Carl Eugene Watts
“Morning Slasher”
By:
David Kristobak
Background
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At the age of 13 Watts suffered from meningitis and high fevers and he was
pulled out of school for several months.
During his illness he entertained himself by hunting and skinning rabbits.
His reading skills were far below that of his peers and he struggled with
retaining much of what was being taught.
He also enjoyed constant fantasies that involved torturing and killing girls.
When he was in grammar school, he was a shy and withdrawn child and was
often teased by the class bullies.
The decision was made to have him repeat the eighth grade, which humiliated
him.
He was constantly in trouble at school for physically confronting classmates,
especially the girls.
After finishing high school. Watts was accepted to Lane College in Jackson,
Tennessee on a football scholarship
The examining doctor described Watts as dangerous and felt he would most
likely attack again.
Crimes
Watts’ career as a serial killer began when he was 20 years old in 1974
Confessed to over 80 murders
Kidnapping, torturing, and then murdering all of his female victims.
In May 23, 1982, Watts was arrested for breaking into a home of two young women
in Houston, and attempting to kill them.
• Watts was sentenced to the agreed 60 years to life imprisonment in Michigan
• Carl “Morning Slasher” Watts was his nickname during the trials.
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Theory
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Strain Theory is the best theory represented by Watts. It explains how outside
social structures and other people within society were forming in his head and
making him perform these terrible acts. It explains his childhood and he was
treated by bullies who would constantly pick on him. Also how his family went
into shambles and how that shaped his way into developing a very dark state of
mind into murder. While carl was very young he was diagnosed with a terrible
disease making him to miss school and also repeat the grade he was in. So he
resorted to killing animals which was his first stepping stones to murdering
many people. His divorced and drug addicted mom would jump from man to man
constantly. Which would enrage Carl into his deep hatred of woman especially
those with similar characteristics of his mom. But what most infuriated Carl was
the constant bullying and teasing he get from his peers. His family was
considered very poor and not well of which gave a lot of headway to the bullying
from outside classes to come in and infuriate Carl into developing a criminal
attitude and a thirst for blood.
Cultural References
http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/evil-eyes6388157
http://murderpedia.org/male.W/w/watts-carleugene.htm
These are just a few references based upon
Carl’s life and all the events leading up to
his murder trials and his death.