Evil Eyes (20 page)

Ted Thomas (TT): How far would you say? CW: Ummm, probably the first turnoff.

Tom Ladd (TL): Apartment upstairs or downstairs? CW: Downstairs.

TL: She got the keys in her hands, then what happened? CW: Ah, she went to open the door. And I walked up and then she turned around and looked at me I think. I think she said something or mumbled something or something like that and turned back around. Then I grabbed her.

JL: When she opened the door? CW: No.

TL: You grabbed her how? CW: By the neck.

TL: Alright, then what happened? CW: I choked her.

TL: To what point? Did you kill her right there? CW: Yeah.

TL: Before she was in her apartment? CW: Uh huh.

TT: Well, were you ever out in the . . . out in the front yard when you did this? On the grass or what?

CW: Yeah, out, right there out in front by the sidewalk. TL: Then what did you do?

CW: Went and opened the door, took her inside.

TL: Alright, once you got her inside what did you do then?

CW: Hummm, took her dress off. TL: Where? In the living room?

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CW: Yeah.

TL: What else did you take off of her? CW: Umm, like her ring and her necklace.

TL: She have any other clothes on other than her dress? CW: No.

TL: She didn’t have a bra or panties? CW: I don’t think so.

TL: Alright, then what?

CW: Then I took her and put her in the bathtub. TL: Why did you put her in the bathtub?

CW: To run . . . I just put here in there and I ran water on her.

TL: You ran water on her? Did you have her . . . was her head down by the faucet or was it at the back of the tub? CW: At the back of the tub.

TL: You mean her feet were down by the faucet? CW: Uh huh.

TL: And you ran water on her? CW: Yeah.

TL: Hot or cold water? CW: Ah, hot water, I think.

TL: How long did you run water on her? CW: ’Til the tub was full.

TL: Alright, did you block the drains some way? CW: Yeah.

TL: How did you do that?

CW: Think there was a stopper in there or something. TL: With a stopper?

CW: Yeah.

TL: Alright, when the tub was full, then what? CW: Then I let the water out.

TL: Alright, why did you do this? CW: So that her spirit couldn’t get out.

JL: How was she laying in the tub? Face up?

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CW: I don’t remember. On her side I think.

JL: On her side with her face pointing in which direction? CW: I don’t remember.

TL: You’re sure she was dead though before you put her in the tub?

CW: Yeah.

TL: With her eyes open? CW: Yeah.

TL: Did you have to hold her down in the water as it filled up the tub?

TT: Or did she float up? CW: I don’t remember.

TT: Did you completely cover her with water?

CW: No, not really. I think so, but it wasn’t, the tub wasn’t all the way full.

TT: What did you do? Cover her with water? CW: Yeah.

TT: Is that what you’re saying? CW: Uh huh.

TL: Then what did you do? After you let the water out? CW: Tore up the place.

TL: In what way? How did you tear it up? CW: Threw stuff all over.

TL: In what rooms? CW: The bedroom. TL: Her bedroom? CW: Yeah.

TL: What else?

CW: That’s all I think.

TL: What about the living room? CW: I don’t remember.

TL: What was the purpose for tearing up the rooms? CW: None.

TL: You had no reason in mind for doing it? Were you

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trying to make it look like a burglary or something like that? Or were you just doing it?

CW: I was just doing it.

TT: Where was . . . where was the bedroom located to the bathroom?

CW: Um, almost right next to it I think. There was [a] bedroom here and then a bathroom on the left side, I think. TT: As you entered the house, which would be . . . which would be on the left and which would be on the right?

CW: Bathroom would be on the left.

TT: And the bathroom would be on the right? CW: Yeah.

JL: Were there any pets in this apartment? CW: I didn’t see any.

TL: You do anything with her car? CW: No.

TL: Did you ever go in it or touch it? CW: No.

TL: What did you take out of the apartment? CW: Um, her dress and some jewelry.

TL: Alright, the dress. The same dress she was wearing? CW: Yeah.

TL: And what type of jewelry?

