'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The feared killer on the loose, Dale Devon Scheanette, turned young women into targets in Arlington in 1996 as he went on a rampage of killing and sexually assaulting women. Scheanette strangled two of his neighbors at Peartree Apartments and brutally assaulted five women in Texas before he was taken into custody.
Devon Scheanette was sentenced to death for Wendie Prescott's murder in January 2003, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. According to The Shorthorn, Scheanette was executed by lethal injection on February 10, 2009.
The new Dateline NBC episode titled Dark Intentions focuses on the double murders and several s*xual assaults committed by Dale Devon Scheanette as it airs on June 7, 2024, at 9 pm EST on NBC exclusively.
How was Dale Devon Scheanette caught?
Dale Devon Scheanette was a resident at Peartree Apartments in Arlington, Texas. The complex building was where teachers lived, owing to five schools being located in the neighborhood. In a string of uncanny incidents, two teachers aged 26 and 22 were found murdered in their bathtubs in 1996.
Trending
The first victim was Christine Vu (26), a third-grade teacher at Morton Elementary School. Her long-term boyfriend returned home from work to find her strangled and drowned in a half-filled bathtub. Vu had her neck, hands, and knees bound together with duct tape and was beaten and bruised, as per court documents.
According to The Shorthorn, Wendie Prescott (22) was found beaten and drowned in her bathtub as well on Christmas Eve of 1996. Wendie lived 150 feet away from Christine in the apartment building and was a teacher's aide at Erma Nash Elementary. Prescott was bound with duct tape as well and beaten.
The autopsy reports of both women determined their cause of death to be manual strangulation. A partial reason for their death was drowning as well. They were brutally r*ped before their murder and left with little to no clothes on.
The Arlington police collected fingerprints and seminal fluid from the crime scenes but were unable to find a match for four years till they had their suspect, Dale Devon Scheanette, under their radar due to a felony. The murder and the r*pe of the two teachers caused terror of the Bathtub Killer in the town of Arlington and drove women out of the Peartree Apartment.
Where is Dale Devon Scheanette now?
Dale Devon Scheanette was arrested on September 5, 2000, after he burglarized a car audio shop in DeSoto, Texas. The FBI found a perfect match with the DNA evidence collected from the two crime scenes. They matched Scheanette's saliva sample with the fingerprints and seminal fluid samples the Arlington Police submitted in 2000.
Furthermore, Scheanette was connected to four more sexual assaults that occurred between the period of September 1998 and October 1999 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Devon Scheanette went to trial for the capital murder of Wendie Prescott and was sentenced to death in January 2003, as per court documents. However, he was charged with the murder of Christine Vu but not tried for the same, according to NBC5 News.
Dale Devon Scheanette was executed by lethal injection on February 10, 2009.
Find all the details about the Bathtub Strangler on the latest episode of Dateline as it airs on NBC on Friday.
