Cold Case Files - The Sunday Morning Slasher

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

Law enforcement officials fear they may have to release perhaps the U.S.’s most prolific serial killer, Coral Eugene Watts, from prison until a 24-year-old murder case gives them a chance to lock him up for good.This Episode is sponsored by BetterHelpBetterHelp: Visit BetterHelp.com/COLDCASE to get 10% off your first month.Homes.com: We’ve done your homework.Progressive: Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.Quince: Go to Quince.com/coldcase for free shipping on your order and 365-day returnsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hi, Cold Case listeners. I'm Marissa Pinson. And before we get into this week's episode, I just wanted to remind you that episodes of Cold Case Files, as well as the A&E Classic Podcasts, I Survived, American Justice, and City Confidential, are all available ad-free on the new A&E Crime and Investigation Channel on Apple Podcasts and Apple Plus for just $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year. And now on to the show. This program contains subject matter that may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised. He killed at least a dozen Texas women stabbed or strangled for no apparent reason. It's almost like a horror movie. It was so horrific. You can't believe it's real, but it was. But because of his good behavior behind bars, the state of Texas must legally free him.

He will be the first serial killer in this country's history ever to be legally released unless we do something. There are over 100,000 cold cases. in America, only 1% are ever solved. This is one of those rare stories. It's September 14th, 1980, a Sunday morning in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Homicide Detective Paul Bunton heads to the scene of a murder. Well, I walked in, and as I looked down the walkway here, I could see Rebecca Huff's body lying face down right in this area right here. And spread around here was

old books and book bag and things like that. The victim is 30-year-old Rebecca Greer Huff, a University of Michigan graduate student. She has been stabbed more than 50 times with what police believe to be a screwdriver. It is an M.O. Detective Bunton has seen before. them were very early morning, Sunday mornings. In the past six months, two other Ann Arbor women were stabbed to death while walking home alone. 17-year-old Shirley Small and 26-year-old Glenda Richmond. It became glaringly obvious at that point because of the wound pattern and, again,

time of morning, Sunday morning, a couple of months apart, that we had a serial killer on our hands. The local media catches wind of the story and dubs the killer, the Sunday morning slasher, and the college town begins to churn with fear. It was a shock for the community, especially for the university community. There's women walking around up on campus very, very late at night. It was very shocking. There was a lot of fear, and rightfully so. Three months after the Huff killing, Ann Arbor Police are no closer to their killer. Until, news of the killings catches the eye of a Detroit investigator named Jim Arthur's. When I read the M.O., the method of operation of the perpetrator, I recognized it immediately as being that of Coral Eugene Watts.

In 1974, Coral Eugene Watts was the prime suspect in the unsolved murder of a woman named Gloria Steele. Multiple stab wounds and a similar wound pattern tell detectives that Steele's murder might be related to the Ann Arbor. I never forgot him because I really felt bad about the fact that we were unable to get a case on him. We just didn't have enough physical evidence, I think, at that time, and I never forgot the guy. Arthur puts in a call to Ann Arbor and passes the name Coral Watts onto Detective Paul Bunton. We started doing some basic workup on Coral Watts and found that he was a very, very troubled person. The more work we did on his background, the more convinced we became that he was our prime suspect.

Watts' background is checkered with violent assaults and psychiatric confinement. And when Bunton digs into the Gloria Steel case, he begins to see what Detective Arthur saw. When we looked at the photographs, the wound pattern, the wound type was practically an overlay to two of our homicides. There is, however, one big problem with Watts as a suspect. He lives 50 miles away in the city of Detroit, and no witness can place him in Ann Arbor. But that is about to change. You'll see these meter heads on the parking meters here. Somebody had been going around and sawing those off.

On November 15th, 1980, Officer Don Terry Works Night Patrol, looking to catch a petty thief. In the early hours of the morning, he sees something far more sinister. And we saw a young lady walking down the street at 4.30 in the morning. at 4.30 in the morning by herself and she wasn't just walking. She was looking around everywhere. Terry spots a man, alone in a vehicle, who appears to be stalking the woman. He went down a block and then came back up a block ahead of us and stopped and stared at her again. And then he went up, turned around, came back, stopped, did the exact same thing again. And it was very obvious that he had an eye on her and he was following her.

