sustained twenty-eight knife wounds to her chest. At both crime scenes, insufficient evidence was yielded. However, both murders displayed characteristics of Watts' crimes. [[University of Michigan]] graduate student Rebecca Huff, aged 30, was found dead in front of her house on September 14, 1980. Huff had suffered about fifty stab wounds. Her case was the first homicide that could be directly attributed to Watts.<ref name="auto"/>

On July 31, 1980, 28-year-old Lilli Marlene Dunn was last seen at around 3 a.m. on Agnes Street in [[Southgate, Michigan|Southgate]]. She had left her house at 6:30 p.m. to go bowling, after which she proceeded to a bar on Ford Road in [[Dearborn, Michigan|Dearborn]]. When Dunn returned home at around 2:30 in the morning, an assailant attacked her after she had parked her car in her garage. She was thrown into a light-coloured vehicle kicking and screaming. Authorities believe Dunn could have been a victim of Watts.<ref>{{cite web|title=Lilli Marlene Dunn|url=https://charleyproject.org/case/lilli-marlene-dunn|publisher=Charley Project|accessdate=May 1, 2013}}</ref> It is also believed that Watts was behind the 1979 murder of Malak “Mimi” Haddad, aged 34, whose headless body was found in [[Allen Park, Michigan|Allen Park]]. Her case is still open, and her head has never been found.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.thenewsherald.com/2004/11/13/mother-talks-of-daughters-murder-by-serial-killer/ | title=Mother talks of daughter's murder by serial killer | date=13 November 2004 }}</ref>

On October 6, 1980, a 20-year-old woman named "Dalpe" survived a vicious stabbing attack. She ended up with partially paralyzed muscles, could hardly eat or move her head and her arms barely moved over her head due to deep slashes sustained to her face, one of which ruptured her [[jugular]] vein.<ref name="walter" /> On November 1, "Angus," a 30-year-old woman, spotted a black man wearing a hooded sweatshirt as she was making her way home from a [[Halloween]] party. He bent down to tie his shoe as soon as she pulled out her keys and then immediately followed her. Angus ran to her front door while screaming at the top of her lungs. The attacker was startled by her response, so he turned and fled the other way. Angus identified Watts from a line-up of photos, but she was not sure because the outside area was dimly lighted at the time of her attack.<ref name="auto1"/>

Canadian authorities believe Watts crossed the border into [[Windsor, Ontario]], in October 1980, assaulting 20-year-old Sandra Dalpe outside her apartment, leaving her near death with multiple wounds to the face and throat.<ref name="walter" /> By that time, Watts had fallen under scrutiny from Michigan homicide investigators. A [[task force]] was organized in July 1980 to probe the Sunday slashings, and Watts was placed under sporadic surveillance; a November court order permitted officers to plant a homing device in his car.<ref name="auto1"/>

On November 15, in the early morning, two police officers on patrol in the vicinity of Main Street in Ann Arbor saw a suspicious man in a car following a woman who was walking home. She attempted to hide in a doorway after realising she was being followed in the hopes that her stalker would lose her. Watts was detained by police after they pulled him over for having outdated license plates and a suspended license.<ref name="walter" /> Upon examining his car, police discovered a package containing wood-filing equipment and a few screwdrivers. Their most important discovery, however, was a dictionary belonging to Huff which had the phrase "Rebecca is a lover" carved into the cover. It was insufficient proof, though, to hold him responsible for her murder. Watts relocated to [[Columbus, Texas]], in the spring of 1981, where he worked for an oil firm. He spent his weekend nights travelling more than seventy miles to his next hunting ground in the Houston region.<ref name="auto1"/>

