Sept. 3, 2024

Button Eyes and Bloodshed: The Tale of the Eyeball Killer

Show Notes
Transcript

Button Eyes and Bloodshed: The Tale of the Eyeball Killer

Get ready for a peek into the twisted mind of Charles Albright, better known as the Eyeball Killer. Born and raised in Texas, Albright seemed like a typical overachiever, but beneath the surface lurked a dark obsession. From his troubled childhood to his bizarre fascination with eyes, we’ll explore how his early life paved the way for the gruesome murders of several women in Dallas. Join us as we unravel the chilling story of a man whose disturbing hobbies led to one of the most shocking crime sprees in Texas history.

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Charles was born in Amarillo, Texas, on August tenth, nineteen

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thirty three. His biological mother dropped him off in an orphanage,

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where he was later adopted by Fred and Dell Albright.

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It said that Dell Albright was a fiercely protective and

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somewhat overbearing mother. She ruled the household with an iron fist,

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and for the young Charles there was very little reprieve

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outside of the household as well. Dell was a school

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teacher and took an avid, almost over zealous approach to

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Charles's education. Through her tutoring and encouragement, Charles managed to

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skip two full years and ended up graduating from high

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school when he was only fifteen years old. But before

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Charles would achieve this great accomplishment, there was trouble brewing

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on the horizon. Rumors suggested that when Charles was still

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an infant, he would be left in the care of

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an equally overbearing aunt. She would make him wear dresses

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and take away his toys, leaving him only dolls to

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play with, and when Charles turned into a teenager, he

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was given his first gun. From then on, one of

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the ways Charles would pass the time was to go

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out hunting for small animals like squirrels and rabbits. He

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then enjoyed bringing them home home, where he would try

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his hand at stuffing and preserving them. Far from outraged

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by her son's new pastime, Dell jumped right into encouraging

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him to pursue it as a career. The young Charles

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was easily persuaded, and now he had it in his

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head to become a taxidermist. He and Dell would spend

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hours together in the evenings taxidermy ing Charles's kills. And

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I feel like I made up a word just now,

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but we're gonna stick with it. It's also said during this

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time that the Albrights could not afford to buy the

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glass eyes usually used in preserving animal remains, and so

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Dell would tell Charles to use buttons or other household

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items instead. Many people believe that it's this childhood moment

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that later inspired and cemented Charles's fascination with eyes. At

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the tender age of only thirteen years old, Charles was

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arrested and charged with aggravated assault. He was already known

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to locals and law enforce for being a petty thief,

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but they believed short stay and detention center would set

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this young delinquent straight, and for the most part, seemed

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to do the trick clearly. Bright and talented for his age,

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Charles then graduated from high school early, as I mentioned,

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and enrolled in North Texas University because remember, he was

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only fifteen when he made it to college, making him

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possibly the youngest student to attend that year. Not that

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management at the university knew that themselves. However, Charles had

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forged his documentation when applying to North Texas, another crime

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that would litter his criminal record for the rest of

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his life. They didn't know he was fifteen. At school,

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Charles began taking pre med training in order to become

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a doctor and a surgeon. He did well in these

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classes and seemed to have a natural skill and talent

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for his chosen profession, but he would never finish this degree.

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Charles was expelled only a year later when police caught

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him with stolen money and, perhaps more importantly, stolen firearms.

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Charles had two handguns and a rifle in his possession

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when the police arrested him that day, and this time

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they wanted Charles to take the warning even more seriously.

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He spent a year in jail. His crimes and conviction

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brought to light his true age and his criminal background,

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and North Texas University would not let him back. When

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he was released. Undeterred, Charles then enrolled in pre med

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training in Arkansas State Teachers, college teachers and other students

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at the school remembered Charles to be an excellent student

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and an active participant in several school clubs and activities.

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Maybe Charles just needed some time to mature before stepping

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into the world of academics, and maybe it was too

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good to be true. To support himself on this journey,

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Charles had a number of odd jobs, like being a

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baseball bat manufacturer, a carpenter, a hairstylist that point, and

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even a bullfighter, but he couldn't leave behind the thrill

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of petty thievery. Yes, I said, bullfighter, and during his

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year in college, Charles broke into the girl's dormitory and

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stole naked pictures of them. Other friends and roommates would

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later recall seeing some of these pictures hanging up on

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Charles's wall. He had cut out the eyes from one

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photo and glued them onto another when he was nineteen.

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He then befriended a girl named Betty Nestor. Friendship blossomed

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into a relationship, which then turned into marriage only a

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year later, but not before Betty had given Charles an

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important set of keys. Betty worked at the Arkansas State

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Teachers College, and so she had a set of keys

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that would let her in and out of the building

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in order to do her job. With Betty firmly in

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his back pocket, Charles now had the keys to the

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castle he often broke in and stole from the school,

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but it didn't take staff members very long to figure

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out what was going on. Charles was called in possession

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of stolen equipment and was expelled. The school didn't press charges,

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but it was clear that his run in the academic

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world had come to an end. Almost unbelievably, the threat

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of spending more time in jail didn't stop Charles or

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put him on the right track. He and Betty had

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just had a daughter when Charles found himself on the

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wrong side of the law again. At this point, he

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was still in his early twenties. When he let himself

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into the college building for the last time, he stole

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all the documentation needed to falsify a degree and he

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forged his own papers. According to these documents, Charles now

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not only had a bachelor's degree, but a master's as well.

