The Texas Eyeball Killer

One item of interest found in Albright's home was a collection of red condoms, since that same color of condom had been found next to Shirley Williams' body. Albright also had a collection of books about serial killers and some Nazi literature. According to the "Autopsy" program (but no other source), the results of the search in his home turned up an obsession with dolls and eyeless masks, and Hollandsworth said there was a collection of female Lladro figurines. The HBO producers indicate that the police believed this "obsession with dolls" was connected with what would be learned about Albright: he had a fascination with eyes.

The police also recovered debris from his vacuum cleaner, and a collection of guns from his secret hiding place. At first he'd said he owned no guns, but caught in a lie, he had told them where to look. One weapon was a Smith & Wesson .44-caliber revolver, the type of gun they were looking for. But they had to test it to be certain it was the murder weapon. At another of Albright's properties, they discovered several X-Acto knives with razor sharp blades that could have been used to perform the precision surgery done to the victims. In fact, the blade from such an implement had broken off in the third murder victim.

X-acto knives, evidence

At the police station, Westphalen questioned Dixie, a former widow, first, and she was aghast that anyone would think that her husband had committed such violent crimes. He was an easygoing guy, liked by everyone. In fact, she offered an alibi: He was in bed with her every night. He did have an early-morning paper route, that was true, but he was always in bed when her alarm went off. When confronted with the fact that her husband had a criminal record, she admitted that she had not known about it. She also offered no reason why he would have condoms, since she was past menopause. She'd known about them but had never questioned him. Dixie continued to stand by him, but these revelations must have shaken her.

In the early morning hours, Westphalen finally questioned Albright, who adamantly denied knowing any of the murder victims — or any prostitutes — and refused to admit that he had anything to do with murder. He pointed out that his criminal record was for property crimes and offered a plausible story about the sexual assault conviction. He did know SpeeDee, one of his tenants, but did not know why his address was on the man's driver's license.

Later on, Albright's renter, SpeeDee, was questioned, because he'd been with Veronica and knew something about that assault. He told the police that Veronica had never brought Albright to his place, although they firmly believed that he had. SpeeDee remained a viable suspect as well, especially by Albright's friends, but Hollandsworth indicates that he hardly seemed a likely candidate for such skill with an X-Acto knife. SpeeDee insisted that it was not Albright from whom he had saved Veronica, but rather a Hispanic male whom he did not know. Despite his loose association, he was never as solid a suspect as Albright was. But even with him, there were questions.