Charles Frederick Albright (August 10, 1933 – August 22, 2020) was an American

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

er and suspected

serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

known as the Eyeball Killer. He was charged with the murders of four women (Rhonda Bowie, Mary Lou Pratt, Susan Peterson, and Shirley Williams) who were killed between 1988 and 1991 in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. He was only convicted of one murder and charges in the other cases were dropped due to lack of evidence, although he is still considered the

prime suspect ''Prime Suspect'' is a British police procedural television series devised by Lynda La Plante. Broadcast on ITV between 1991 and 2006, it stars Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison, one of the first female Detective Chief Inspectors in Greater Lo ...

. The nickname "Eyeball Killer" was adopted since some of the victims were found with their eyes removed. Albright was

incarcerated Imprisonment or incarceration is the restraint of a person's liberty for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is considered "false imprisonment". Impris ...

in the John Montford Psychiatric Unit in

Lubbock, Texas Lubbock ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Lubbock County. With a population of 272,086 in 2024, Lubbock is the 10th-most populous city in Texas and the 84th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the ...

, until his death in 2020.Dallas Notorious Killer Of Prostitutes Has Died In Prison
by L. P. Phillips. NewsRadio 1080 KRLD, 10 Sep 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2021.

Life history

Childhood

Charles Albright was born in

, on August 10, 1933. He was adopted from an

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or abusi ...

by Delle and Fred Albright. His adoptive mother, a schoolteacher, was very strict and overprotective of him, accelerating his education and helped him skip two grades.

Adolescence

At age 13, he was already a

petty thief Theft (, cognate to ) is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorth ...

and was arrested for

aggravated assault In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result ...

. At age 15, he graduated from high school and enrolled at

North Texas University The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco. It serves as the flagship of the University of North Texas Syst ...

. He expressed an interest in training as a medical doctor and a surgeon. He undertook

pre-med Pre-medical (often referred to as pre-med) is an educational track that undergraduate students mostly in the United States pursue prior to becoming medical students. It involves activities that prepare a student for medical school, such as pre-med ...

training but failed to complete it. At age 16, the police caught him with stolen

petty cash Petty cash is a small amount of discretionary funds in the form of cash used for minor expenditures. The most common way of accounting for petty cash expenditures is to use the imprest system. Audit controls Oversight of petty cash is importan ...

, two handguns, and a rifle. He spent a year in jail.

Adulthood

After his release from jail, he attended Arkansas State Teachers College and majored in pre-med studies. After being found with stolen items, he was expelled from the college but was not prosecuted. He went on to falsify a degree. He stole documents and forged signatures, giving himself fictitious bachelor's and master's degrees. He married his college girlfriend, and they had a daughter. He continued to forge checks and was caught in this deception while teaching at a high school and was placed on

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offence (law), offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incar ...

. In 1965, he and his wife separated, divorcing in 1974. He was then caught stealing hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise from a hardware store and received a two-year prison sentence. He served less than six months before being released. During this time he began to befriend and gain the trust of his neighbors. He was even asked by local residents to

babysit Babysitting is temporarily caring for a child. Babysitting can be a paid job for all ages; however, it is best known as a temporary activity for early teenagers who are not yet eligible for employment in the general economy. It provides auto ...

their children. One such child was Arnie States, who became a radio host and podcaster. In 1981, while visiting some friends, he sexually molested their 14-year-old daughter. He was prosecuted, pled guilty, and received

. He later said that he was innocent but had pled guilty to avoid "a hassle". In 1984, he applied to be a leader in the

Boy Scouts of America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...

and was rejected. In 1985 in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

, Albright met a woman named Dixie and invited her to live with him. Soon she was paying his bills and supporting him. He delivered newspapers in the early morning, apparently to visit sex workers without arousing Dixie's suspicion.

Death

Sentenced to life without parole, Albright died at University Medical Center in

, in August 2020.

Victims

Rhonda Bowie

Rhonda K. Bowie, 30, was a

sex worker A sex worker is a person who provides sex work, either on a regular or occasional basis. The term is used in reference to those who work in all areas of the sex industry.Oxford English Dictionary, "sex worker" According to one view, sex work is ...

who operated around

Oak Cliff Oak Cliff is an area of Dallas, Texas, United States that was formerly a separate town in Dallas County; established in 1887 and annexed by Dallas in 1903, Oak Cliff has retained a distinct neighborhood identity as one of Dallas' older establ ...

. She was found dead in October 1988 and had been stabbed more than 20 times.

Mary Lou Pratt

Mary Lou Pratt, 33, a Caucasian well-known sex worker in the

neighborhood of

, was found dead in December 1990, wearing only a t-shirt and bra. She had been shot in the back of the head with a .44 Magnum, as well as being badly beaten. The

medical examiner The medical examiner is an appointed official in some American jurisdictions who is trained in pathology and investigates deaths that occur under unusual or suspicious circumstances, to perform post-mortem examinations, and in some jurisdicti ...

reported that the killer had removed both of her eyes with surgical precision and had apparently taken them with him.

