Fatal Exam: Solving Lubbock's Greatest Murder Mystery

On Monday, December 4, 1967, a body was discovered in the Science Building of the largest university in West Texas. The next day, citizens of Lubbock gathered for the Carol of Lights, an event typically the centerpiece of the holidays for the quiet college town. But in 1967, the normal festive excitement and anticipation were swiftly shattered by the harrowing events that had occurred just twenty-four hours earlier.

For the first time, the account of this shocking murder has been painstakingly reconstructed by Alan Burton and Chuck Lanehart. Piecing together timelines based on interviews, journalists’ archives, courtroom transcripts, and the personal experiences of Lubbockites, Fatal Exam situates the murder, relates the capture, and details the trial of the crime’s perpetrator. Not your standard psychopathic master, the criminal at this tale’s center cuts a challenging profile, and his history shines an unusual light on the criminal justice system.

Fatal Exam is a crime story, but it’s also the story of a venerated institution in West Texas and the peculiar town-and-gown relationship that comes in such a far-flung setting.

Chuck Lanehart is a criminal defense lawyer based in Lubbock, Texas. In his four-decade career, he has represented citizens accused in almost the entirety of the Texas Plains and beyond. Since 2017, he has authored a regular column for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s “Caprock Chronicles” Sunday history feature. The History Press published his book Tragedy and Triumph on the Texas Plains in 2021, Marvels of the Texas Plains in 2022, and Evolution of the Texas Plains in 2023.