Coral Eugene Watts: "The Sunday Morning Slasher"

Turning Up the Heat

Ann Arbor police badge

Three Ann Arbor girls murdered within the space of five months caused great alarm within the otherwise tranquil college town. Paul Bunten, a felony investigator for the Ann Arbor police, was determined to catch the killer. He dedicated years of his life in pursuit of the man commonly referred to by Ann Arbor newspapers as the “Sunday Morning Slasher.”

Bunten headed the task force whose first job was to increase the patrols in and around the town. On November 15, officers got a lucky break. Two policemen patrolling the area around Ann Arbor’s Main Street at about 5 a.m. noticed a suspicious man in a car slowly following a woman walking home.

The woman realized she was being followed and tried to hide in a doorway, hoping the man would lose her trail and give up his pursuit. She likely feared for her life because most people were aware of the local murders. According to Moore, Bunten said Coral “almost went nuts” when he could no longer find the woman he was chasing.

The police officers pulled over Coral’s car and arrested him for driving with expired license plates and a suspended license. They also searched his car and found a couple of screwdrivers and a box with wood-filing tools. Yet, their most significant find was a dictionary with the etched words, “Rebecca is a lover,” which belonged to Rebecca Huff. It turned out to be their biggest clue yet linking Coral to the murder, yet it still was not enough evidence to convict him.

Bunten and his team began round-the-clock surveillance on Coral. His movements were monitored with the help of a tracking device that was inconspicuously hidden under his car. Officers hoped to catch him in the act so they could put him away for good. They were almost certain that Coral was responsible for the deaths of Small, Richmond and Huff. They just had to prove it.

Coral knew that he was being observed and he consciously suppressed his urge to kill or assault for two months. With no evidence to go on, the police ended their surveillance and brought Coral in for questioning. Werner said that Bunten interviewed him for approximately nine hours, but Coral refused to reveal any information.

Interestingly, Whitley alleged that Coral broke down in tears when Bunten graphically described how he believed the women were killed. Bunten was quoted in the article saying that, “it was the first real emotion we’d seen from him.” Coral asked to be excused so that he could contact his mother. After speaking with her, he wouldn’t discuss the cases any longer. Hewitt, Stewart and Cosgriff reported that following the interview, Bunten described Coral as “soft-spoken,” shy and agreeable, “if you could forget what he does.”

Eventually, Coral was released from police custody due to lack of evidence. At the time, he was suspected of at least two attempted murders and believed to have possibly committed five in and around the Detroit area. In the spring of 1981, Coral moved to Columbus, Texas where he found work at an oil company. He spent the weekend nights driving more than 70 miles to the Houston area. It would become his new hunting ground.

Houston skyline

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1. Danger on the Home Front
2. Bad Beginning
3. Troubled Childhood
4. Random Acts of Murder
5. Killing Rampage
6. Turning Up the Heat
7. Confessions
8. Pending Threat
9. Behind Bars for Good
10. New Chapter - Final Stretch
11. Bibliography