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RHONDA Bowie was a sex worker who was stabbed to death by the Eyeball Killer.
Her death at the hands of the evil murderer is dramatized in the new Lifetime movie Searching for a Serial Killer: The Regina Smith Story, which reveals how a rookie cop brought the killer to justice.
Horrifying crime
Rhonda was a sex worker who operated in Oak Hill, Texas, when she was stabbed more than 20 times by an unknown killer in October 1988.
Her killer is believed to be Charles Albright, a known murderer who was later found to have murdered a sex worker before removing her eyes.
Although Rhonda’s eyes were not removed, she is believed to be the first of Albright’s victims.
Albright was only confirmed to have killed one victim, Shirley Williams, but he remains the lead suspect in Rhonda’s case.
Not much is known about Rhonda’s life before her tragic death in October 1988.
The life of a killer
Albright was born on August 10, 1933, in Amarillo, Texas.
He was adopted by Delle and Fred Albright who introduced him to taxidermy.
Albright became obsessed with the practice and was particularly interested in the process of removing eyeballs.
He graduated from high school early, at the age of 15, but had several run-ins with the law because of a string of petty thefts.
Later, he was expelled from North Texas University at the age of 16, for possessing stolen cash, a rifle and two handguns.
Albright also sexually assaulted the daughter of one of his friends, before murdering Rhonda.
The Eyeball Killer
Mary Lou Pratt was the killer’s second victim and, like Rhonda, she was a sex worker.
She was also working in the Oak Hill neighborhood, at the time of her death, but the manner of her murder differed to Rhonda’s.
Mary was shot by her killer and was found by police to have had her eyeballs removed with surgical precision.
Susan Peterson, the killer’s third victim, was murdered on the same street as Mary and also had her eyes removed.
At this point, it was clear that there was an active serial killer in the area who was taking his victim’s eyes.
A man was finally arrested after the murder of Shirley Williams, a sex worker whose eyes were also taken.
Charles Albright was convicted for Shirley’s murder thanks to the efforts of Regina Smith, a rookie police officer who joined the case after Mary’s murder.
He was not convicted for Rhonda, Mary or Susan’s murders due to a lack of sufficient evidence but he remains the prime suspect in their cases.
