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Texas True Crime: Decapitation Murders

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Texas True Crime: Decapitation Murders


HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Some of Houston’s grizzliest murders may be crimes you’ve never heard of. In 1979, a series of horrific killings terrified the city and left detectives baffled. Five young people were violently attacked – and in some cases, their bodies were left headless.

For more than 45 years, the families of those five victims have lived with the heartache of not knowing who killed their loved ones in such a gruesome way.

Sister Margaret Ann Calcutta says she is still searching for answers in her sister Mary’s murder. Mary Calcutta moved to Houston from Pittsburgh in the late 1970s, looking for adventure.

“Mary was always very happy, you know,” recalled Sister Margaret Ann. “We used to call her princess.”

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27-year-old Mary accepted a clerk job in Houston and got her own place at the Orchard Apartments, a sprawling complex that catered to young, single working professionals. But in July of 1979, her best friend in Pittsburgh remembers getting a frantic call from her.

“It popped right out of my mouth – why are you calling me on a weeknight?” said Beth McKinstry, who was Mary’s best friend. “She explained that there was a murder in her building and she was afraid.”

A couple floors below Mary, a 33-year-old single mom, Alys Rankin, had been found stabbed to death and sexually assaulted. But perhaps most disturbing, she had been decapitated – and her head was missing.

Beth McKinstry recalls how frightened Mary sounded on the phone.

“We talked about all the precautions that she could take,” she said. “We talked about not letting anybody in that you didn’t know. We talked about walking the halls and making sure you look over your shoulder.”

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But two weeks after Alys’s murder, police were called to another gruesome scene at the Orchard Apartments – this time, at Mary’s place. Mary’s body was found on her bathroom floor. She had been stabbed to death so many times that she was nearly decapitated. Police say she, too, had been sexually assaulted.

“I couldn’t process it,” said Beth. “But I remember that the detective called me and asked me some questions about Mary. Would Mary open the door for anybody that she didn’t know? I said absolutely not. I said she wouldn’t do that on a normal basis. And especially after we talked about that. I’m sure she wouldn’t do that.”

But, just seven hours before officers showed up at Mary’s apartment, there was another young woman violently attacked and killed. Doris Armstrong Threadgill was stabbed to death in her townhome, just nine miles north of the Orchard Apartments. The 26-year-old’s throat was deeply slashed, to the point that she was nearly decapitated. However, investigators noticed some differences this time. There were no signs of a struggle, like there were in Alys and Mary’s murders, and Doris wasn’t sexually assaulted.

“Either she made herself a very easy target or she knew the killer,” said HPD Detective Richard Rodriguez.

Then, two months later, another pair of violent slayings captured headlines. 18-year-old Bobby Spangenberger and 17-year-old Joann Huffman had been boyfriend and girlfriend for less than a year, when they were murdered in October 1979. Their bodies were dumped a few miles from each other in northwest Houston. Joann had been shot to death and her body was discovered in a park. Bobby’s body was found in the trunk of a vehicle at a used car lot – and his head was missing.

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“Our whole lives changed,” said Brenda Spangenberger, Bobby’s sister. “I mean, completely and totally in a second.”

Today, detectives are still trying to determine if all five murders are connected.

“I think it’s highly irregular that you have multiple suspects all in the same area decapitating people at the same time,” said Detective Rodriguez. “But I’m not ready to say it’s the same individual.”

Detective Rodriguez is examining crime scene photos and witness statements. But the missing piece in this case is forensics and all the advancements in DNA over the past four decades.

“With the technology we have today, there is a whole lot there,” he said.

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In our latest episode of Texas True Crime, we take you inside the evidence room in this case, for an exclusive look at what police collected and which items could possibly be tested for DNA. Plus, how Sister Margaret Ann Calcutta is working alongside a retired detective who vows to keep searching for answers in her sister Mary’s death.

“Texas True Crime: Decapitation Murders” is now streaming on the ABC13 app.

Watch Texas True Crime on your favorite streaming devices, like Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and GoogleTV. Just search “ABC13 Houston.”

Copyright © 2025 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.



