Shivangi Sinha
When Christine Vu was found murdered in her apartment on September 17, 1996, the crime scene was brutal. Her hands were tied, and she was placed face down in her bathtub. While the police were still trying to catch the perpetrator, a similar crime occurred in the same apartment complex on December 24, 1996. This time, the victim was Wendie Prescott. It wasn’t until 2000 that the police submitted forensic evidence from Prescott’s crime scene and found a match with Dale Scheanette, who had become known as the “Bathtub Killer.” NBC’s ‘Dateline’ episode ‘Dark Intentions’ provides a detailed timeline of his crimes and eventual capture.
Dale Scheanette’s DNA Was Linked to Two Murders and Five Assaults
Not much is known about Dale Devon Scheanette’s early life except that he was from Louisiana and worked many jobs. Throughout his life, he worked as a machine operator, warehouseman, forklift operator, and laborer. By the mid-1990s, he was in Arlington, Texas, and on September 17, 1996, he found his way inside an apartment complex where he attacked Christine Vu. She was found with her hands, legs, and neck tied with duct tape, placed head down in a half-filled bathtub. An autopsy later confirmed that she had been sexually assaulted and strangled after being tied up. It was a gruesome murder scene, and before the police could take any action, Dale had committed his second murder.
On December 24, 1996, when Wendie Prescott did not show up for a planned shopping trip with her aunts, they grew worried and went to her apartment to check on her. It was in the same apartment complex where Christine had lived. Upon entering, they found Wendie in a similar condition as Christine. She had been tied with duct tape, strangled, and placed in a bathtub. The nature of the crime and the similarities in its execution made the police suspect they were dealing with a serial killer. However, the killer went off the radar following these murders.
On September 21, 1998, a woman reported a sexual assault in her home by an intruder. On October 2, 1998, a Dallas police officer reported a similar incident, claiming she had been attacked after returning home from work. On December 18, a woman living in a Lancaster apartment in Arlington, Texas, also reported a sexual assault. On February 23, 1999, University of Texas student Chima Simone reported that she had been attacked in her sorority room. Adrienne Fields reported that on October 26, 1999, she had also been attacked in her home.
All these attacks shared a similar MO: the perpetrator attacked the victims inside their homes, intimidated them with a gun, and physically hurt them if they fought back. The DNA and fingerprints recovered from the five sexual assaults matched each other, confirming to the police that they had a serial rapist on their hands. In the summer of 2000, police working on Wendie’s case resubmitted the forensic evidence collected from the crime scene and found a match. The match was Dale, whose fingerprints had been collected by the police in May 1999 when he had been arrested for a burglary case.
It was surprising for the police to discover that his DNA also matched the profile of the perpetrator of the five sexual assaults. They noted that it was unusual for a criminal to deescalate his crimes over the years, as serial offenders typically tend to escalate in violence and brutality. Simone and Fields were able to identify Dale as their attacker. Simone even mentioned that she had bitten him to fend him off. The bite marks were found on his body, providing further evidence of his guilt. On September 5, 2000, Scheanette was arrested by the Arlington police in connection with Wendie’s rape and murder.
Dale Scheanette Was Handed Down a Death Sentence
The trial for Dale Scheanette began on January 6, 2003, focusing on the murder and rape of Wendie Prescott. He was also indicted for the rape and murder of Christine Vu and the sexual assault of five other women, though no charges had been filed for these crimes at that time. During the trial, all of his survivors attended and testified against him, providing compelling evidence of his brutality. On January 8, Dale was found guilty of capital murder. A week later, on January 15, the jury sentenced him to death. Following his conviction, he filed appeals, requesting a new trial and claiming that he had been unfairly represented and treated during the legal process.
All the appeals of Dale were rejected by the courts, and his execution was scheduled for 6 pm on February 10, 2009. Before his execution, he stated, “My only statement is that no cases ever tried have been error-free. Those are my words. No cases are error-free.” He was administered a lethal injection and pronounced dead at 6:21 pm. Some relatives of his victims, Christine and Wendie, were present during the execution, but he did not make any eye contact with them. Notably, the charges for Christine’s murder and the sexual assaults of the five women were never formally brought against him.
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