Latest news with #UnknownSerialKillersofAmerica
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Yahoo
Michigan serial killer Coral Watts is subject of new crime series on Oxygen network
Among his Michigan victims were the mother of a 3-year-old girl and a former Detroit News food writer. But it's suspected that serial killer Coral Eugene Watts slayed far more women than those tied to his court cases and confessions. Watts, who died in 2007 while serving two life sentences in Michigan, is the first subject of a new true crime series called 'Unknown Serial Killers of America.' It premiered May 18 on the TV network Oxygen. The series explores 'murderers who remain unknown to the general public, although they were as deadly as Dahmer and Bundy,' according to the Oxygen True Crime website. Watts was the focus of the first episode but before that he was the subject of much Free Press reporting amid the prosecution of his crimes. Here's what to know: Watts has been called one of the nation's most prolific serial killers. He operated in the 1970s and 1980s, confessed to killing people in Texas and Michigan, and was almost released on parole down south before Michigan stepped in with murder cases. Courts identified the serial killer who confessed to killing roughly a dozen women in Michigan and Texas as Coral Watts, but the Oxygen show identifies him as Carl 'Coral' Watts. The serial killer was born in Texas and named Carl, but 'changed his first name to Coral to reflect how Carl was pronounced in the Southern drawl of his mother's family,' the Free Press reported in 2004. Though born in Texas, Watts' parents divorced, and his mom moved him to Inkster, the Free Press reported in 2004. In his youth, he spent some time with a family member in West Virginia and stayed in Detroit's Indian Village, the Free Press reported. He attended Western Michigan University for a period. A former police chief once said his department's heavy surveillance of Watts after three deaths in Ann Arbor may have driven Watts to leave the state. Watts wound up back in Texas and later confessed to numerous murders there. Watts specifically confessed to 12 killings in Texas and one in Michigan but was convicted of two deaths in Michigan that he never copped to. When Watts died, it was reported that investigators thought he may have killed as many as 80 people. A Michigan investigator who tracked him and is included in the Oxygen show, Paul Bunten, once described an interview with Watts and three others in Texas in the early 1980s. Bunten said to Watts: "I don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many people you killed." Watts, according to Bunten, said: "There are not enough fingers and toes in this room." That's according to a Free Press report. Bunten, a former Ann Arbor investigator who became the police chief in Saline, later told the Free Press: "The number of women he actually killed is probably staggering.' Watts assaulted some women who survived, including several believed to have been in Windsor. Others were killed in his attacks. Suspected: Watts was interviewed but never convicted in three 1980 stabbing deaths in Ann Arbor. The suspect sought in the case was deemed the "Sunday Morning Slasher" given the time the three women were found. There was the Pioneer High School senior, Shirley Small, 17; the popular student hotspot Brown Jug Restaurant night manager Glenda Richmond, who was in her 20s; and University of Michigan graduate student and former airline stewardess Rebecca Greer Huff, 30, according to reports from The Ann Arbor News. A Court of Appeals order noted that Watts told an investigator they didn't need to keep looking for the killer in the Ann Arbor cases. As determined by conviction: Gloria Steele, 19, was a young mother and Western Michigan University sophomore when Watts stabbed her to death in 1974. Helen Dutcher was a 36-year-old woman living in Ferndale when Watts stabbed her to death in December 1979 in an alley near 8 Mile and Woodward Avenue. As determined by confession: Jeanne Clyne, 44, was a former Detroit News food writer and wife. Clyne was walking home from an appointment when Watts stabbed her to death on Halloween 1979 in Grosse Pointe Farms. Watts also confessed to strangling, hanging and drowning women in Texas. The women identified by the Free Press as his victims were: Linda Tilley, 22, a University of Texas senior; Elizabeth Montgomery, 25, who was walking her dog; Susan Wolf, 21, who was stabbed two hours after Montgomery; Phyllis Tamm, 27, who had been jogging; Margaret Fossi, 25, a student at Rice University; Elena Semander, 20, a University of Houston student; Emily LaQua, 14, who had recently arrived in Texas to be with her father; Edith (Anna) Ledet, 34, a newlywed celebrating her graduation from medical school; Yolanda Garcia, 22, the mother of a 6-month-old; Carrie Jefferson, 32, a post office worker; Suzanne Searles, 25, a graphic artist and aspiring children's book illustrator, and Michelle Maday, 23, who was leaving her own birthday party. Within hours of his attack on Maday, Watts tried to kill a pair of roommates in Texas. He tried to drown one and as he did, the other escaped over a second-story balcony with her hands bound and screamed for help, the Free Press reported in 2004. Police arrived and arrested Watts. He got a plea deal. In exchange for his murder confessions, he pleaded guilty to burglary with intent to commit murder and got immunity in those murders he admitted to, the Free Press reported. He was sentenced to 60 years in prison in 1982 but between an appellate decision and good behavior, he was set for parole in 2006, according to Free Press reports. In 2004, amid news coverage and pleas by officials, a witness to Helen Dutcher's murder in Ferndale reached back out to police. He provided key testimony at trial. Watts was convicted in Dutcher's death and, despite his pleas of innocence in the case, was sentenced to life in prison in late 2004. He was also charged in Gloria Steele's death. Watts died in 2007 from prostate cancer in the prison ward of a Jackson-area hospital, the Free Press reported at the time. He was 53. He had just been sentenced the week before in the death of 19-year-old Gloria Steele in Kalamazoo, the New