CW: Necklace and two rings she had on her. TL: Was she wearing the necklace?

CW: Yeah.

TL: And the rings? CW: Uh huh.

TL: How many rings did she have on? CW: Um, I don’t know.

TL: Okay, what did you do with the jewelry? CW: Threw it away.

TL: Do you remember where? CW: Yeah.

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TL: Where? CW: In a sewer.

JL: Why did you take the jewelry? CW: I don’t know. I just took it.

JL: You seem to have a reason for, like, taking the clothes and stuff. I just wondered why you’d take jewelry?

CW: Um, no reason. I just took it off.

TL: Was this a regular chain necklace . . . or was there stone or . . . ?

CW: Uh, regular chain necklace I believe. TL: What did you do with the dress?

CW: Threw it away.

TL: Remember where you threw it?

CW: Umm, yeah, on a . . . in her apartment place somewhere.

TL: Where in the apartment place?

CW: This . . . it was a different apartment. Some apartments somewhere else.

TL: Just threw it on the ground out there? Or in a Dumpster? Or what?

CW: Umm, on the ground. TT: Did the dress have a belt? CW: Yeah.

TT: What color was it? CW: Ah, white.

TT: Was it leather, material, or what? CW: Material.

JL: Why did you not burn the dress? CW: I didn’t have to.

JL: Why didn’t you have to? Why did you not have to? CW: Because I had put her in the bathtub.

*

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Once again, Coral Eugene Watts’s lust for death was not satisfied. After he murdered Maday, he then drove to the northwestern side of town, where he encountered Lori Lister and Melinda Aguilar.

The following text is the actual interrogation and confession by Coral Eugene Watts in regard to the attacks on Lori Lister and Melinda Aguilar:

Jim Ladd ( JL): You know, I said that, you know, about the bathtubs. I was just checking back through here and I notice you did the rest of them outside.

Ted Thomas (TT): On the last one you did, were you wearing gloves?

Coral Watts (CW): Right. TT: In the bathtub?

CW: Uh huh.

TT: You were wearing gloves that time?

JL: On the . . . previous one, the first one that you put in the bathtub, I think you said, correct me if I’m wrong, but I think you said that she was dead when you put her in the bathtub.

CW: Uh huh.

JL: Okay, on the case that you were caught on and which you’ve taken the plea for, that woman was not dead when you put her in the bathtub.

CW: No.

TT: Did you think she was dead? CW: At first I did.

TT: When you first put her in the tub you did?

CW: No, before I put her in the tub. Before I brung her up the step.

Unknown (U/K ): How did you know which apartment she lived in?

CW: She was . . .

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U/K: If you were down at the base of those steps with apartments all around, how did you know which one it was in particular that she lived in?

CW: She stay in the one that was upstairs. Because . . . U/K: There were several upstairs. How did you know which one upstairs it . . . ?

CW: There were two I think. I just went up the steps and tried the lock and went in.

TT: What were your plans for the second girl? What were you going to do with her?

CW: Same thing as the first lady.

TT: Were you planning to put her in the bathtub also? Had your plans gone that far?

CW: No, not at first.

JL: It was kinda unusual, the fact that you went in the closet and took coat hangers, flexible enough to bend to secure their hands behind them. Ever done that before?

CW: No.

After Watts had completed his confessions, he spoke with Detective Tom Ladd. He told Ladd he was glad they captured him and he hoped he never got out of prison. The reason why, he told Ladd, was that he “would kill again” if he was ever released.

Detective Paul Bunten eventually spoke with Watts. Bunten tried to elicit confessions in the three Ann Arbor murders; however, he was unsuccessful. Watts would talk only if he received the plea deal. Bunten had no intention of bargaining with Watts. He did, however, try to find out just how sinister Watts truly had been.

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“How many people have you killed, Coral?” Bunten asked.

“There aren’t enough fingers and toes in this room to match how many I killed,” Watts stated without brag-gadocio.

There were three other people in the room in addition to Watts and Bunten.

A total of one hundred fingers and toes.

