Research Paper On Carl Eugene Watts

The Sunday Morning Slasher

Carl Eugene Watts, also known as "Coral" – "The Sunday Morning Slasher" is suspected to have killed more than 100 women, making him the most prolific serial killer in American history. ( Blanco) He was able to obtain immunity for a dozen murders by creating a plea bargain in which he could be released in 2006. He would later die of prostate cancer during a period when he was serving two sentences of life without parole. He was placed in a Michigan prison for the murders of Gloria Steele and Helene Dutcher.

Carl was born in Killeen, Texas to his parents Eugene Watts and Dorothy Mae Young. Eugene served in the Army as a first-class private and his mother taught kindergarten art. When Carl was around the age of two,

He claimed to dream about killing and torturing various girls and women. He would move on to stalking girls and would have killed his first victim before the age of 15. Unfortunately, at the age of thirteen, he contracted an infection known as meningitis. Meningitis is an inflammation of the productive membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. This infection would lead him to get held back from continuing school and have to retake 8th grade. When he was able to return to school, he had trouble keeping up with the other student and would often receive failing or low grades. He had only achieved a third-grade reading level at the age of 16. He had a rough time in the school environment and was a victim of harsh bullying during his adolescent

He kidnapped victims from their homes, tortured them, and then murdered them. On October 30, 1974, Watts tortured and brutally murdered Gloria Steele, who is believed to be his second victim. She is one of the women he would serve life without parole for in a Michigan prison. Watts had a knack for using methods such as strangulation, stabbing, bludgeoning, and drowning. (Blanco) Regardless of the many lives of women that he would take, he would not be discovered as a serial killer for almost eight years. This is because even though he would kill many, he would be careful about the way he would do it. He would kill women in different jurisdictions and even states. He didn't perform sexual acts with his victims, so it was hard to get DNA results for a suspect. His crimes were also not sexually motivated, and he didn't seem to hold any closeness or involvement with the victims. Those close to Carl did not suspect him of the crimes he would later be charged with, and the police wouldn't consider him a suspect until his arrest in