Charles Albright

Charles Albright was a serial killer in Texas between 1990 and 1991. He murdered several female prostitutes, engaging in paraphilic sexual behavior or autoerotic asphyxia, and in ritualistic trophy taking, surgically removing the eyeballs of his victims.

At the time of the murders, Charles was a 57-yearold husband and father, though he'd had an earlier history of juvenile delinquency, property crimes, and prior incarcerations. As a child, he experienced mental and emotional abuse, including rejection by his parents. In this unstable home environment, Charles developed an intense hatred for women, though as an adult, he often flirted with members of the opposite sex and enjoyed impressing them with his varied artistic talents. He was a skillful painter and musician, and women seemed to adore him. A very intelligent man, he was fluent (or at least claimed proficiency) in Latin, Spanish, and French, and became a biology teacher and skilled taxidermist. Charles had a great sense of humor and was portrayed as the class clown in college. He was also athletic, enjoyed coaching football, and played slow-pitch softball. People knew him as an affable man who knew how to mingle and be accepted in groups.

Yet this seemingly faithful family man had a disturbing side seldom seen by others. In fact, he was a consummate liar and con man, a true Jekyll-and-Hyde personality. Over time, he developed masochistic attitudes and carefully concealed his history of thefts, forging his college transcripts to make it appear that he had graduated. He was often unemployed and frequented prostitutes. In fact, he once referred to his biological mother as a prostitute, although there was no proof of his accusation. When he was 51 years old, [Page 24]he raped a 13-year-old girl but managed to minimize the incident.

From becoming increasingly sexually aggressive with women, Charles went on to murder several female prostitutes. He derived great satisfaction in bludgeoning and shooting his victims and also developed a fascination and obsession for their eyes. (He often attempted to paint “perfect” eyes but would sometimes do portraits without them because he felt he could not do them justice.) Autopsies performed on his victims revealed that their eyeballs had been surgically removed without damaging the eyelids. This trophy taking was his “signature.” The eyes were never recovered.

While incarcerated in a state prison, Charles has continued his obsession with eyes. He subscribes to a magazine devoted to iridology and has kept the first issue of Omni magazine (October 1978), which displays the image of an eyeball on the cover as if it were floating in the air.