| Charles Anthony Boyd | |
| Alias: | The Bathroom Slayer |
| Birth Date: | 17 August 1959 |
| Birth Place: | Dallas, Texas, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Huntsville Unit, Huntsville, Texas, U.S. |
| Cause: | Execution by lethal injection |
| Victims: | 3 |
| Conviction: | Capital murder |
| Conviction Penalty: | Death |
| Country: | United States |
| States: | Texas |
| Beginyear: | 1986 |
| Endyear: | 1987 |
| Apprehended: | April 14, 1987 |
| Criminal Status: | Executed |
Charles Anthony Boyd (August 17, 1959 – August 5, 1999)[1] was an American serial killer who raped and killed three women in North Dallas, Texas, from 1986 to 1987. As each of the victims' bodies were found in their bathrooms, the local media dubbed the case The Bathroom Slayings. He was convicted and sentenced to death for the final murder and was executed by lethal injection in 1999.[2] [3] [4]
A native of Dallas, Boyd was sentenced to five years in prison for sexual assault and burglary.[5] He was later granted early release in November 1985, after serving less than half of his sentence, after which he began working as a janitor at a nearby bank.[5] From July to September 1986, Boyd lived with his brother at his brother's apartment.[5] [6]
Boyd committed his first murder on July 22, 1986, when 37-year-old Tippawan Nakusan, a Thai immigrant who lived in the apartment just upstairs of his and worked as a waitress, was found stabbed and suffocated to death in her bathtub.[5] [7] On September 15, 1986, an apartment cleaning lady chanced upon 22-year-old Lashun Chappell laying dead in her apartment bathroom. She had been fatally stabbed to death.
On April 13, 1987, 20-year-old Linda Williams returned home to her apartment from work and found her roommate, 21-year-old Mary Milligan's body stuffed in a bathtub, raped, strangled, and drowned.[6] While investigating police assumed her killer was the same one who killed Naksuwan and Thomas, by that time locals and the media had applied the pseudonym of "The Bathroom Slayings" to the string of murders. While observing the scene of Milligan's murder, it was found that some items had been stolen from the apartment. Milligan's car, a 1982 Cadillac was also reported to be stolen from the complex's parking lot. It was later found abandoned.[8]
The next day, Boyd was arrested after he attempted to pawn off several of Milligan's personal items.[6] A blood and hair test was conducted after his arrest and confirmed his involvement in her death. After his arrest, he was questioned about the murders of Nakusan and Thomas, to which he confessed. In late April, Boyd was charged with the three counts of capital murder, but prosecutors only moved forward with the Milligan case because it contained forensic evidence. The trial began in early October and Boyd's lawyers claimed he was mentally retarded and therefore could not be given a death sentence. His lawyers contested Boyd had a reported IQ of 67, but another prison file listed his IQ as being 80.[9] After ten minutes of deliberating, the jury reached a guilty verdict for Boyd in November 1987, and a month later they sentenced him to death.
On August 5, 1999, Boyd was executed by lethal injection in the execution chamber at the Huntsville Unit, twelve days shy of his 40th birthday. Prior to his execution, he was asked if he would like to make a final statement, for which he declined. When the drugs took effect, however, he claimed that he was innocent; "I want you all to know I did not do this crime. I wanted to wait for a thirty day stay for a DNA test so you know who did the crime."[2] [3] Not long after, Boyd let out a gasp and went silent. He was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m.[2]