He went by, saw her, came up, turned around, went around the block, came back, and she was gone. Terry calls in the suspect's tag number, and dispatch comes back with the name Coral Eugene Watts. Well, you could hear Mary's voice go up about three octaves when she came back and said that comes back to Coral Watts. Exactly. And he's on the suspect list. He, for whatever reason, decided to. to go over a block instead of staying on the main street he'd been on. And when he did that, he had to make an illegal turn.

Watts's illegal turn gives Terry grounds to pull the suspect over. Across town, Detective Paul Bunton is just about to call it a night, when he hears Watts' name crackle across the scanner. And when I heard you radio in that you had that subject stalking that kind of got my ear, and I radioed to Don, hold him, I'm on my way. I probably made that trip back in record time because you were still at the scene when I got there. 26-year-old Watts is handcuffed and brought in for questioning. He gets a lawyer and reveals nothing.

But his arrest for stalking allows police to get a search warrant for his car. It did not yield a lot of usable evidence, but it yielded a lot of things that led us to believe that he very well may have been our suspect. There were some wood carving tools that the tools, looked remarkably like the wounds. None of them had human blood on him, however. But it just solidified what we already believed about him. Believing someone to be a serial killer and proving it are two very different things.

Police place a tracking device on Coral's car and place him under 24-7 surveillance. He knew that he was a suspect in my eyes, if nothing else. and he was suspecting that he was being followed. He was suspecting a lot of things. Eight weeks later, Detective Bunton sits down with Watts and presses him about the murder. And we talked for several hours.

I tried not to get too accusatory because I wanted to keep talking with him. But I finally started getting fairly accusatory and he continued to talk to me. And I even got to one point where I says, Coral, I even know how you did it. And I actually got around behind him, and I put my hand around his throat like this, and I said, and you just stabbed like this, and kept stabbing.

And he practically went limp on me when I did that. And I said, you are a very sick, troubled person, and he agreed with me. He at that point just kind of went within himself and said, I want to talk to my mother. Watts admits to being troubled, but does not admit to being a killer. Bunting is left to face the victim's families, letting them know he has a suspect in his custody, but not the evidence he needs to arrest him for murder. That's the way I believe it happened. To me, it was totally bewildering.

Somebody just stepped out of the dark and stabbed you to death. Now, that's tough to take. Time passes and the Sunday morning slashing stop. Surveillance on Watts is scaled back, and the substance. The suspect disappears. And I happened on to an old employer that owed him money, and he had stopped by and gave him a forwarding address to Houston, Texas. Detective Bunton picks up the phone and puts in a call to Texas. The building right back there, that kind of bright beige one, that's the original police academy.

In the spring of 1981, Doug Bostock is a homicide detective in one of America's fastest growing cities, Houston, Texas. We were a very busy city. Back in those times, we had several years of 700 murders a year. On April 8th, he gets a call from Paul Bunton in Ann Arbor, warning him about Coral Eugene Watts' arrival in Houston. There was no doubt in his mind that he was going to commit more murders. That's why I called down there and told him, this is one dangerous guy you need to keep an eye on him.

He's not going to stop. Bostock places a transmitter on Watts' car and tails him on and off for two months. He was acting just like I'm doing. He was driving down the road, going to work, going home. He was doing nothing that any normal person would be doing that was working for a living. In a city with as many as 700 murders a year, detectives can spend only so much time watching Coral Watts and waiting.

We would just do spot checks on him at work and so forth, and he was still checking in at work. He was still at the apartment. and after a while he completely disappeared. Coral Watts vanishes in the city of Houston. But a few months later, bodies begin to surface. I saw Elena just the night before she was killed. It's February 6, 1982, a Saturday night. Harriet Samander watches her 20-year-old daughter Elena get ready for a night out.

And I came on into the kitchen, and a few minutes later, I see her kind of rushing out. And she says, bye, see you later. And I said, okay, see you later. The following morning, Elena is missing. Her father begins calling friends looking for his daughter. Something was wrong over a friend's apartment. On the other end of one call, a friend is reluctant to talk and quickly cuts the conversation short.

So we waited about 30 minutes and finally my husband called back. He says, if you know anything about my daughter, tell me now, I want to know what's going on. And he handed the phone over to the police. and they had found her body in a trash dumpster. Elena Samander has been strangled, and Houston Homicide has no idea why. After that, we just kept checking with the police

to see if they had any news, and they didn't. It was kind of a cold case after a while. I just drove in from the driveway there, and I always had a habit of parking in front of the fire station. Three months later, early on a Sunday morning, morning, Lori Lister pulls into the parking lot of her apartment complex. So I would park right over there that morning and just walked into the courtyard. She makes her way up to apartment 1223, unaware that a stranger is waiting.

