Advertisement

Coral Eugene Watts -- a psychotic woman hater and...

By OLIVE TALLEY

HOUSTON -- Coral Eugene Watts -- a psychotic woman hater and confessed killer of 11 women -- told investigators of yet another attack on a woman who was stranded on a freeway, authorities said Saturday.

Homicide Detective Boyd Smith said Watts, 28, told authorities about the Jan. 17 attack as officers took him through the streets of Houston Friday, retracing his trail of killings.

Advertisement

Watts, a bus mechanic diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic who believes all women are evil, already admitted killing 11 women in the Houston-Galveston area. Authorities also said he was considered a suspect in murders in Michigan and Canada.

'She was on a freeway. She was attacked from behind and had her throat cut,' Boyd said. 'Apparently she broke free and another vehicle drove up at the time of the attack and she jumped in the other car and got away.'

The woman was stranded on the freeway because of a tire blowout, detectives said. They refused to identify the woman or provide other details of the attack, but said it matched police reports filed at the time.

'It was brought up by Watts before we even knew about it. We found a report on it and talked to the woman. We have confirmed he was responsible for the attack,' said Homicide Lt. Guy Mason.

Advertisement

In a plea bargain with Harris County prosecutors, Watts was promised a 60-year prison sentence on a burglary charge and immunity from prosecution in exchange for information about unsolved slayings.

Since the deal was struck Tuesday, Watts has detailed the stabbing, strangulation and drowning deaths of nine Houston women, a Galveston medical student and a 14-year-old girl in Brookshire, Texas, west of Houston.

The confessed mass killer also admitted three other non-fatal attacks on women in the area, authorities said.

One of the attacks in Galveston, in which the woman survived a brutal slashing, resulted in another man's conviction and sentence to life in prison.

Galveston County District Attorney James Hury planned to re-examine the case of Howard Ware Mosley, 25, in the Jan. 30 attempted murder of Patty Johnson, 19.

In Michigan, where Watts was suspected in as many a 12 killings of women while living in the state until May 1981, officials were split on the question on giving Watts immunity for information about the slayings.

Prosecutors in Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo were reluctant to grant immunity but a prosecutor in Detroit said he was willing to grant Watts immunity for information about a Halloween 1979 stabbing in Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.

Advertisement

Watts' lawyers said their client must be guaranteed immunity from prosecution before he will discuss any other killings.

Latest Headlines