Against All Odds: How an Eleven-Year-Old’s Incredible Will to Live Helped Catch a Serial Killer

True Crime Nightmares
11 min read2 days ago
Mary Phillips and her daughter Lacey

WARNING: This article contains graphic images that may not be suitable for all readers.

Finding the Phillips

Just after midnight on June 7, 1995, police in the tiny burg of Bald Knob, Arkansas received a call from a man named James Phillips, who was beside himself with worry. He explained that he had been unable to reach his wife Mary and their eleven-year-old daughter Lacey since three o’clock the previous afternoon. After trying for hours to contact them without success, he requested assistance in finding the pair.

After learning that the missing woman worked at the county tax office, the officer on duty decided to make that his first stop. Upon entering the parking lot, he spotted a lone pickup truck, that he confirmed was registered to Mary Phillips, situated at the side of the building.

Shortly after making his way into the establishment through the unlocked front door, he made a gruesome discovery. Before him, lying on the floor with her hands bound behind her back, was the motionless body of a woman. When he knelt down to check for signs of life, he noticed that an electrical cord had been tied tightly around her neck. He had also taken note that she was nude from the waist down, suggesting that she…

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True Crime Nightmares

Author, victim advocate, true crime historian. For chilling content with a paranormal twist, check out my other Medium page, True Scares & Real-Life Nightmares.