And he attacked me like just before I reached the staircase because he didn't know if I was upstairs or downstairs and he came behind me. But then he pulled me underneath into this patio area here where we were kind of hidden behind the fence there. The attacker puts Lori in a stranglehold and demands to know which apartment is hers. And I remember at that point thinking, he's going to kill me, and if I don't tell him where I live,

he's going to put me in his trunk and bury me somewhere. If I do tell him where I live, Melinda's up there. I heard Lori's keys at the door. Melinda is Lori's roommate. When she goes to open the door, she is immediately attacked. Everything happened so quick when he grabbed me, he put a knife to me and said that he was going to kill me. So at that time, he was also choking me, and I couldn't breathe. And then I knew that I had to do something otherwise I would pass out, so that's when I pretended to pass out.

Melinda plays dead. The attacker drags her to the bedroom and ties her up with a wire hanger. He then returns to Lori, choked unconscious, and left lying outside. He went outside, and I heard him dragging him. her up the stairs. So I assume that she was out because he was dragging her up the stairs and I could hear her body hitting the steps. Thinking Melinda is unconscious, the attacker focuses on Lori, filling a bathtub with water and preparing to drown her. I opened up the sliding door there to your right. Melinda seizes her chance to escape. But I did it is I jumped as high

as I could and went, did a somersault and I actually hit my head on top and then And when I came down, I landed on my knees. There was a lady sitting out, you know, out in her little porch area, drinking coffee. And that's, you know, I told her I needed help. Someone was trying to kill my roommate. As police respond to the call, the assailant flees, leaving Lori submerged in a tub of water. The next thing I remember is when I was in the ambulance. And I was still blacked out.

But I remember jumping up and saying, Melinda, Melinda, is she okay? Oh, the balcony? Yeah, because when I hit my head, it was hard. While Lori is transported to the hospital, Melinda remains with police, who have arrested a man seen running away from the apartment. I went out there, and I had to go to the police car, and, of course, the door was open, and they asked me if that was him, and I said yes,

and he just, you know, gave me one of those looks. The man IDed by Melinda is Coral Watts, the same man suspected of three unsolved slings in Michigan. I was advised that Cole Eugene Watts was, in fact, in custody. Houston homicide detective Doug Bostock has been trying to keep track of Watts for a year. But I was ecstatic. It looked like he was going to be off the streets. We've got one attempted homicide that literally was pulled from the bathtub from being drowned, literally, by a witness. The other one escaped him and could testify.

Today's date is August 10, 1982. Watts is arrested for the break-in and two attacks. The suspect sits down with police and begins to talk about the details of the murder. He said he just wrapped the tube top around her neck and lifted her up and hung her on a bush. As summer winds down, I'm all about refreshing my wardrobe with staple pieces that carry me smoothly into the new season. Quince absolutely delivers with their lux essentials that feel effortlessly chic and polished, perfect for layering and mixing. Their styles are so versatile, I find myself reaching for them time and time again.

Think chic, cashmere, and cotton sweaters starting at just $40. Washable silk tops and classic denim pants. Timeless pieces you'll cherish season after season. And here's the best part. Everything at Quince is half the cost of similar luxury brands. How do they do it? By working directly with top artisans and cutting out the middlemen, Quince delivers true luxury without the usual markup.

Plus, they only partner with factories that follow safe, ethical, and responsible manufacturing practices using premium fabrics and finishes you can really feel. I've been loving the pieces I've picked up from Quince lately. Their silk tops and cashmere sweaters feel incredibly well-made and luxurious, yet the price tags are so surprisingly affordable. Compared to other luxury brands I've tried, quince really strikes the perfect balance between quality, design, and value. If you're looking to refresh your wardrobe with timeless staples that don't

break the bank, I definitely recommend giving Quince a try. Elevate your fall wardrobe essentials with quince. Go to quince.com slash cold case for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's QINCE.com slash cold case to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com slash cold case. Homes.com knows that when it comes to home shopping, it's never just about the house or condo. It's about the home. And what makes a home is more than just the house or property. It's the location and neighborhood. If you have kids, it's also schools, nearby parks, and transportation options. That's why Homes.com goes above and beyond to bring home shoppers the in-depth information they need to find the right home. And when I say in-depth, I'm talking

deep. Each listing features comprehensive information about the neighborhood complete with a video guide. They also have details about local schools with test scores, state rankings, and student-to-teacher ratio. They even have an agent directory with the sales history of each agent. So when it comes to finding a home, not just a house, this is everything you need to know all in one place. Homes.com. We've done your homework. Okay, cool. At this point, we're only going to talk about cases that fall under the Harris County District Attorney's Office jurisdiction. In the summer of 1982, detectives from the Houston Police Department sit down with Coral Eugene Watts, led by Sergeant Tom Ladd.

