Before Jack the Ripper, there was terror in Texas.
In the heart of Austin, Texas, during the late 19th century, a series of brutal killings gripped the city in fear. Long before London’s Jack the Ripper, the U.S. faced its own possible first serial killer: a shadowy figure dubbed “The Servant Girl Annihilator.” The murders were savage, seemingly motiveless, and left a blood-soaked mystery that remains unsolved. Was he America’s first serial killer? Or simply the first to catch the country’s attention?
13 Chilling Facts
1. Eight victims were killed in just over a year.
From December 1884 to December 1885, the killer took the lives of eight people, most of them Black female servants, often while they slept in their employer’s homes.
2. The killer struck with terrifying precision.
Victims were usually attacked in the middle of the night using an axe or iron bar. Several were dragged outside, further mutilated, and left posed in disturbing ways.
3. Some victims were white—fueling even more fear.
While early victims were Black women, the final two—Eula Phillips and Susan Hancock—were prominent white women. Their deaths ignited a city-wide panic and shattered any illusions of safety.
4. The term “Servant Girl Annihilator” came from a writer’s pen.
O. Henry, the famous American short story writer who lived in Austin at the time, is believed to have coined the term “Servant Girl Annihilator” in a letter to a friend.
5. The murders led to curfews and mass arrests.
Police arrested dozens of suspects, many without evidence, and enforced strict curfews. Austin’s African-American population bore the brunt of suspicion and scrutiny.
6. The killer left little physical evidence.
Despite the brutality of the crimes, the murderer left almost no clues. Bloody footprints were found at one scene, but they led nowher. Fingerprinting didn’t yet exist.
7. The city brought in bloodhounds to track the killer.
For the first time in Texas, bloodhounds were used to try and catch the murderer. The dogs picked up scents, but leads always went cold.
8. One man was convicted—but likely innocent.
James Phillips, husband of one of the white victims, was convicted but later released. Many historians believe he was wrongfully accused to ease public outcry.
9. Some believe Jack the Ripper and the Annihilator were the same person.
The timeline and M.O. sparked theories that the Annihilator may have traveled to London and become Jack the Ripper. No solid evidence supports this, but the speculation persists.
10. The killer may have had a medical or anatomical background.
The mutilations were so precise that some theorized the murderer had knowledge of human anatomy, hinting at someone in the medical field.
11. Austin’s mayor hired private investigators.
In desperation, the mayor brought in Pinkerton detectives to help solve the case—but they, too, failed to identify the killer.
12. The murders ended as mysteriously as they began.
After the final double murder on Christmas Eve 1885, the killings stopped. Whether the killer died, fled, or was imprisoned for another crime is unknown.
13. It remains one of America’s earliest—and eeriest—serial murder cases.
Despite advances in crime solving, the case has never been officially closed. The Servant Girl Annihilator’s identity remains a ghostly question mark in the history of American crime.
A mystery buried in Texas soil.
The Servant Girl Annihilator terrorized a city on the brink of modernity. Over 140 years later, his name and face remain lost to time, but his brutal legacy carved Austin into the dark annals of serial killer history.
The murders ended, but the questions never did.
Over a century later, the identity of the Servant Girl Annihilator remains a mystery. Some have speculated he moved on—to London, even becoming Jack the Ripper. Others believe he was hidden in plain sight. What’s clear is that the city of Austin was forever changed by those dark months—and that the case, long overshadowed by more infamous crimes, deserves to be remembered as one of America’s earliest brushes with serial murder.
