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PHOTO: Dale Devon Scheanette. via TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICEIn 1996, two gruesome murders shook an apartment complex in Arlington, Texas. Christine Vu, a 26-year-old elementary school teacher, was discovered dead on September 17, 1996. According to WFAA, her body was found bound with duct tape and strangled in a partially filled bathtub.
A little over three months later, the killer struck again in the same apartment complex. On December 24, 1996, 22-year-old teacher’s aide Wendie Prescott, who lived next to Christine Vu, was discovered bound with duct tape and strangled in her bathtub. Like Vu, Prescott had been sexually assaulted, per WFAA.
"The crime scenes were absolutely horrific -- brutal and violent, the worst nightmare for anyone confronted with that kind of attack," said Arlington detective Tommy LeNoir to the outlet . "The worst thing you could ever walk into. People were scared stiff. Cops were pulling their hair out, trying to catch this guy."
They had a fingerprint from Prescott's place, but it led nowhere. Four years, no suspect. The lucky break? Scheanette got busted robbing a car stereo joint in DeSoto back in '99. This seemingly unrelated crime would prove to be his undoing.
Investigators obtained a search warrant and collected blood samples from Scheanette. DNA analysis linked him to the two murders, and as LeNoir explained, "From that point, we started getting hits on other cases, the sexual assaults. It just snowballed." Scheanette was subsequently connected to four more sexual assaults that occurred between September 1998 and October 1999.
In January 2003, Scheanette was found guilty of capital murder for Prescott's death. While he was charged with Vu's killing, he was never tried for that crime. The "Bathtub Killer" was sentenced to death for his heinous acts.
On February 10, 2009, at the age of 35, Scheanette faced execution. When asked if he had any final words, he responded, "My only statement is that no cases ever tried have been error-free. Those are my words. No cases are error-free."
When they finally got Scheanette, it helped the victims' families and Arlington folks sleep a little easier. His sick crimes still haunt people, showing why detectives can't give up on cold cases.
