Coral Eugene Watts: The Sunday Morning Slasher

Coalwood WV welcome sign

In the early 1950s, Coalwood, W.Va., resident Richard Watts married his young sweetheart, Dorothy Mae Young. Shortly after the wedding, the couple moved to Killeen, Texas, where Richard was stationed at Fort Hood Army Base. On November 7, 1953, the couple proudly welcomed the birth of their first-born child, Carl Eugene Watts. Just days after his birth they moved back to their hometown in West Virginia and a year later their second child, Sharon, was born.

The Wattses had an unhappy relationship that eventually led to a divorce in 1955. Following the breakup, Dorothy Mae moved with her two children to Inkster, Mich., where she found a job as a high school art teacher. Dorothy Mae, Carl and Sharon often returned to Coalwood to visit family members. According to a 1991 Houston Chronicle article by Evan Moore, Carl learned to hunt and skin rabbits in the rural area surrounding his grandmother's house, an activity he greatly enjoyed. His affection for the southern town later led Carl to change his name to Coral, a southern pronunciation of his name.

In 1962, Coral's mother married an Inkster mechanic and the couple had two more children. Coral had difficulty adjusting to the new situation because he didn't like his new stepfather. He may have feared he would lose his mother's attention.

At age 8, Coral developed meningitis, which almost killed him. Moore suggested his fever ran so high that doctors feared it could have caused slight brain damage. Coral missed a year of school because of the illness. He would never be the same again.