On Tuesday, August 10, 1982, at 2:15
P
.
M
., Coral Watts led police to a partially fenced-in vacant lot at the 700 block of Antoine Drive, just south of the Katy Freeway, on the western side of Houston. District Attorney John B. Holmes Jr. called the trip a “show of good faith” on Watts’s part.

Watts was there to lead investigators to the grave of Suzanne Searles.

He was accompanied by his defense attorneys, Zinetta Burney and Don Caggins, various assistant district attorneys, and a team of six detectives, as well as the chief medical examiner.

The vacant lot was blanketed with overgrown weeds. One of the detectives on the scene went directly to where Watts pointed out where he believed the body to be. After less than an hour of digging, the detectives uncovered something unusual. They had to dig almost two feet deep in the corner of the vacant lot. What they found made some of the men sick.

It was the decomposed body of Sue Searles. Her dis-colored corpse had withered away to a scant sixty-seven pounds. Her body lay prone on its right side. The offi-

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cers dug nearly three-and-a-half feet deep to unearth completely the once-vibrant young woman.

Watts stood next to the grave site as the detectives dug up Suzanne Searles’s body. He was dressed in a beige button-down shirt, which was opened all the way to the waist, and blue jeans. His hands were bound together in front of his waist with handcuffs. Watts appeared nonplussed as the digging continued. He also answered every one of the detectives’ questions.

As the trustees dug closer to Searles’s body, Watts began to spill the beans about another body. Detective H. W. Kersen stated that “when we got to the point where we thought we had reached the woman, he decided to tell us about the other woman.”

The other woman in question was Carrie Mae Jefferson.

Harris County chief medical examiner Cecil Wingo, who came to the grave-digging scene, gave a quick perusal of Suzanne Searles’s corpse. He indicated that she had been dead for several months, as noted by the decom-position of her body. He could not determine her age or cause of death, due to the advanced stage of decompo-sition. She had no distinctive identification marks on her body, such as a tattoo or birthmark. She still wore a “necklace and a ring with a large flat stone setting,” in addition to a bra and a pair of socks.

Watts never seemed upset or remorseful about the uncovering of Suzanne Searles’s body. Prosecutor Ira Jones recalled, “We were there digging up a woman and it didn’t seem to bother him. He wanted a hamburger; so when we were done, we took him out and bought him a hamburger.”

*

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The following day, Wednesday, August 11, 1982, Coral Watts went before Judge Douglas Shaver to plead guilty to charges of burglary. The judge informed Watts that his sentencing would take place the following week.

Later that same day, Watts informed authorities of the location of the body of Carrie Mae Jefferson, who had been missing since April 15, 1982. This time, at least a dozen detectives packed along some Harris City Jail trustees to help search for the body. The group, which again included Watts, Burney, and Caggins, headed toward the Astrodome. Their destination, according to Watts, was the 1900 block of White Oak Drive and Taylor Street, next to the White Oak Bayou.

After scouring the tall weeds that encompassed the north bank of the bayou, the trustees began the difficult job of digging. At approximately 5:00
P
.
M
., in a relatively short period of time, the trustees were able to unearth Jefferson’s body from a grave forty inches deep. Jefferson’s body was less than one mile away from where detectives had uncovered Sue Searles’s body.

Jefferson’s body, like Searles’s, was partly decomposed but intact. She was wearing a bra, panties, and a blouse. Medical Examiner Wingo was unable to determine cause of death from the initial observation. Dental records would have to be used eventually to confirm the identification of the body.

The following day, Thursday, August 12, 1982, Watts directed authorities to a third body. This time it was fourteen-year-old Emily LaQua.

Lieutenant Guy A. Mason and Detective Mike Kardatzke were informed by Watts’s attorney Don Caggins that Emily LaQua’s body was located in a drainage ditch in Brookshire,

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Texas, located approximately thirty-seven miles west of downtown Houston. It also happened to be located in Waller County—not Harris County, per Watts’s plea bargain.

Watts’s directions were spot-on.