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Texas man accused of killing pregnant wife allegedly cuts off ankle monitor and flees to Italy

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Texas man accused of killing pregnant wife allegedly cuts off ankle monitor and flees to Italy


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A Texas man facing charges for allegedly killing his pregnant wife has reportedly cut off his ankle monitor and fled abroad. 

Lee Mongerson Gilley, 39, is accused of murdering his wife, Christa Bauer Gilley, and the couple’s unborn child in Houston in 2024, according to KPRC. 

Gilley was set to appear in court Tuesday, but instead flew from Texas to Canada, and finally Italy, where he told authorities he was seeking asylum after being “wrongfully prosecuted” and is fearful of receiving the death penalty, his attorney told the outlet. 

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“I’m concerned that the prosecution will try to say that it’s evidence of consciousness of guilt that he’s running from it, but I think he’s just scared,” defense attorney Dick DeGuerin reportedly said.

NAVY RESERVIST ON ACTIVE DUTY ACCUSED OF MURDERING WIFE BELIEVED TO HAVE FLED TO HONG KONG

Lee Mongerson Gilley, 39, is accused of murdering his wife, Christa Bauer Gilley, and their unborn child in Houston in 2024, according to KPRC. (Christa Bauer Gilley/Facebook)

Gilley, whose murder trial was set to begin later this month, is reportedly in the custody of Italian authorities. His ankle monitor alerted authorities it had been tampered with on Friday, according to the outlet. 

DeGuerin told the outlet that before Gilley can be returned to Texas, the state must certify to Italy that he is not eligible for the death penalty — which the prosecution is not seeking in his case.

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Gilley is accused of killing his wife, Christa, and their unborn baby by “applying pressure to [her] neck and upper back” on Oct. 7, 2024, according to charging documents obtained by People.

HUSBAND CHARGED IN PREGNANT PHYSICAL THERAPIST WIFE’S MURDER AFTER GIVING POLICE A DIFFERENT STORY

Defense attorney Ed McClees and his client, Lee Mongerson Gilley, appear in the 497th District Court at the Harris County Justice Center in Houston on Oct. 17, 2024. Gilley is charged with capital murder in the death of his wife, Christa Gilley. (Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

Prosecutors reportedly allege Gilley initially claimed Christa, who was nine months pregnant, had overdosed and that he had tried to save her with CPR, but a medical examiner later pointed to evidence of strangulation and ruled her death a homicide.

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After he was arrested days later, Gilley allegedly admitted his wife was not a drug user or suicidal, and that the couple had been arguing before her death, KPRC reported. 

In 2025, while out on bond, prosecutors reportedly allege Gilley and an unnamed woman, whom he had an affair with in 2023, devised a scheme to flee to Mexico and other countries, according to the outlet.

MISSING FATHER OF 3 MAY HAVE FAKED HIS OWN DEATH AND FLED TO ‘SOMEPLACE IN EUROPE’: OFFICIALS

Prosecutors allege Lee Mongerson Gilley killed his wife, Christa Bauer Gilley, who was nine months pregnant, in Houston in 2024. (Christa Bauer Gilley/Facebook)

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“The Defendant also inquired as to whether she knew of a Mexican identity he could acquire to facilitate his departure from the country,” the document said.

Gilley also allegedly “provided a detailed plan” to remove his GPS monitor and perform a sham marriage to obtain a new identity, prosecutors reportedly said.

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Authorities are working to extradite Gilley back to the country, according to KPRC. 

Gilley’s defense attorney and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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Longhorns Daily News: Texas baseball’s Dylan Volantis named SEC’s Co-Pitcher of the Week

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Longhorns Daily News: Texas baseball’s Dylan Volantis named SEC’s Co-Pitcher of the Week


The Southeastern Conference (SEC) announced on Monday that Texas baseball pitcher Dylan Volantis will share this week’s Pitcher of the Week award with LSU’s Zac Cowan. From Texas Athletics’ announcement:

“Against No. 10 Mississippi State, Volantis registered a co-career-best 12 strikeouts and scattered three singles across six scoreless innings. After the Bulldogs notched a two-out infield hit in the first, the 6-foot-6, 220-pound left-hander retired 10 of the next 11 batters he faced. Volantis capped off that stretch by punching out the side on only 10 pitches in the fourth. Overall, the Thousand Oaks, Calif., native threw 107 pitches, which marked the most by a Longhorn this year. In Texas’ 3-1 victory, the Longhorns totaled 19 strikeouts, tying their most in a nine-inning game in program history.“

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WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT THE LONGHORNS

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  • What a ride it’s been for these seniors.