Detectives know Watts is guilty of an attack on two women. They suspect him of much more, but lack the evidence to prove it. The first case we'd like to bring up about the female over the southwest end of town. Watts agrees to plead guilty to a charge of burglary with intent to commit murder. Then he admits to nine more killings in the city of Houston. in exchange for a deal. Well, the agreement was is that he was offered

immunity on the cases that fell into the jurisdiction of Harris County in Houston. What did she realize that you were by her? Watts begins with the night of September 12th, 1981, and the murder of 24-year-old

Elizabeth Montgomery. All right, you grabbed her by the, what, show her. Then what happened? You're not stabbing one time. You're stabbing one time. Do you remember what area of the body you stabbed her? Someone that's up.

That same night, Watts found his next victim, 21-year-old Susan Wolf. Just for the record, how long was it from the first girl you stabbed to he stabbed this second girl? In a time frame. We were talking about, what, an hour, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, an hour, hour and a half?

The best you could recollect, maybe 15 minutes. The only problem Coral had was he had difficulty in remembering some of the victim's dresses, you know, what they were wearing. But as far as how he killed him, where he killed him, the immediate surroundings, he was right on the money all the time. When you first saw her, she was already in her car driving? Four months later, Coral Watts stalked and killed, 24-year-old, Margaret Fosse.

He saw her leaving Rice University, which is in the downtown area, and he followed her out to her brother and sister-in-law's home. When she got out, Coral got out of his vehicle, came up and struck her in her throat. Then what happened? How long did you choke her? He's saying that he choked her, but in fact, she died from a blow to the larynx instead of crushed her windpipe. All he remembers is

going for the throat. After you killed her, what did you do with her body? Watts tells police he placed Fosse's body in the trunk of her own car and stole some of her belongings, including a set of architectural drawings, drawings which Watts later burned.

Why did you burn the drawings? Figured to kill the spirit. When he took something and he admitted it, we'd ask him why I said, well, it was to help kill her spirit. Now, whether or not he really believed that or he was just feeding me a line, just to get me off his back, I don't know.

But that was, he stayed with that story all throughout the interviews. First time you found her, she was just walking down the street. Watts gives police a similar motive for his attack on 22-year-old Yolanda Grosia. Why'd you kill her? I don't see her. Could she be able?

And how could you determine this? You know, I never believed that, you know, he actually believed that. I think it was just his way of, it's kind of like the word, whatever. You know, he really probably didn't have an answer. And so he just said, evil in her eyes, you know, hoping that would satisfy our curiosity. Do you think she realized you were there? In the case of Elena Samander, Watts tells police the victim made a futile attempt to flag down a passing motorist for help.

You think she was blowing a horn trying to get some help? Then what happened? All right, then what did you do? It took up and put her in the dumpster. Watts's decision to leave Elena's body in a dumpster seems to be one made simply for the purposes of convenience. What made you decide to put her in the dumpster? I don't know.

Was it a dumpster close to where you strangled her? Yeah, I close. Right there. Coral was real cognizant of the area. Watts agrees to lead police on a tour of his crime scenes and offers details that corroborate his confessions. He drove us to this block here, and he said that he had saw this girl jogging, and he pulled over, and when she came by him, he jumped out,

strangled her down, and then took her tube top, wrapped the tube top around her neck, and lifted her up and hung her on a bush. Watts's confessions closed the case on 13 unsolved homicides. Then the killer leads police to two of the bodies. So this is the bio. This is called White Oak Bio here. Where we're going now is where we dug up the grave of Carrie Jefferson. She too was listed as a missing person.

