Episode 1: In Loving Memory

Karl Richter True Crime Texarkana is brought to you by J.E. Bonding, Texarkana, Arkansas' premiere bail bond company. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, J.E. Bonding can handle all your bail bond needs. Agent Mark Luckett will provide you with fast, courteous service and do his best to help you through a trying time. Mark has all the experience you need to make the best of a sad situation. That's why he likes to say, "Two tears in the bucket, call Mark Luckett." Call him at 903-748-1402 or visit J.E. Bonding at 2315 East Street near the Miller County Sheriff's Office and Detention Center. That's 903-748-1402. Karl Richter It's been more than 40 years since their father found siblings Karen and Gordon Alexander brutally attacked in their Texarkana, Arkansas, home. Thirteen-year-old Gordon, dead on the scene, was found in a pool of blood. Karen, 14, spent three days in the intensive care unit at St. Michael's Hospital before dying of brain injuries. The case has never been solved. But now, those who never forgot the horrifying crime, including a retired police captain, have new hope that justice can finally be served. This is True Crime Texarkana: The Alexander Children Murders. Karl Richter Reporter Mallory Wyatt has been examining the case. Mallory Wyatt When I first heard of the Alexander murder case, what stood out to me is how people are still scared about it, even over 40 years later. I remember hearing people talk about how close they lived to the family, how their childhood friends used to play with them, how the case still haunts them even today. I first heard about the case when I just started at the Gazette. Senior Reporter Lori Dunn was reporting on a memorial for Karen and Gordon. Months later, Gazette Features Editor Karl Richter interviewed genetic genealogist Cheryl Hester about the case, and my interest began to pique. Later, Karl mentioned the case could be a good subject for a podcast. I mapped out on a sticky note how it makes sense to dissect a case based on what little knowledge I had about crime procedure. I used to be an intern for a while in college for a fantastic attorney who I learned a lot from, and my dad used to be a police officer, as well. I held on to the information for a few days and contemplated what I would feel like if a stranger contacted me about a friend that passed away too young and in such a horrible way. But I took a chance and reached out. Carla Lewis responded immediately that she would be coming to Texarkana from out of town that weekend and that we could meet on Sunday. I honestly felt a bit shocked at how serendipitous this was. Carla had attended school with Karen a short time before she moved to Bloomburg, Texas. She thinks about the case often and returns to the yearly remembrances of the Alexander children. She came to the Texarkana Gazette offices on Broad Street with her husband after they had spent time with their grandchildren. Karl liked the outline, which surprised me. So I dived into research. From that point on, I really haven't been able to stop. With time and research, I've become personally invested in making sure that Karen and Gordon and their parents Weldon and Vera receive justice for what happened to their family. It's also become important for me to see retired police captain Calvin Seward solve the case that has haunted him since he was a young beat cop in 1981. Karen was born on September 28, 1966, in Cass County, Texas, to Weldon and Vera Jeannette Alexander. She was a young teenage girl with red hair, featuring a short fringe, fair complexion, and she wore coke-bottle glasses associated with the telltale trends of the '80s. Karen often helped around the house, cleaning, cooking and making coffee for her mother. Calvin said he's come to feel that Karen was the glue that kept the family together. Reading through newspaper archives and obituary notices were informative. But the words on the pages all rang hollow to me. What I really wanted to know was what Karen and Gordon were like when they were alive. Karl got in touch with one of Karen's classmates when he first learned about the Justice for Karen and Gordon Alexander Facebook page, and he passed her contact information to me. Carla Lewis I guess I kind of got to know Karen my seventh grade year at College Hill. She was very quiet, uh, very — kept to herself a lot, didn't really do a lot of socializing with anybody. I mean, you never knew she was in the classroom. She was such a quiet person, and she she was such a sweetheart, too. Mallory Wyatt Her American history teacher, Susan Sanders, said Karen was "a pretty smart little girl who seemed to get along with the other students. She had a soft-spoken voice and was not really a student you really had an occasion to get to know. If you didn't talk to her, you could go two to three days without hearing her voice." Weldon said his daughter had recently gotten second place at her school spelling bee and enjoyed reading and spelling in school. She also liked riding her bicycle and wanted to be a nurse when she grew up. At the time of her death, Karen attended College Hill junior high school as an eighth grader and was a member of Trinity Baptist Church. Her younger brother, Gordon Dale Alexander, was born on December 10 of 1967 and was outgoing, kind and, according to classmates, did a mean Elvis Presley impersonation. He was born with a congenital heart defect corrected with two open heart surgeries. Later in life, Gordon had a stroke that weakened the left side of his body. Texarkana, Texas, Police Department crime scene investigator Marc Sillivan was friends with Gordon when the two boys were in elementary