York Times reported. While doing newspaper deliveries in his teens in Detroit, Watts beat a woman because he 'felt like it,' the Free Press reported. She was able to fend him off, and he was committed for several months to receive psychiatric treatment. A Texas official told a reporter that Watts viewed women as 'evil.' There was some debate over whether a bout of meningitis could have impacted Watts. He also described abuse at home and the killing of an uncle by an aunt, according to reporting by the Free Press. However, a psychologist once said Watts knew the difference between right and wrong but had no regard for it, the Free Press reported. One Michigan investigator who had sought Watts, Paul Bunten, once asked Watts why he killed, according to a Free Press article at the time of Watts' death. "He said he would take that to his grave, and he did," Bunten said. The show airs at 7 p.m. Sundays on Oxygen. Though the Watts episode ran May 18, it appeared to be listed for a re-run on the evening of May 19 and appeared viewable through services like YouTube TV. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Coral Watts subject of 'Unknown Serial Killers of America' on Oxygen
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Parachute's Memorial Day Sale Must-Haves: Shop Hollywood-Approved Bedding, Bath and Decor
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, The Hollywood Reporter may receive an affiliate commission. If anyone can lay claim to revolutionizing bedsheets, it's Parachute. The stylish home company changed the game of sheets shopping when it launched in 2014 as an online-only bedding brand, and since then, it has expanded to essentials for the kitchen and bathroom, while opening nearly 20 brick-and-mortar stores, including in its hometown of Los Angeles, New York, Austin, Seattle and Chicago. More from The Hollywood Reporter Marlon Brando Envisioned a Luxurious Eco Resort for His Private Island - Here's What It's Like to Stay at the Star-Loved Getaway Today How to Stream 'Unknown Serial Killers of America,' Oxygen's New True Crime, Online Free The Best At-Home IPL Laser Hair Removal Devices for Every Skin Tone (Plus, the Top Deals on Amazon) And during Parachute's Memorial Day Sale — running from May 15 through 28 — customers can snag all of the brand's best-selling pieces, new drops and even its rarely-discounted Eco Mattress for a fraction of retail price. Take 30 percent off everything and up to 75 percent off the sale section (an additional 30 percent off already discounted inventory). Plus, get a free gift on orders $1000+ (a Cloud Linen Gauze Bed Blanket). shop parachute's memorial day sale $1,050+ $1,500+ 30% off Buy at parachute Starting strong with the steepest savings, the L.A.-based brand's Last Call section is stocked to the brim with freshly reduced styles, including cult-favorite bedding, towels and bath mats, robes and loungewear and decor. Plus, all bed bundles, which have a built-in 15 percent discount, are treated to the bonus 30 percent price cut. 75% off last call save more on bed bundles $544.60+ $778+ 30% off Buy at parachute Buy at parachute $355.81+ $355.81+ The brand has quite the celebrity following, too. In June of last year, Parachute collaborated with rapper Tyler, The Creator on a home goods capsule. While supplies last, customers can grab the remaining styles at a 30 percent discount. $209 $299 30% off Buy at parachute Below, we rounded up more of the best items to buy from Parachute's annual sale. From classic percale sheets and minimalist-chic linen coverlets, to waffle towels and cloud-like comforters, shop a few of our top picks below. $90.30 $129 30% off Buy at parachute $55.30+ $79+ 30% off Buy at parachute $327.60 $468 30% off Buy at parachute $109.20 $156 30% off buy at parachute $161.70+ $231+ 30% off Buy at parachute $25.20 $36 30% off Buy at parachute $104.30 $149 30% off Buy at parachute $48.30 $69 30% off Buy at parachute $104.30 $149 30% off Buy at parachute Parachute launched with its crisp percale bedsheets, but now the brand also offers organic and brushed cotton, linen, and sateen bedding. Prices range from $59 and up for the percale pillowcase set (currently on sale for $41.30 and up) to $778 and up for the linen bed bundle (currently on sale for $554.60 and up). Not sure about the difference between all of Parachute's fabrics? The brand's percale and sateen bedsheets are both made of 100 percent long-staple Egyptian cotton and meet the Oeko-Tex Standard 100. However, hot sleepers will prefer the percale, which has a crisp, matte and lightweight finish to keep you cool at night. The silky-soft sateen sheets have a smooth feel, while the tight (but still breathable) weave is ideal for keeping cold sleepers warm. Parachute's naturally antimicrobial linen sheets are made of European flax, and are ideal for all types of sleepers year-round as they're breathable for warm days but cozy enough for cool nights. The brand's brushed cotton also has a buttery-soft percale weave that's light and crisp, but the material has a warmer and cozy feel that the brand says is warmer than its classic percale but cooler than sateen. Its organic cotton meets GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certification. The brand's down fill is made of European white down (85 percent clusters, 15 percent down and feather fibers) and the down alternative is made of 100 percent hypoallergenic microfiber. The company offers towels in a range of fabrics: a plush Turkish cotton that dries quickly, a supersoft rib cotton, a lightweight waffle weave and 100 percent organic cotton. All of Parachute's materials Oeko-Tex Certified Standard 100 guidelines, so textiles are tested for harmful substances, color fading and acidity to ensure the health of factory workers and consumers alike. We also love that the company offers free carbon-neutral shipping, a 100-day mattress trial and 60-day returns if you're not in love with your bedsheets or towels. Shop the Parachute savings event here. Best of The Hollywood Reporter From 'Lady in the Lake' to 'It Ends With Us': 29 New and Upcoming Book Adaptations in 2024 Meet the Superstars Who Glam Up Hollywood's A-List Rosie O'Donnell on Ellen, Madonna, Trump and 40 Years in the Queer Spotlight