And Coral had to actually take us to this location and show us. He buried her right down there on the banks of the bio. just backing a little bit beyond that where that high weeds are. As Coral Watts talks, details of his confession begin to spread throughout the law enforcement community, eventually finding their way to Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the desk of Detective Paul Bunton. I got a telephone call that said, you need to get down here right away. If you give him a grant of immunity, he'll confess to your three murders. Police in Ann Arbor have long suspected Coral Watts in three unsolved months.

murders there, but lacked the evidence to make an arrest. So I got a hold of the chief, and we got the prosecutor in. We sat and talked with him, and all of us decided, you don't give immunity to a murderer. You just don't do that. Without a grant of immunity from Ann Arbor, Coral Watts goes silent about his time there, and detectives are left with nothing. Well, I think the first thing, you get obsessed with the case, and I was obsessed with this case for several years, It's frustrating.

It's a portion of your life that there's no closure to. And I felt obsessed, but the victim's families, there's no closure. And that bothered me a lot. On September 3rd, 1982, a Texas court accepts Watts plea of guilty to a charge of burglary with intent to commit murder. Under the terms of the DA's deal, he receives the maximum sentence of 60 years in prison and is not charged with any of the Harris County murders he's confessed to. You know, when you lose a child, that's the worst thing that can happen to you. The sentence provides only some comfort for Harriet Samander, Elena's mother,

one of Watts's 13 murder victims. I felt relief, yes, that he was going to be locked away, but I still had the anger towards the police department. Like many in Houston, Samantha, is upset by the police department's inability to keep track of Watts after learning he was a murder suspect in Michigan. If I would have known that there was a mass murder around, those girls would have been warned, they would have not been out late at night, and they never would have traveled alone.

I think that, you know, that somebody missed the boat around here. It was unbelievable that he was allowed to kill so many women, knowing what they knew about him. It's frustrating. Houston homicide detective Doug Bostock tailed Coral Watts on and off for months, but never had sufficient grounds to pull him off the streets. If we could have done something prior to that, we would have. If there was any way possible that we could have picked him up, charged him, we'd have done it. We just didn't have anything

work with. He blended in with the community. He was a hard worker. He had two jobs a lot of time. And for like four or five, six months, he never did anything. And then all of a sudden, boom, he was out there, you know, driving around, stalking. And, you know, as your name, natural predator. On September 24th, 1982, Coral Watts is booked into the maximum security prison in Huntsville, Texas. And the story should end here, but it doesn't. I made one call just to check on him, just to see where he is. Harriet Samander's phone call is to the Texas Department of Corrections. The person who I spoke with told me that he was coming up for parole. The heck with parole. Parole is a moot point.

Andy Kahn is a victim's rights advocate in the city of Houston. At the request of Harriet Samander, Kahn checks into Coral Watts's parole status. And I asked the question of the decade when I contacted authorities. All right, he's up for parole, but does he have an automatic mandatory release date? Yes. It turned out that as the case went up the appeal process, there had been a loophole. At the time of his plea, Coral Watts was never given notice that the water he used to try and drown his victim was considered a deadly weapon. Sitting in prison, Watts himself picked up on the omission.

Donna Pendergast is a prosecutor for the Michigan Attorney General's office. No lawyer caught it. Watts caught it. And when it went up the appeal chain, they ruled in his favor and said, you were right. You weren't put on proper notice. So his crime was kicked down into a lower category of Burrower. without the aggravating variable. Burglary with intent to commit murder becomes simply burglary,

and Texas' mandatory release law comes into play. The way the mandatory release law works, it's your calendar time, known as your day-by-day time, plus good time credits, and Watts, by definition, was considered a model inmate. So he was accumulating good time at the highest rate possible. The bottom line is, the confessed serial killer turned mob

turned model inmate is now scheduled for release in April 2006. We thought that was it. Samantha and Kahn team up to try and keep Coral Watts behind bars for good. An answer, just one answer to keep him in prison. Their first step petition the Texas legislature to abolish the mandatory release law. The results are mixed. We did abolish mandatory release effect of 1996, but we could have and go back retroactively and pass this law and keep people like Watts from getting out.

This guy was Murphy's law in the one. Anything that would go in his favor went. Because Watts's mandatory release was already in motion before 1996, the new Texas law will not be enough to keep him in prison. There is a storm in the sky, and it is stirring. On the 20th anniversary of Coral Watts's last killing spree, family and friends, friends of the victims gather for a call to action. It hurt coming here today as I walked through that door because I knew we were going to talk about her. You're looking at family members talking about their loved one that was murdered

at the hands of a diabolical cold-blooded serial killer, and we're letting the public know who these people were. I would like to share our memories of Carrie Mae Jefferson. 20 years of grief and sorrow give way to anger and disbelief, over the serial killers looming release. I would suggest to you that what we face here at this time and place is a confrontation with pure evil. I want him to stay in that prison or any other prison where they put him

all his mortal life. The whole world is watching Texas today and judging what goes on. And I hope with the help of God The changes can be brought about to change the criminal justice system where there will be some justice for the victims and not just the criminals. Brainchild of Harriet Samander and Andy Khan, the service as an event tailor-made for the 10 o'clock news.