==Arrest and discovery==
Houston General Post Office (G.P.O.):
Several women at the G.P.O. were assaulted by Carl Eugene Watts. June Reynolds was bumped in the back of her car by him. She was pregnant at the time. Two other women; Lucia DeStefano, and Karen Koslicky also had some man bothering them on the freeways when they drove home from work. Cheryl Sibolo was assaulted by Carl Eugene Watts on the night of April 14, 1982. When she spotted him in the rear-view mirror while exiting the Federal parking lot. She pulled over immediately in front of the G.P.O. to confront him, exiting her car, yelling very loud and flailing her arms at him with threats to leave her alone or else. He tried to exit his vehicle but Cheryl kept threatening him. He was very scared and got back in his car and so did Cheryl. He drove around her vehicle with a scared look on his face, but it appeared to be a mock look and drove down Franklin Street. Carrie Mae Jefferson was assaulted on April 16, 1982 when Watts accosted outside her home as she was returning from work at the downtown post office.
Watts choked Jefferson into semiconsciousness, threw her into the trunk of her car and drove her to White Oak Bayou as she frantically tried to escape from the vehicle. There he killed her and buried her body, then returned her car to the street where she lived.

Michele Maday, 20, was assaulted, beaten, and choked in her Houston apartment on May 23, 1982.<ref name="walter" /> Her assailant entered her bathroom, filled the tub with water, and drowned her while she was still lying on the floor before departing.<ref name="auto1"/> Later that day, Melinda Aguilar, 18, and Lori Lister, 21, had their Houston apartment broken into by Watts.<ref name="walter" /> He choked Lister down the steps below the apartment while she was returning from work. Then he went inside the apartment and choked Aguilar too. She pretended to be unconscious while Watts wire-tied her hands behind her back.<ref name="walter" />

In order to drown Lister, he hauled her body upstairs and into the bathroom, where he filled the bathtub with water. Aguilar was able to escape while Watts was focused on Lister and leapt out of a window to get assistance. Lister was saved, and Watts was apprehended after evading capture. While Watts was being held, investigators started to connect him to several recent killings of women. However, prosecutors in [[Texas]] did not believe they had enough evidence to find Watts guilty of murder.<ref name="auto"/>

In May 1982, after the attacks on Aguilar and Lister, Harris County Assistant District Attorney Ira Jones brokered a [[plea bargain]]. Watts would only be charged with burglary with intent to murder if he confessed fully to his crimes and received immunity from prosecution on the murder accusations. A 60-year sentence was imposed for this offence. The deal was accepted, and he later led the detectives to the graves of three of his victims. Watts finally acknowledged attacking 19 women, murdering 13 of them. Watts admitted to killing 44-year-old Jeanne Clyne in [[Detroit]] in 1979, but he refrained from confessing to the deaths of Richard, Small, or Huff. However, Michigan authorities refused to go in on the deal so the cases in that state remained open.<ref name="auto1"/>

Linda Tilley, 22, a student at the [[University of Texas]], was drowned in the swimming pool of her apartment complex in September 1981, according to his confession. One week later, he also killed Elizabeth Montgomery, 25, by stabbing her. Susan Wolf, 21, was several steps from her apartment when she was fatally stabbed in the arm and chest while going home after purchasing ice cream from a grocery store.<ref name="walter" /> Watts acknowledged another murder from January 1982—that of 27-year-old Phyllis Tamm, who was attacked while jogging. Watts alleged that after choking her with his hands, he tied an elastic strap to a tree branch and hung her there.<ref name="auto"/>

Margret Fossi, 25, was murdered by Watts almost two days later.<ref name="walter" /> At [[Rice University]], her body was discovered in the trunk of her vehicle. Additionally, Watts said to authorities that on January 16 he later saw Julia Sanchez, a young woman, attempting to fix a flat tire on a motorway. Sanchez was left for dead after Watts sliced her throat.<ref name="walter" /> Despite this, she lived. Watts claimed to have assaulted two additional women in the Houston region that same month. Patty Johnson, then 19, was attacked on January 30, 1982, as she exited her car on her way home. Watts slashed her throat in an attempt to kill her. Johnson survived, and up until Watts admitted guilt, another man had received a life sentence for the assault.<ref name="walter" /> The second victim Watts cited was "Martell," a 19-year-old who had been attacked outside of her residence and stabbed three times with a screwdriver but had managed to survive.<ref name="auto"/>

Watts also admitted to killing Elena Semander, 20, Emily LaQua, 14, Anna Ledet, 34, Yolanda Garcia, 21, Carrie Jefferson, 32, Suzanne Searles, 25, and Michele Maday, 20, between February and May 1982. Watts was never put on trial for the majority of the murders despite his confessions due to the agreement he made.<ref name="auto"/>