Susan Peterson

Susan Beth Peterson, 27, a Caucasian sex worker, was found on the same street as Mary Pratt, just outside the Dallas city limits near the DeSoto city limits in February 1991. She was nearly nude and had been shot three times: in the top of her head, in her left breast, and in the back of her head. The

found that her eyes had been removed as well. At this point, the investigators realized they were looking for a "repeater".

Shirley Williams

Shirley Williams, an African-American sex worker, was found dead, lying near an elementary school in March 1991. A waitress found Williams' nude body propped up against a curb. Her eyes had been removed, just like the previous two victims. She had facial bruises and a broken nose, and had been shot in the face and through the top of her head. A medical examiner's field agent pulled back her eyelids and discovered that her eyes were missing.

Arrest and trial

On March 22, 1991, Albright was arrested on charges of murder after rookie police officer Regina Smith uncovered crucial evidence of his crimes. His trial began on December 13, 1991. The evidence was mostly circumstantial. On December 18, 1991, the jury deliberated and found him guilty only of the murder of Shirley Williams. During the trial a hair comparison expert testified hairs found at the Williams murder matched Albright's hair. Later

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

testing indicated the hairs were from a dog.

Media

The May 1993

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. Founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy, ''Texas Monthly'' chronicles life in contemporary Texas, writing on politics, the Natura ...

magazine article, "See No Evil" asked the question 'How does a perfect gentleman become a vicious murderer?' The Eyeball Killer was authored by John Matthews (the Dallas police officer who with his partner Regina Smith was instrumental in identifying Albright as the murderer) and newspaper journalist Christine Wicker. The American documentary series ''

Forensic Files ''Forensic Files'', originally known as ''Medical Detectives'', is an American documentary television program that reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and outbreaks of illness. The show was origin ...

'' documents the Albright case in the episode titled "See No Evil", originally aired June 14, 2001. The

Home Box Office Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

(HBO) television network released Albright's story sub-titled "''The Collector''" on the Autopsy series under episode 5; ''"Autopsy 5: Dead Men Do Tell Tales"'', aired 1998. The

Investigation Discovery Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries, similar to corporate sibling HLN. It is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery's netw ...

network reported the manhunt for Albright in the ''Evil, I'' episode "''Eyes Are My Prize''", which aired on August 27, 2013. In 2015, the television series

Born to Kill? ''Born to Kill?'' is a British true crime television series, made by Twofour Productions. Each episode is an in-depth look at the childhood, and formative years of serial killers in an attempt to find out whether the individuals were born kille ...

aired an episode about Albright in series 7. On October 20, 2016, the true crime podcast ''My Favorite Murder'' discussed the case on its 39th episode "Kind of Loco". The Oxygen Network aired " Mark of a Killer: ''An Eye for Murder''" about the case on February 10, 2019. A feature film based on the Albright case called ''The Eyes of Jefferson'' went into pre-production in Dallas on January 11, 2022. The film was co-written by

Preston Fassel Preston Fassel (born September 11, 1985) is an American author, journalist, film critic, and producer primarily known for his work in the horror, science fiction, and crime genres. His work has appeared in ''Fangoria, Rue Morgue, Screem'' magaz ...

and Jonathan Brownlee and will be directed by Brownlee, with John Matthews serving as an executive producer. In 2024, Lifetime released a movie called ''Searching for a Serial Killer: The Regina Smith Story'' as part of its "Ripped from the Headlines" feature films. It stars

Karrueche Tran Karrueche Tran ( ; born May 17, 1988) is an American socialite and actress. Tran first gained public recognition for dating R&B singer Chris Brown. She is also known for starring as Virginia Loc on the TNT series ''Claws'' and for starring a ...

as Regina Smith, Blair Penner as her partner Eddie, and

Ted Cole Theodore Cole (born April 5, 1971) is a Canadian voice actor who works with Ocean Productions in numerous anime dubs. He's best known for his roles as Tatewaki Kuno in ''Ranma ½'', Chang Wufei in ''Gundam Wing'', Yamcha in the Ocean dub of '' ...

as Charles Albright.

References

External links

The Texas Eyeball Killer
article by truTV.com
Charles Albright
at mylifeofcrime.wordpress.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Albright, Charles 1933 births 1991 murders in the United States 2020 deaths 20th-century American criminals American adoptees American male criminals American people convicted of burglary American people convicted of child sexual abuse American people convicted of murder American people convicted of theft American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Crimes against sex workers in the United States Human trophy collecting People convicted of murder by Texas Criminals from Dallas Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Texas Suspected serial killers University of Central Arkansas alumni Violence against women in Texas