school. Sillivan protected Gordon once from a playground bully and has had an everlasting connection to him through his father, Bill Sillivan, who was the Twin Cities' first crime scene detective. Marc Sillivan Gordon and I went to College Hill Elementary together. We had — we were in several classes together. You know, of course, he had a disability. He was paralyzed on the left side of his body. And in school, always, I always talked to Gordon. We talked to each other, you know, we didn't hang out with each other, but we knew each other and casual friends, so to speak. Yeah. And he was very hyper, very active, you know, and kind of stayed in trouble quite a bit. But along with him staying in trouble quite a bit and with his disabilities, he was also the target of a lot of bullying and things like that. I actually remember one of my first physical altercations I got into was a kid had pushed Gordon down on the playground and was hitting him in the chest. And I went over and knocked him off of him and told him, "Hey, if you want to pick on somebody, pick on me." Mallory Wyatt A few months before the attack, the 13-year-old boy fell off of his bicycle, broke his hip and was in the hospital for a number of days. He hadn't been able to attend school since falling off his bike. But he had several friends at Temple Memorial Treatment Center, where he received physical therapy for his hip. His physical therapist, Becky Massirer, said Gordon was very popular with the doctors, nurses and other patients and that he never met a stranger. Multiple members of the staff said he was also very charming. Marc Sillivan Of course, he was a classmate. So yeah, I was informed later on that, you know, whenever he doesn't show up to school, what happened? I think back and I can't really remember anything specific, you know, of a certain feeling or anything. I guess when you're that age, you kind of think, "OK, well, he's gone. He moved off for or whatever." It wasn't, uh, from what I can remember as a as a child, not really out there for us. You know what I mean? So I'm sure you know, I do know, that that was one of the cases ... my dad never brought cases home. He kept, he kept work and sep —. But I remember that one always kind of, kind of bothered him because one of the victims was his son's age, you know, and it's very different whenever you can really relate to a victim of a crime. Mallory Wyatt In an interview after his son's death, Weldon said that he and Gordon watched football games together on TV. Gordon also enjoyed collecting little cars and sports magazines. He hoped to be a field goal kicker when he grew up. The Alexanders moved into their family home in 1975. Weldon, 47, had been an employee at the local Cooper Tire and Rubber Company plant for 16 years. Carla Lewis I didn't really know the mother that well, but I had met the father a few times. And he was, he was always a very nice man, very polite, well mannered, very soft spoken. He worked a lot, so I didn't really see him very much. But you know, I would see him with the kids, you know, at the grocery store and places like that. And he always would smile and say hello. And he was just, he was just a very kind man. Mallory Wyatt Reverend Wallace Edgar was the family's pastor at Trinity Baptist Church. He and his wife, Mary, didn't know the family well prior to the attack that killed Karen and Gordon. But the reverend and his staff tried to help Weldon and Vera as much as they could afterward. Wallace Edgar I will say this about Vera, was that she, as far as I can tell, she was a loner. Mallory Wyatt Vera, 34, stayed at home due to a chronic illness, which required her to be under a doctor’s care. At the time, neighbors said the Alexanders kept to themselves and never had visitors at the home. Karen and Gordon were often seen riding their bikes with the other neighborhood kids. The more I find out about what happened to the Alexander family, the more I realize that there aren’t many stories about who they were. And the passage of time hasn’t helped. Over the course of 41 years, people move, people pass away, memories fade and people lock things away in an unreachable place because they’re just too hard to cope with. In that time, the murders have unified Texarkana residents not only in their sadness, but also in their desire to find justice. Wallace Edgar Children are special to the Lord, because he said, he said, you come as a little child, with childlike faith. Mallory Wyatt Every April 8th, the anniversary of the attack, the community has kept their porch lights on in memory of the two children who were so violently ripped away. Carla Lewis I think maybe they're afraid or maybe they feel like what they know is not important enough to even be a factor in this. But if you know something, no matter how tiny it might be, tell somebody. Come forward with it. It might be the key that we need to get this closure we need, because the family needs closure. Her friends, those of us that knew Karen and Gordon and loved them, we need we need that closure. Karl Richter If you know of any information regarding the Alexander murders, call retired police captain Calvin Seward at 903-826-4702 or email him at the address in the show notes. No detail is too small, and it may just lead to closure in this case. The story will continue in future episodes of True Crime Texarkana. True Crime Texarkana is a Texarkana Gazette podcast created in Starbear Studio, right here in downtown Texarkana, USA. Mallory Wyatt reported and wrote the show. Karl Richter produced, edited and contributed vocals. Chris Finley composed the main theme music. To support the show, leave a five-star review wherever you listen.