The faces of the murder victims, all known to have died at the hands of one serial killer. These are the faces of the family members left behind. gathering to honor the victims. I think the media helped in identifying him as a serial killer. They kept the story alive. So they're launching a petition drive, doing whatever they can to keep a confessed serial killer off the streets. We knew it was an hour and ever.

And we figured if we were going to lose and he was going to be released, we were going to go down, kick and screaming and fighting, and the whole world was going to know that a serial killer was going to be legally released. As most of you know, Coral Eugene Watts will be the first serial killer in this country ever to be legally released. And I'm asking everyone here, are we going to let that happen? No. No. I covered this case when I was a very young man and I never forgot it. Well, Coral Watts apparently spotted her.

A crime reporter with the CBS affiliate in Houston, Doug Miller, is swept up in the Coral Watts story. Reporters aren't supposed to take sides or take positions, but there's such a thing as a bad guy, and this guy was a bad guy. And the very notion that this man would ever go free was simply terrifying. But because of his good behavior behind bars, the state of Texas must legally free him in less than three years.

People telephoned our television station and asked, how in the world can this happen? What can we do to stop it? The truth was, there was nothing they could do to stop it. Governor himself couldn't put a stop to this. You can yell and scream and, you know, be upset all you want, but the law is the law. And unless you can miraculously find a cold case that's 25, 30 years old,

he's going to be released. They had really just about run out of avenues when we got this inquiry, and I started having contact with Andy Con, and he asked us to begin looking at our old cases. Donna Pendergast represents the last and perhaps best chance to keep Coral Watts behind bars. In the summer of 2003, Michigan's assistant prosecutor, begins reviewing a series of cold murders from the 1980s.

Coral Watts is suspected of committing all three. It was particularly interesting to me because when I was a senior at the University of Michigan, there was an individual known as a Sunday morning slasher. And all these years later, as I started looking into the Coral Watts case, I started reading about it and I realized that it in fact had been him. Despite her suspicions, Pendergast has no evidence to charge Watts in any of the Ann Arbor murders. so she decides instead to do a little searching. At the DA's request, Michigan State Police begin a massive re-examination

of Wayne County's cold case files from the late 1970s and early 80s. Here we have approximately 150 open homicides just from the city of Detroit. We were looking for obviously female victims, stabbing, strangulation, drowning. This is from a murder in 1980. The problem was being that a lot of these cases were 25, 30 years old. And during a time period in which there were quite a few murders going on in the Metro Detroit area, a lot of these cases we were having problems coming up with the evidence. This case here has several envelopes filled with photos.

Detectives managed to locate 35 cold cases that match Watts's M.O. evidence suitable for DNA testing. This is the DNA report that we just did recently at the Michigan State Police Crime Lab. Unfortunately, nothing came back on this case. It was progressing very slowly. I'd get periodic calls from Andy Kahn saying, do you guys have anything up there? And I'd say, Andy, we're looking.

We're trying, but we knew the clock was ticking. He is a lethal and imminent threat. On January 13, 2004, Michigan's Attorney General Mike Kahn, General Mike Cox appears on a national news program, appealing for public help to build a case against Watts. Time once again was ticking and it certainly was worth a try. He went on national TV and he basically explained a little bit about the Coral Watts case and said, if anybody knows anything out there, please come forward. Well, they can call my office 517. The following morning, the phone is ringing in the Attorney General's office. The man and woman was standing over here by

this telephone pole. On the other end of the line, an eyewitness that police hope will keep Coral Watts back behind bars. I witnessed evil that night. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. You know, lately I've been diving into all kinds of wellness

and mental health content online. Cold plunges, gratitude journals, screen detoxes, you name it. But honestly, it can be super overwhelming trying to figure out what actually works for me. So much noise, so many opinions, and it sometimes just makes decision-making harder instead of easier. That's why turning to trusted resources and talking to live therapists is so important.

