Welcome back to another week of Unsolved, where we look into the most interesting cold case in each state.

From February to May in 1946, an unknown killer took the lives of 5 victims and injured another 3. He is also known as the “Phantom Killer” and the “Phantom Slayer”, so needless to say very little was known about the killer and that they had a big reputation.

The first time the Phantom Killer struck, he attacked two victims at once, Jimmy Hollis and Mary Larey. Both survived but suffered severe injuries like skull fractures, and Larey was also sexually assaulted, but unfortunately neither could help identify the criminal. They were attacked on the city’s “lovers’ lane”, making them relatively easy targets for more than just a single victim. The second pair of victims, Richard Griffin and Polly Anna Moore, were killed exactly three weeks after the first attack. They were also attacked on the “lovers’ lane” and were shot to death by a Colt pistol wrapped in a blanket to muffle the sound. After this killing, police interviewed possible witnesses and posted a reward, but neither method gathered solid leads and instead produced more than 100 faulty leads instead.

The next double murder occurred under slightly different circumstances, but both victims were again found on the side of the road, but this time neither were in their vehicle. Betty Jo Booker was found about 2 miles away from her friend, but both were shot to death once again. The murder weapon was also the same type of gun as was used in the previous pair of killings, which  was the main piece of physical evidence tying all of these murders together. The final attack was again against a couple, but one of the victims barely survived. She was shot in the head twice, breaking her jaw and teeth, but her husband was killed after being shot to death. Once again, even though a witness survived she was not able to provide the police with any identifying information about her attacker.

There were several leads in this case, but one primary suspect is still considered the most promising. Youell Swinney was well-known by the police for his long history of petty crimes. He also made several statements in public about being responsible and for being afraid of the death penalty. His wife refused to testify, further incriminating him, and there were a few pieces of evidence possibly linking him to the murders. One of these items was a shirt that was found in Swinney’s possession that had previously belonged to a victim. His wife was also arrested in a vehicle that was reported missing on the same night as the first double homicide and he used to own a .32 caliber Colt pistol, the same model as the murder weapon.

This evidence was not enough to convict him, however, because there were some pieces of the puzzle that did not fit, like how none of his fingerprints matched those found at the scene of the second double homicide. No other suspects were any more convincing to law enforcement, and no new information has been uncovered, so many believe that this case will remain cold for the foreseeable future.