Who was Shirley Williams? Sex worker murdered by Eyeball killer Charles Albright

SHIRLEY Williams was the only confirmed victim of Charles Albright, who was known as the Eyeball killer. 

Her tragic murder is explored in the new Lifetime movie Searching for a Serial Killer: The Regina Smith Story, which follows a rookie police officer’s efforts to catch Albright. 

Tragic murder

Shirley was a sex worker, who operated in Texas before her death. 

She was murdered by Albright, AKA the Eyeball Killer, and left outside an elementary school with her eyeballs removed. 

Shirley is believed to be Albright’s fourth victim, but charges against him were dropped for the three other murders due to a lack of concrete evidence. 

He still remains the prime suspect in those cases.

Initially, Shirley’s murder baffled the authorities as she represented a break in the killer’s established pattern. 

Shirley was an African American woman who was older than the killer’s previous victims. 

All of the people that the Eyeball Killer murdered were sex workers, but, prior to Shirley’s death, they were all young and white.

Also, her eyes were less precisely removed than the previous victims.

The work of a rookie police officer uncovered Albright’s crimes and finally brought him to justice. 

Shirley’s killer is caught

Regina Smith is a former police officer who joined the police force after Albright’s second victim, Mary Lou Pratt, was discovered.

She resolved to bring the killer to justice, so she could give the victims’ families “closure” which included finding the victims’ eyeballs. 

Regina brought Albright to justice, after gathering enough evidence to put him behind bars for Shirley’s murder. 

Albright spent the rest of his life in prison, after being arrested in 1991. 

He died decades later on August 22, 2020, at the age of 87.

Chilling killer

Albright was born in Amarillo, Texas, on August 10, 1933, and was adopted by Delle and Fred Albright. 

His adoptive mother introduced him to taxidermy, which became something of great interest to Albright. 

He even enrolled in a taxidermy course where he became obsessed with the process of removing eyeballs. 

Albright graduated from high school at the age of 15, despite committing a string of petty thefts, and attended North Texas University. 

He was expelled from the college and, later, arrested at the age of 16 for being in the possession of some stolen cash, a rifle and two handguns. 

Albright then sexually assaulted the daughter of one of his friends, after his release.

He allegedly murdered a 30-year-old sex worker named Rhonda Bowie, in October 1988, before allegedly murdering Mary Lou Pratt. 

After Mary’s murder, he struck again with the alleged murder of a 27-year-old sex worker named Susan Peterson. 

Although he was never convicted of these murders, he was convicted for Shirley’s murder which saw him spend his life behind bars.