Continue the Incarceration of Serial Killer Coral Eugene Watts

Coral Eugene Watts began killing women in 1979, at the latest, while living Detroit and Ann Arbor, Michigan. Police were unable to gather enough evidence to arrest him but their surveillance drove Watts to move on to Houston, Texas, in 1981. Despite warnings from Michigan authorities an understaffed Houston Police Department did not have the manpower to keep a constant watch on Watts and he resumed his murderous activities. He was finally arrested on May 22, 1982, while fleeing the scene of a botched killing, which would have been his second slaying of that day. Texas authorities were also unable to link Watts by evidence to any of his Texas slayings and were forced to accept a plea bargain of 60 years without early parole for the attack in which he had been apprehended. In exchange Watts confessed to thirteen slayings in Michigan and Texas and recieved immunity for those particular murders. Watts later reportedly confessed in unspecific terms to a total of eighty slayings in Canada, Michigan, and Texas. A glitch in Watts' sentence now allows him to earn time off for good behavior so instead of serving his full sixty years in prison he is scheduled to be released in May 2006. He would be the first known American serial killer to be released. Watts told one investigator after his sentencing that if he "ever got out, I'm going to do it again." Described once as a "homocidal time-bomb", Watts should never be allowed to walk the streets again. Under the terms of his release he would not even be subjected to parole restrictions and the police cannot possibly watch him forever. We are urging Governor Perry to form a task force, including Canadian and Michigan authorities if necessary, to find any evidence linking Watts with any of his killings that his plea agreement did grant him immunity for. Then he could be tried and sent to prison for the rest of his life as he deserves.