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In the 1970s and 1980s, Odessa Texas inchter County saw a string of homicides.

Many of the murders there during this period weren't the result of Barroom brawls gone

bad or domestic violence that had escalated beyond the tipping point.

Rather, many were sexually motivated or seemingly carried out for the sheer pleasure the act gave the perpetrator.

Even after the arrests and convictions of madmen who roamed the dark streets of Odessa at night out for prey.

The slangs seem to continue unthorted.

Johnny Meadows, whose sexually inspired depravity, terrorized the West Texas City in the late 60s and early 70s

was convicted and locked up in 1973. Tommy Ray Neeland, who'd be convicted of a murder 73. 5 was once a prime suspect of Echter County Sheriff Slim Gabriel for a few Odessa murders.

Though he was never convicted of any of them, the possibility of the man being responsible for one or more isn't far-fetched.

By the early 1980s, plenty of Odessa murders, many bizarre and their perpetrations remained unsolved.

Such as the 1968 case of Lindeley Coogut, who slang

slang Meadows confessed to but later recanted, claiming he was physically coerced into it.

The 1970 stabbing and mutilation of Yula May Miller in her apartment baffled investigators, as did the 1971 murder of Ruth Maynard, the wife of an

Odessa police officer.

Johnny Meadows confessed to Ruth's slang too and recanted.

Both Ruth Maynard and Linda Coogut had been strangled to death with their own stockings.

These are far from the only unsolved cases in and around Odessa from this time period.

But when 1981 rolled around, the level of violence stepped up a notch, or rather several notches.

The year's violent crime rate was up over 80% from the previous year,

and these numbers reflected only the cases handled by the Echter County Sheriff's Office.

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