==Michigan trial and death==
Watts was sentenced to the agreed 60 years in 1982. However, shortly after he began serving time, the [[Texas Court of Appeals]] ruled that he had not been informed that the bathtub and water he attempted to drown Lori Lister in was considered a deadly weapon. The ruling reclassified him as a non-violent felon, making him eligible for early release. At the time, Texas law allowed nonviolent felons to have three days deducted from their sentences for every one day served as long as they were well behaved. Watts was a model prisoner, and had enough time deducted from his sentence that he could have been released as early as May 9, 2006. The law allowing early release was abolished after public outcry but could not be applied retroactively according to the [[Texas Constitution]].<ref name="youtube.com">{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL1uqsyBLRE|title= Coral Watts Evil Eyes Documentary |website=[[YouTube]]|date= June 21, 2014 }}</ref>

In 2004, Michigan Attorney General [[Mike Cox (U.S. politician)|Mike Cox]] went on national television asking for anyone to come forward with information in order to try to convict Watts of murder to ensure he was not released. Joseph Foy of [[Westland, Michigan]], came forward to say that he had seen a man fitting Watts' description murder Helen Dutcher, a 36-year-old woman who died after being stabbed 12 times on December 1, 1979. Foy identified Watts by his eyes, which he described as being "evil" and devoid of emotion. Although Watts had immunity from prosecution for the 13 killings he had admitted to in Texas, he had no immunity agreement in Michigan. Before his 2004 trial, law enforcement officials asked the trial judge to allow the Texas confessions into evidence, to which he agreed.<ref>{{cite news |first=Joel |last=Kurth |title=Confessed killer faces trial; The Inkster native is accused of murdering a woman in Ferndale in 1979; he could walk free in 2006 |date=November 9, 2004 |work= [[The Detroit News]] }}</ref>

Watts was promptly charged with the murder of Helen Dutcher. A Michigan jury convicted him on November 17, 2004, after hearing eyewitness testimony from Joseph Foy. On December 7, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Two days later, authorities in Michigan started making moves to try him for the murder of [[Western Michigan University]] student Gloria Steele, who was stabbed to death in 1974.<ref>{{cite news |first=Joel |last=Kurth |title=Watts faces new charge in Michigan; Convicted killer is slated to be arraigned today in Kalamazoo in 1974 stabbing death |date=December 9, 2004 |work=The Detroit News}}</ref> Watts' trial for the Steele murder began in [[Kalamazoo, Michigan]] on July 25, 2007; closing arguments concluded July 26. The following day the jury returned a guilty verdict. Watts was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole on September 13.<ref>{{cite news |title=Coral Watts Sentenced |publisher=[[WWMT]] |date=September 13, 2007 }}</ref> He was incarcerated at a maximum security prison in [[Ionia, Michigan]]. He died of [[prostate cancer]] on September 21, 2007, in a [[Jackson, Michigan]] hospital.<ref name="auto2"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/tv_programme/510/Cold_Case_Files_Episode_106.htm |title=Cold Case Files: Episode 106 |access-date=June 29, 2009 |publisher=[[Crime & Investigation Network (UK)|Crime & Investigation Network]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090409010556/http://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/tv_programme/510/Cold_Case_Files_Episode_106.htm |archive-date=April 9, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.trutv.com/shows/the_investigators/episodes.html |title=Investigators: Episodes |access-date=June 29, 2009 |publisher=[[truTV]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090601180303/http://www.trutv.com/shows/the_investigators/episodes.html |archive-date=June 1, 2009 }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[List of homicides in Michigan]]
* [[List of serial killers in the United States]]
* [[List of serial killers by number of victims]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite web |url=http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/coral_watts/index.html |title=Coral Eugene Watts, The Sunday Morning Slasher |publisher=[[Crime Library]] |first=Rachael |last=Bell |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041127011253/http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/coral_watts/index.html |archive-date=2004-11-27 }}

==External links==
*[http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/coral_watts/ Coral Eugene Watts] at [[Crime Library]]

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