After two women were found strangled to death in the bathtubs of their Arlington apartment complexes – and several more were assaulted in their homes – police didn’t know where to start looking for potential suspects.
Police recall women moving out of their Texas apartments in masses, fearing for their safety, as the Arlington Bathtub Killer is revealed years later – and justice restored – in a brand new NBC Datelinetrue crime episode on Friday, June 7, 2024, at 9 pm ET.
Who was the Arlington Bathtub Killer?
Dale Devon Scheanette was born on May 7, 1973, in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana.
Now known as the Arlington Bathtub Killer, Scheanette became a machine operator, warehouseman, forklift operator, and laborer.
Scheanette was also a bouncer at a local nightclub in Arlington, where he reportedly saw – and began stalking – his victims.
Between December 1996 and October 1999, Scheanette sexually assaulted multiple women in their apartments.
He also killed both Christine Vu and Wendie Prescott in their apartment complex, strangling them to death – and leaving their bodies in the bathtub.
Despite police uncovering DNA samples at the scenes of the crimes, they couldn’t find their culprit.
However, Scheanette, careful when committing his assaults – and murders – was finally arrested in Dallas, Texas, in May 1999 for criminal mischief.
He was convicted and served a year in jail– and his prints entered the system.
Arlington police continued to submit and resubmit both fingerprint and sperm samples to the FBI, hoping they would find a match.
In 2000, the FBI finally found a match – Dale Devon Scheanette – who had entered the system upon his arrest the year before.
In September 2000, police finally made their move, arresting Scheanette for murder.
They had finally captured the elusive Bathtub Killer.
Who were Wendie Prescott and Christine Vu?
Wendie Prescott and Christine Vu were two of Scheanette’s victims.
Prescott was born on February 11, 1974, in Fort Worth, Texas.
She was an employee at the Mansfield School District, working as a second-grade teacher’s aide.
Prescott was enrolled in college and hoped to be a teacher after graduation.
In a chilling twist, Prescott’s own mother was murdered in June 1977, and her murder has remained unsolved to this day.
Prescott was killed on Christmas Eve in 1996 when Scheanette entered her home, sexually assaulted her, and strangled her.
He left her lying face down in her bathtub, with her neck, wrists, and ankles wrapped in duct tape.
Just a few months beforehand, Scheanette committed the same crime on another woman, Christine Vu.
On September 17, 1996, Vu was found, assaulted, strangled, and duct-taped in the same manner as Prescott, lying facedown in a half-filled bathtub.
Vu was just 26 years old at the time and, like Prescott, worked at an elementary school.
Her fiancé, Thang Kuu, says he still “carried a photo of Christine in his wallet,” as reported by the Clark Prosecutor.
The two women, both living in separate apartments at the Peartree Apartment Complex, were reportedly neighbors of Scheanette, who had also seen them at a local nightclub.
“The crime scenes were absolutely horrific — brutal and violent, the worst nightmare for anyone confronted with that kind of attack,” Arlington homicide detective Tommy LeNoir told NBC 5 in 2009.
“I don’t like to think what the ladies went through,” he added.
What happened to Dale Devon Scheanette?
In September 2000, Dale Devon Scheanette was arrested for the murders of Christine Vu and Wendy Prescott.
After his arrest, police were also able to connect Scheanette to the sexual assaults of four additional women between September 1998 and October 1999.
All four women had been in their apartments at the time of their brutal attack.
In January 2003, Scheanette was convicted of capital murder in Prescott’s case.
Despite being charged with Vu’s murder, he was never tried in a court of law.
Scheanette was sentenced to death, and despite trying to appeal the decision in both state and federal courts, his appeals were repeatedly denied.
On February 10, 2009, at 6:21 pm CT, Scheanette was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas.
Adriane Fields, one of Scheanette’s victims, felt as though justice was finally served when he died – on her birthday.
“The day of my birth, he lost his life,” Fields said, as reported by WFAA News.
“So it’s time for you to live again,” she told herself.
His last meal was reportedly “two spicy fried leg quarters, french fries and ketchup and two spicy fried pork chops.”
Six witnesses – family and friends of his victims – attended his execution, though Scheanette didn’t even make eye contact with them.
“My only statement is that no cases ever tried have been error-free,” Scheanette said.
“Those are my words. No cases are error-free,” he added, speaking his final words.