Having a real person help guide you with personalized recommendations cuts through all the confusion and gets to what truly helps. Whether or not you've been to therapy before, its benefits are real. Therapy helps you learn positive coping skills, set healthy boundaries, and empowers you to become the best version of yourself. self. It's not just for major trauma. It's for everyday growth and support. Better Help is the world's largest online therapy platform with more than 30,000 therapists and over 5 million people served worldwide. It's got a stellar 4.9 out of 5 average rating from over 1.7 million client

reviews. Proof it really works. Plus, it's super easy to fit into your busy life. Just click to join a session. And if your therapist isn't the perfect match, you can switch anytime. As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. Talk it out with BetterHelp. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com slash coldcase. That's BetterHELP.com slash cold case. Coldcase files is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible, financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Because Progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home and more. Plus, you can count on

their great customer service to help you when you need it, so your dollar goes a long way. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance. Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary, not available in all states or situations. I was on my back porch in my house, probably about 50 feet into the lot. On a cold December night in 1979, a man named Joseph Foy witnesses the murder of 25-year-old Helen Dutcher. While I was on my back porch, I seen the man raise his hand and bring it down in a slashing motion. And when he was done with that, the body dropped to the ground. And that's when he walked to his car.

And he came around this way, just the way I'm walking now and watched. He was looking at me while I was looking at him. And he stopped at his door, car door, just like this, and just kept up. looking at me. I looked in the face of evil that night. I can't describe it any other way. It was like looking in the face of the devil. Foy provides Ferndale police with a description of the suspect and his vehicle, but the lead is not enough to catch Dutcher's killer. The case is cold for two years, when Foy happens upon the face of the devil again. I'm watching TV and it's the nightly news and this thing catches my eye of this black man being led into a

courtroom. And I just yelled to my wife. That's the guy that killed that woman. The man in the news report is Coral Eugene Watts. In 1982, Watts is facing a 60-year stretch in prison on a charge of burglary with intent to commit murder. As soon as the broadcast was over, I called the Ferndale police and said, I had just seen the man that killed a woman in Ferndale. And they eventually said they weren't going to do anything because of the plea bargain that they made down in Texas with him. They were satisfied that he was getting 60 years. He'd probably either end up dead or an old man coming out of prison. And I kept constantly calling him, bickering at him, y'alling at him, you got to do something.

You got to do something. The last words I got from then was put it to bed, Mr. Foy, just put it to bed. And I couldn't fight the government. There was nothing I could do about it. So that's exactly what I did. I put it to bed. For 24 years, Joseph Foy carries the memory of Coral Watts's face. One day, he sees that face on television yet again.

Authorities say Watts began assaulting women when he was only 15 years old. And now he's a suspect in dozens of murders from Michigan to Texas. Flipping through the channels again, here's that same clip again of Watts being led into the courtroom. And I'm going, now, what is this idiot doing on TV again? In 21 years in prison, Watts has managed to uncover a loophole in his plea agreement, one that makes him eligible for early release in 2006. He is a lethal and imminent threat. being the Attorney General of Michigan, and he's pleading for people, if anybody knows anything

on any case of Coral Watts, please help them. And I'm sitting there like, you idiots. I said, don't you know anything about the Ferndale murder? How come no one's ever calling me about this? Well, they can call my office 517. First thing the following morning, Joseph Foy calls the Attorney General's office. I came in the next morning and my secretary handed me a pink message slip and it said Joseph Foy saw one of Coral Watts's murders, and I just looked down and I remember it like it was yesterday. I said, sure you did. And I looked at my secretary. I said, whacko. And she said, I don't think so. Pendergast contacts Foy and listens to his story. I did believe what he was telling me because he sounded so certain of himself and so he had details. He sounded like he really wanted to

come forward, but, you know, hey, I've tried this before. Well, you just listen. The Attorney General's Office issues an arrest warrant for Coral Eugene Watts, charging him with the murder of Helen Dutcher, nearly 25 years after the fact. Ladies and gentlemen, the jury, what you're about to hear in this courtroom will terrify you. On November 7, 2005, prosecutor Donna Pendergast goes to trial. Her case depends on the testimony of one eyewitness in a dark alley. 80 feet away from the crime scene. But I also felt confident that after hearing about Watts's numerous cases in Texas,

that if we could get a judge to show that we had a pattern and we could get similar ex-testimony and that we'd have a much stronger case. Ladies and gentlemen, the jury, you will be hearing evidence that will be introduced to show that the defendant committed crimes for which he is not on trial. Judge Richard Coon agrees and allows Watts' confessions to 12 prior murder. into evidence. Each and every one of them alone, stop, murdered.