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A local high school believed they were lucky to hire

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someone as qualified as Charles. Albright was pumps about this

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new success. Charles began forging checks, but he was quickly

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found out. His new job and his fictitious degrees went

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up in smoked and Charles was placed on probation. Seeing

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the riding on the wall, Betty packed up and left

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with their daughter. They weren't officially divorced until nine years later,

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but it was clear that Betty was done with Charles,

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being one of the worst thiefs ever. He was then

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caught stealing again from a hardware store, and this time

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the value of his stolen goods ranged in the hundreds

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of dollars. He was sentenced two years behind bars, but

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only served around six months before he was released again.

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This time around, Charles really seemed to make a change.

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He made friends with neighbors and became active in his

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local community. Slowly but surely, the people around him began

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to trust Charles. Some of them even asked him to

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babysit their children. Gone was the petty thief and burgeoning criminal.

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Charles Albright was now a man who had turned over

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a new leaf. That was until nineteen eighty one, when

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his adoptive mother, Dell, passed away. This was a blowed

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Charles to begin with, but then after a visit with

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his biological mother that same year, Charles seemed to become unhinged.

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While visiting with some friends, Charles molested their fourteen year

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old daughter. Some reports say that the girl was actually

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nine years old at the time of the assault. The

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former friends pressed charges, and Charles pleaded guilty. He received probation,

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but later went on to say that he was innocent

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and had only pled guilty to avoid quote the hassle

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of going to court. Maybe it was this conviction for

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child molestation. Maybe it was his growing fascination with collecting

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eyes from dolls and photographs, which he was still doing.

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But in nineteen eighty four, when Charles applied to become

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a leader in the Boy Scouts of America, his application

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was denied. It was a year after that that Charles

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met Dixie. The two quickly moved in together, with Dixie

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taking on the line's share of the expenses. Even though

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Charles had just come into one hundred thousand dollars worth

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of inheritance from the death of Fred Albright. He also

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claimed he had a job working on a paper route,

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but this was a lie that Charles used to cover

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up the fact that he was visiting prostitutes in the

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early morning hours. And then someone began attacking local sex workers.

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The first was ron de Bowie, a thirty year old

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woman who worked around Oak Cliff. Her killer had stabbed

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her over twenty times. Then there was Mary Lou Pratt,

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a thirty three year old woman who was known to

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work around oak Cliff. She was found lying on her back,

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wearing only a T shirt and her bra, but they

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had both been pulled up to reveal her breasts. She

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had been shot in the back of the head and

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her eyes had been removed with what the coroner later

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determined to be almost surgical precision. Susan Peterson, a twenty

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seven year old woman, was found on the exact same

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streets that Mary Lou had been killed on. Her T

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shirt had been pulled up to reveal her breasts as well,

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and she had been shot three times, once in the chest,

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once the the top of her head, and once in

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the back. Her eyes had also been removed. Then there

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was Shirley Williams, who has found naked on the streets

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near an elementary school. Her face had been beaten and

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she'd been shot twice, once through her face and once

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through the top of her head. Her eyes had been removed.

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Shortly after that, a woman came forward and told investigators

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that Mary Luke Pratt's had known Charles Albright, who was

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known locally to be obsessed with eyes. Several other sex

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workers approached the police to complain that Charles had started

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to become violent with them. Charles was arrested that very

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same day, and a search of his home uncovered the

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same type of condom that had been found at Shirley

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William's crime scene. This discovery, testimony from sex workers, and

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the fact that several dolls in Charles's home had their

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eyes removed where all the prosecution needed to hear to

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take Charles to court. There, they told the jury that

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hair samples were covered at Shirley's crime scene were a

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match to Charles. It turned out through later testing that

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these hairs had actually belonged to a dog, but by

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then it was already too late. Charles was sentenced to

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life without parole and died behind bars in twenty twenty

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at the age of eighty seven. That is ten minute

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murder for today brief and binge able true crime. I'm

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Joe the host, and thank you so much for taking

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the time to listen to the podcast. If you're a

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new listener, make sure you hit subscribe wherever you like

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please continue to share the podcast with your friends and family.

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I know that you're doing it because the podcast continues

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to grow and grow, and I really appreciate you. We're

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doing that so much. All right, let's get to an

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email as I got man, I've got it. Hi, I've

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been listening to your podcast for a few years now.

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I'm curious are you married. If not, would you consider

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meeting and settling down with the right person if you

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found them? Thanks so much, JP, JP, thank you for

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the email, and I really appreciate you listening for the

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last several years. And know that when you hear what

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I'm about to say, this is in no way a

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reflection on you or your email. It's more a problem

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I have with the term settling down and It's not

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just you that uses this term. There are millions of

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people that you hear use the term settling down when

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it comes to marriage. Oh god, Joe's about to go

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on a rant. I am buckle up because no, I'm

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not married, But then I'm not unsettled. Do you know

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what I mean? People say settling down, you get married,

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you settle down. I'm settled. I'm not married, but I'm settled.

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What does that even mean? And you can be unsettled

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and also be married. Take for example, the killer in

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today's story, Charles Albright, was married for a while and

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was killing whole people, cutting out their eyeballs. He's completely

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unsettled and married. I'm unmarried and settle Does that make sense?

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I don't know why the term settling down is always

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joined together with marriage. It doesn't. I don't understand. But JP,

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thank you for the email. You didn't deserve this, but

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uh yeah, there you go. Appreciate you listening. If you

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have an email that you'd like to send me Joe

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at ten minute Murder dot com. It may or may

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not go on a rant if you send me an email,

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depending on what the topic is, who knows. But you

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can send them to me Joe at ten minute murder

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dot com, and that's your episode for today. It was

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a weird one. Thank you for listening to ten Minute Murder.

Button Eyes and Bloodshed: The Tale of the Eyeball Killer

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