True Crime
June 1, 1985
The Desperate Search for Christi Meeks
When five-year-old Christi Meeks disappeared and the police couldn’t find her, her father turned to Bill Dear, one of the most controversial private detectives in Texas.
129 Articles
Crime
December 1, 1984
Peddling Paranoia
Selling crime self-help devices has become a booming business. But do any of these gadgets really make us safer?
Reporter
September 30, 1984
Texas Monthly Reporter
Winners and losers from the Republican convention; a crash course for butlers; biting the bullet in Orange County; the peculiar appeal of the Texas State Guard; a bookie tells his trade secrets.
Being Texan
September 1, 1984
Heaven on Wheels
Why are we crazy for Cadillacs, silly on Suburbans, passionate about pickups? Because Texans love their cars, that's why.
Politics & Policy
August 1, 1984
Excuse Me, But Where Can a Free-Enterpriser Get a Drink in This Town
Where to find a life-size statue of businessmen shaking hands, the best right-wing burgers, and other landmarks of Republican life.
Politics & Policy
August 1, 1984
Great Moments in Republican History
How Texas became a two-party state in spite of the GOP.
Politics & Policy
March 1, 1984
At the Mercy of the Court
What do drunks, prostitutes, lunatics, and elevators have in common? They’re all part of the weird 24-hour-a-day world of the Dallas County courthouse.
Reporter
November 1, 1983
Texas Monthly Reporter
A new era for Texas prisons; a new view of Wichita Falls; a new look, alas, for a Dallas street; a new metropolis in East Texas; a new generation of frat rats.
Politics & Policy
October 1, 1983
Mayor of the Unfinished City
To become more than a perpetual boom town, Dallas needs a foresighted leader and astute politician. Is Starke Taylor the man?
Crime
August 31, 1983
Love in the Slammer
Sometimes women fall in love with men behind bars, but once the bars disappear, the love itself may become the prison.
Libations
April 30, 1983
The 89 Greatest Texas Bars
No Matter where you are, there’s someplace to be nowhere.
Libations
April 30, 1983
The Bar Bar
It’s a noble institution, especially if you can master all its subtle skills: not being there, the second call, holding forth, and another thing...
Crime
March 1, 1983
Daddy’s Gone to Jail
Sometimes prison is harder for the people on the other side of the bars.
News & Politics
December 1, 1982
The Ragged Edge
Soon there won’t be anyone left who wants to be a cop.
Crime
May 31, 1982
The Proving Ground
Probation gives criminals a chance to show society that they can stay straight. Probation officers like Jan Purdom believe the system works.
Crime
April 30, 1982
The Box
Used correctly, the polygraph can tell whether or not an accused criminal’s claim that he didn’t do it is true. Too bad the police can’t take that to court.
Politics & Policy
January 1, 1982
The Lord’s Work
Rusty Hardin is a prosecutor. Most of the time, his job is to put people in jail. This time, he wants a man dead.
Crime
November 1, 1981
The Cons Next Door
To unjam its prisons, Texas is moving convicted felons out of the big house and into a house on your block.
Crime
August 31, 1981
Cattle Call
Trial by jury is a right most people charged with a crime never get to exercise. Instead, they accept a quicker, less risky alternative: the plea bargain.
Crime
July 31, 1981
Cruel and Unusual Parenthood
Every year thousands of men and women assault, molest, or murder innocent victims - their own children.
Crime
June 30, 1981
The Long Arm of the Oracle
John Catchings can sole crimes without witnesses, confessions, or clues. How? He’s a psychic.
Crime
May 31, 1981
Lock ‘Em Up
Mandatory sentencing means every felon gets the same sentence for the same crime - and for the rest of us it means a lot of crimes that won’t happen.
True Crime
May 1, 1981
The Mistress and the Muscleman
A tale of passion in the double-knit aristocracy.
Crime
April 1, 1981
Up In Arms
Is your family safer with a gun in the house?
Crime
March 1, 1981
Sins of the Fathers
Violence within the family tends not to be taken too seriously by the courts. But eventually that violence will burst loose to threaten us all.
News & Politics
February 1, 1981
Crime Without Punishment
Lock your doors. The police have given up trying to catch burglars.
News & Politics
July 31, 1977
The Informer
The secret life of the man who tells the Man.
Business
April 30, 1977
The Wizard of Oz (Ret.)
Question: What goes on behind the closed doors of the stateÌs most elegant restaurant these days? Answer: Nothing.
News & Politics
March 1, 1977
The New Adultery
Those who haunt the singles bars aren’t always what they seem—namely, single.