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‘Muslim only’ event at taxpayer-funded Texas waterpark gets major splash back: ‘Should we expect a Christians only day?’

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‘Muslim only’ event at taxpayer-funded Texas waterpark gets major splash back: ‘Should we expect a Christians only day?’


A taxpayer-funded Texas waterpark is getting splash-back for a “Muslims only” event next month after a local Islamic group rented out the facility.

A flier for the DFW Epic Eid event on June 1 noted three times that attendance was strictly for Muslims — and modest swimsuits are required.

“Seems like a civil rights violation,” one outraged commenter said.

“Should we expect a ‘Christians Only’ day?” another commenter asked.

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Radio host Dana Loesch asked, “How is a taxpayer-funded, city-owned entity allowed to discriminate against non-Muslims at a public water park?”

The initial flier for the event noted three times at it was “Muslim only.”

After the backlash, the organizer of the event, Aminah Knight, told The Post that she is backtracking on how she is advertising it — “to make it clearer that this is a modest dress-only event centered around celebrating Eid.”

The third-annual event is being held at Epic Waters in Grand Prairie, outside Dallas, a massive, 80,000-square-feet indoor waterpark opened in 2017 at a cost of $88 million.

The park was funded by a 0.25% sales tax residents approved at the ballot box in 2014.

The flier was later updated to note “modest dress only” and that “all are welcome.” DFW EID

The FAQ for the event says “the entire waterpark has been exclusively reserved for Muslims.”

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The event is being held at Epic Waters in Grand Prairie, Texas, a massive 80,000-square-foot indoor waterpark funded by a voter-approved sales tax hike in 2014. Facebook/Epic Waters Indoor Waterpark

Although the event website says men and women will not be separated during the event, it notes “we ask all attendees to uphold Islamic etiquette just as they do in other mixed gender spaces,” and encourages all visitors to follow a “modest” dress code and lower their gaze around members of the opposite sex “to help preserve a spiritually mindful and welcoming atmosphere for all.”

The event website included some suggestions on how attendees should dress to uphold Muslim modesty standards. DFW EID

The website offers suggestions, including an entire “what to wear” section of the site, complete with purchase links for modesty-approved swimwear for women, girls, boys and toddlers.

Event tickets are being advertised for $55 a pop, or $65 with food included, all of which will be certified halal, according to the flyer.

Also advertised is a private prayer room, which will be available between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. on the night of the celebration.

A new flier for the event — released on Monday — removed the worlds “Muslim only” and replaced it with “modest dress only” and added the line “come and celebrate Eid with us, all are welcome!”

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Knight told The Post that she did not mean to exclude non-Muslims in organizing the event.

“The core intention behind this event is to create a space where individuals and families who value modest dress and a modest environment can come together and feel comfortable enjoying a recreational space that often doesn’t naturally accommodate those preferences,” she said.

“While the event is rooted in celebrating Eid within the Muslim community, the guiding principle for attendance is the modest dress code.

“Guests are expected to follow that guideline; such as burkinis for women and swim trunks with shirts for men.”

Knight said the park regularly rents out the space for private events, and that this event is no different.

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A spokesperson for the water park said the event is “not hosted or organized” by Epic Waters, and that it makes its space available for rent to a variety of groups, including faith-based orgs like DFW Epic Eid.

“These groups regularly book our venue for birthday parties, celebrations, youth events, corporate programming, and other activities, including full-park buyouts for large-scale private or ticketed events. As with all rentals, the hosting entity, not the waterpark, determines the event’s programming,” the spokesperson said.



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