several years before this book had even been conceived. One of these involved discovering in 2001 that a girl I had gone to school with had been convicted of murder and been sentenced to many years in the Texas prison system. The other involved author Robert E. Howard, to whose home and gravesite I made a pilgrimage in early 2003.
Going beyond the specific contents of this book, I have had a number of interesting encounters since moving to Texas in 2009 either tangential to the material I have included in it or, at least, evocative of it. These include interviewing a caterer who ended up being charged with more than a hundred counts of child pornography; having lunch and several rounds of drinks bought for me and another reporter by an attorney reputed to be a mouthpiece for the Mexican Mafia; being “profiled” by an almost open sociopath who presents himself as a federal agent, which he may or may not actually be; and being acquainted with someone involved in an apparent Medicaid scam.
Working as the news reporter and editor—the Hilltop Reporter in Comal County also affected my attitudes toward iniquity in the Lone Star State. I was verifiably lied to by at least some members of every single local board I covered, especially those associated with fire departments. Having the newspaper I helped run fold after just two years largely because of a lack of community support certainly did nothing to diminish the cynicism that seems to be an inevitable result of working as journalist.
There is a widespread perception, both in and outside of Texas, that the state’s justice system is particularly severe, something that a little observation will reveal is only partially the case. It is true that a disproportionate number of black men have been given harsh sentences or put to death, and that a number of them have subsequently been proven innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted. Texas also has a history of coming down hard on drug offenses, and it is certainly true that much of the state’s prison system is particularly grim.
Overall, however, the system is strikingly lenient toward violent crimes, especially those perpetrated by whites. Historically, it has set free an amazing number of criminals, often as a result of administrative issues like prison overcrowding, caused in part by over-incarceration for nonviolent crimes. Some of the state’s most heinous criminals have not only gotten relatively light sentences, they have been released while they were still young enough to effectively continue their depredations.
Serial killer Kenneth Allen McDuff, for example, was given three death sentences but was released after just a little more than two decades in prison—and subsequently killed at least another eleven people. He was part of a broader wave of clemency that led to the release of a stunning 60,000 “low-risk” offenders and 127 convicted murderers, 20 of them former death row inmates. And confessed killer Janice Marie Vickers, whose murder trial I covered in 2009, received just seventeen years for what is generally known as First-Degree Murder—and simply Murder in Texas—meaning she will probably serve less than five years in prison for deliberately running over an old lady’s head multiple times with a car.
So, to say that I have been personally moved by my involvement with this book would certainly be true. And, if I have done my job well, then you will also be moved by some of the stories in this book and find them to be as fascinating as I do!
Michael O. Varhola
Canyon Lake, Texas
May 2011
Acknowledgments
A GREAT MANY OF MY FRIENDS, family, and associates deserve recognition for the roles they played during the development of Texas Confidential.
Foremost among the people who are due thanks is my wife, Diane. Among other things, she traveled with me to a number of the sites associated with the various chapters, discussed the project to one extent or another on almost a daily basis, and carried the weight of household responsibilities so that I could devote the necessary time and effort to this project.
Karen Holmes, publisher of the Hilltop Reporter, deserves thanks both for providing a venue that allowed me to work as a journalist in Texas and for offering encouragement and information throughout the development of this book.
Gratitude is due to the hosts, organizers, and affiliates of Psi-Fi Radio, a paranormal-themed show I appear on regularly. Donna Stewart, Sharon Kincaid, Laura Schier, and Clarence Rice encouraged me to discuss this book and some of its weirder chapters on the show. Fellow Texan Lydia Aswolf, host of the show Lydia’s Literary Lowdown, also provided a platform for me to discuss my activities and provided ongoing encouragement during the progress on this book.
A group of people who deserve recognition for their help include the staff at Clerisy Press, including editors Jack Heffron and Donna Poehner, marketing and publicity specialists Kara Pelicano and Hillary Bond, and publisher Richard Hunt, all of whom provided critical support, guidance, and encouragement during the development of Texas Confidential. Thanks, too, to John Boertlein, author of two of the other books in the series of which this book is a part. The chapter “Walking Tall in the White House” in this volume was adapted from his book Presidential Confidential.
A number of fellow writers, editors, and publishers warrant some acknowledgment for their general encouragement and specific contributions. These include Dominick and Charlene Salemi of Brutarian magazine, for which I write “The X-Phile” column on the paranormal; journalist Theron Brittain, who covered the Vickers murder trial with me; newspaperman J.D. Prose, who has always set a standard in my mind; Chip Cassano, who introduced me to the works of Cormac McCarthy; author Gary Cartwright, whose books on Texas history and crime were invaluable resources for me; Jake Silverstein, editor of Texas Monthly magazine, whose research into the final days of Ambrose Bierce helped me with my own chapter on that subject; and crime author Jesse Sublett, who very generously agreed to write the foreword to this edition of the book at the last minute.
Several friends also followed the progress of this book and periodically provided comments or encouragement on various aspects of it, among them Rick Atkinson; Richard Balsley; Coleen Cox; Caroline Eveningstorm; Nikolas Orion French; Rebecca Gallagher; Robert Gruver; Denise Lindsey; Jon Reichman; Terri Rodabaugh; Roxie Ann Young Sasiela; William Thrasher; Chris Van Deelen; my parents, Mike and Merrilea Varhola; Pete Wyeth; and Stan, Charmaine, and Sean Swearingen.
A number of the proprietors of various sites I visited or people I encountered in the process of doing so deserve my thanks as well, and these include Mark Priest of Miss Hattie’s Bordello Museum in San Angelo.
Various law enforcement personnel I have worked with over the past few years also warrant mention here, not necessarily because they directly assisted with this book but because they have generally been helpful in providing me with information related to my journalistic activities. They include Lieutenant Mark Reynolds of the Comal County Sheriff’s Office, Chief Joe Hamilton of the Bulverde Police Department, and trooper Rick Alvarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
It is important to recognize the work of the many authors, editors, journalists, radio and television reporters, contributors to online sites, and others who created the vast body of published information that I drew upon for this book.
I would also like to thank all of the editors, colleagues, family members, business associates, and friends who patiently—or, in some cases, not so patiently—waited for me to fulfill my obligations to them while I was focusing so much of my attention on this project.
Finally, if there is anyone I have left out of these acknowledgments, I would like to sincerely beg their forgiveness and thank them for their help as well!
INTRODUCTION
“Everything is bigger in Texas,” as the saying goes, and this certainly applies to