You know, the jury heard just a terrible, you know, story of, you know, the death of just all these beautiful, promising young women, but they were just faces and names to them. I wanted the jury to put a human, a live, human face on just the devastation and horror of Coral Watts. He came around and grabbed me.

To that end, the state of the state produces three survivors of Watts' attacks in Texas, Lori Lister, Melinda Aguilar, and Julie Sanchez. I was attacked from behind me. In 1982, Sanchez had her throat cut by Coral Watts. He grabbed me like this. He went the first time like this. When he got here, he pushed it all the way inside, and then he came like this. When he cut the rest of my neck and my ear, then he got my head and he just went like.

against the car. Julie Sanchez's testimony was just horrifically riveting. She talked about how after her throat was slit and she was laying by the side of the highway, how Watts turned around and just began laughing. I mean, it was just absolutely bone-chilling. Did you see the man who attacked you turn around as he was running away? Yes, he has stopped complete. Turn around and look at me and smile.

He was laughing. He would just laugh at me. It's almost like a horror movie. It was so horrific. You just can't believe it's real, but it was. You're going to hate that guy. You hate him already right now. There's no doubt about that.

The defense's best hope lies in directing the jury away from Watts's prior bad acts and focusing on details of the Dutcher case. But when the case really all boils down to, it's going to come down to one single, He walked from the front of the car. He walked around the front of the car. Correct. That witness is Joseph Foy, a man who's been waiting nearly 25 years to tell his story to a jury.

I said I had a full facial look at him and both of us locked eyes. I went in with a game plan. It was just like a sporting event. I was psyched up. I knew him and I would go head to head that he would try to discredit me as much as he could. Did you use the word glance when you said you had a glance? when you said you had a glance at him. Is that correct?

Correct. You said you could actually use the word glance twice. Correct. Said you locked eyes, but you also said it was a glance. Correct. You ever have a glance in a bar with a woman? That could last forever too. He kept saying that, well, how can your memory be that good

25 years later? And again, you don't need a good memory if you're telling the truth. You're able to recognize the person's eyes. Yes. That's what you want us to believe? Yes. Okay.

And if you ask a question again, I'll tell you yes, then. One of the best witnesses I've ever seen. He just, he came across very credible. He didn't let the defense attorney rattle him. And you see him for one second. That's all I needed. He just exuded credibility. Will you bring the jury in, please?

After six days of testimony and four hours of deliberation, the jury returns its verdict. You do say upon your own say you find the defendant, guilty of first degree premeditated murder, Coral Eugene Watts is found guilty of the murder of Helen Dutcher and sentenced to the maximum penalty in Michigan, life in prison without parole. This case cries out for the death penalty. It is a sentence that some feel is not enough for a man who is admitted to killing so many. He should be dead right now. He's breathing borrowed there.

The only thing I can say, I hope God escorts his ass to hell. In 2007, Watts was also found guilty of the murder of glorious steel and given an additional life sentence. Coral Watts died on September 21st, 2007 of prostate cancer. Following his death, Michigan authorities can only speculate who else Watts might have killed. I finally looked at him and I said, Carl, I haven't got enough fingers and toes to count the amount of people that you have killed, have I? And he looked around the room and he said there's not enough fingers and toes in this room. And there were four of us in there. I mean, here's a guy that 99.99% of the public has never heard about, yet basically he is credited with more murders

than guys like Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gasey, Jeffrey Dahmer, the Green River Killer, but no one knows this guy. Just when you thought summer couldn't get any hotter, Pluto TV is turning up the heat with thousands of free movies. Presenting Summer of Cinema. Favorite blockbuster films like Gladiator. I will have my vineyards. Good Burger. This is what I do fast fit.

Beverly Hills Cop. The Girl with a Dragon tattoo. And Julie and Julia. Bon Appetit. All for free on your favorite devices. Pluto TV. Stream now. Pay never.

Grab a coffee and discover Vegas level excitement with BetMGM Casino. Now introducing our hottest exclusive, friends, the one with Multi-Drop. Your favorite classic television, show is being reimagined into your favorite casino game featuring iconic images from the show. Spin our new exclusive because we're not on a break. Play Friends, the one with Multidrop, exclusively at BetMGM Casino. Want even more options? Pull up a seat and check out a wide variety of table games from Blackjack to poker.

Or head over to the arcade for nostalgic casino thrills. Download the BetMGM Ontario app today. You don't want to miss out. 19 plus to wager, Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with I Gaming, Ontario.