Naman Shrestha
Over the span of three months in 1996, Arlington saw the murder of two women — Christine Vu and Wendie Prescott — sending shockwaves across the entire community. It took the detectives about three years of investigation to find a break that cracked open the case. The detailed account of the entire case is explored in the episode titled ‘Dark Intentions’ of NBC’s ‘Dateline,’ from the investigation to the apprehension of the killer. Moreover, the episode also features interviews with the victims’ loved ones who were the most affected.
Both Wendie Prescott and Christine Vu Were Found Dead in Their Respective Bathtubs
Christine Huyen Vu was welcomed into the world by Vietnamese immigrants on January 15, 1971, in Vietnam. Growing up alongside three sisters, including Dr. Kim Kuo, and one brother, Christine was always cared for and loved by her family and friends. After graduating high school with flying colors, she studied at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Education in 1993. According to Dr. Kim, in her childhood, she used to play teacher in front of her siblings and teach them lessons on the chalkboard. Having a dream of becoming an educator, she achieved it as she bagged a job as a third-grade teacher at Morton Elementary School in Arlington.
Part of the reason why she was thrilled to become a teacher was the fact that she loved children. At the time of her demise, she was involved in a long-term relationship with a guy named Thang Khuu. She also had plans to complete her master’s degree from the University of Texas in Arlington as she wanted to become a school principal. However, her goals and aspirations remained unfulfilled as on September 17, 1996, the 25-year-old teacher was found dead in the bathtub of her Peartree Apartment, tied up and floating on water. As the police inspected the body, the cause of her death turned out to be strangulation. Another victim who died in a similar fashion was Wendie Rochelle Prescott, daughter of Ora Lee (Hawkins) Prescott and Eugene Young Prescott.
Just like Christine, she also lived in Peartree Apartments. Born on February 11, 1974, in Fort Worth, Texas, she grew up in a loving household in Mansfield along with her brother Cedric Scott Taylor and her sister Skyla K. Taylor. In 1977, when she was just three years old, she lost her mother, who was choked to death in a park. She completed her education in the public schools of Mansfield and graduated while becoming a member of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Mansfield. After that, she enrolled in a beauty college and on the side, she worked as a teacher’s aide for second-grade students at Erma Nash Elementary. Always greeting others with a smile on her face, Wendie was affectionate and loved to spend time with her family and friends.
For Christmas Eve 1996, she had planned to go on a shopping trip with her sister and spend time at her grandmother’s house. When she did not show up, her aunt and uncle were highly concerned about her. So, shortly after midnight on Christmas Day, when they went to her apartment, their eyes met the gruesome sight of Wendie lying face down in her half-filled bathtub, dead. They dialed 911 immediately, and when the authorities arrived at the scene, they learned that the 22-year-old woman was strangled, tied with duct tape, and raped.
Although they were able to collect a fingerprint at the apartments of both bathtub victims, it was of no help to the investigators at that time as the technology was not as advanced as it would be a few years later. Moreover, as the murders of Christine and Wendie shared several similarities, including the apartment complex where they were killed, the police were almost certain that the same perpetrator was responsible for both crimes.
A Neighbor of Wendie Prescott and Christine Vu Was Responsible For Their Murders
After gathering the evidence, the detectives interviewed the neighbors, family, and friends of Christine as well as Wendie, but they could not find any significant lead or clue. There was no development in the cases until three years later, when a suspect named Dale Scheanette was arrested for the burglary of a car audio shop in DeSoto in 1999. Thanks to the advanced technology, the fingerprints found at the apartments of Christine and Wendie were perfectly matched to Dale, leading to his arrest on September 5, 2000. As the detectives dug deeper into the life of Dale, who became known as the “Bathtub Killer,” they learned that he was the neighbor of the victims at the Peartree apartments.
Apart from the two murders, Dale was linked to at least five other criminal cases of rape. Finally, about seven years after the bathtub murders, Dale went to trial for the same on January 6, 2003. Just a couple of days later, on January 8, 2003, the jury found him guilty of the charges against him. During the trial, the prosecution called several witnesses, who were the rape victims of Dale, to the stand. All of them testified against the convict and told the court of the beatings and rapes he inflicted on them. Besides that, he allegedly threatened the victims and their families, stopping them to reach out to the police.
Considering the severity of his crimes and all the evidence against Dale, the court sentenced him to death on January 15, 2003. Following his sentencing, Dale filed several appeals to have his conviction overturned. But his appeals were rejected each time as the date of his capital punishment approached. On the evening of February 10, 2009, about 13 years after the murder of Christine Vu and Wendie Prescott, Dale was executed by lethal injection for the 1996 capital murder.
Read More: Margaret “Meg” Purk’s Murder: How Did She Die? Who Killed Her?
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