Killer’s victim
Who was Mary Lou Pratt? Sex worker murdered and eyeballs extracted by serial killer Charles Albright
Mary was the first of the killer’s victims to be left without her eyeballs
MARY Lou Pratt was a sex worker who was murdered by serial killer Charles Albright.
The story of a rookie cop who joined the force after Mary’s murder and caught Albright is dramatized in the new Lifetime movie Searching for a Serial Killer: The Regina Smith Story.
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Mary’s tragic death
Mary was a well-known sex worker in the Oak Hill, Texas area in the late 1980s.
She was 33 years old when she crossed paths with the Eyeball Killer, who had previously killed another sex worker named Rhonda Bowie.
Unlike Rhonda, Mary’s body was discovered with her eyeballs missing after they had been carefully and surgically removed.
Her eyeballs were never found, but she was the first of the Eyeball Killer’s victims to be murdered in his infamous manner.
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Terrifying crime spree
Mary is believed to be the Eyeball Killer’s second victim.
The body of Susan Peterson, a 27-year-old sex worker, was found on the same road as Mary with her eyeballs missing shortly after Mary’s death.
The discovery of her body led the police to conclude that a serial killer, who targeted sex workers, was operating in the area.
The murder of Shirley Williams, another sex worker, marked a shift in the killer’s pattern.
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Up until this time, he had targeted young, white sex workers whereas Shirley was African American and slightly older.
Regina Smith, a rookie police officer who joined the case after Mary’s death, was able to find enough evidence to have Albright convicted for Shirley’s death.
However, there was not enough evidence to convict him of Mary, Rhonda, or Susan’s murders.
Albright spent the rest of his life in prison, following his arrest in 1991, and eventually died behind bars in 2020.
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Albright’s sinister obsession
It was revealed that Albright had become obsessed with eyeballs at the age of eleven, when he was enrolled in a taxidermy course by his adoptive parents in Amarillo, Texas.
Although he was highly intelligent and graduated early from high school, his academic efforts were often thwarted by his criminal activities.
He was expelled from the university for being in possession of stolen cash, a rifle, and two handguns.
Albright was also found to have sexually assaulted the daughter of one of his friends before he began his murderous rampage.
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