Thirty-eight-year-old shoe-shine man Israel “Chuck” Fowler shared a house on East Clark Street in Pasco, Washington with thirty-seven-year-old waitress and seamstress Celeste Dixon—who had only arrived in town three days previously—and twenty-nine-year-old Robbie Jean Harris, who worked as an exotic dancer at the nearby Kingfish Club.
On the night of August 11th, 1960, two other individuals were also staying at the residence: the thirteen-year-old son of one of the two women; and Fowler’s friend, thirty-seven-year-old truck driver Truman H. Brown.
It was just before dawn when a tall white male came bursting into the house through the front door, threatening the housemates with a cocked .22 caliber pistol. According to the sole surviving witness, the thirteen-year-old boy, the perpetrator shouted something about wanting his money back before herding all four terrified adults into a back bedroom and opening fire.
The boy reported that he only heard four shots in quick succession, but in actuality, the killer had fired the short-barreled pistol seven times, and all the bullets had found their deadly marks. Both Truman Brown and Robbie Jean Harris were shot once in the head; Israel Fowler, twice in the head; and Celeste Dixon, twice in the head and once in the heart.
The gunman then quickly exited the house through the back door, reportedly retreating in a 1957 Pontiac station wagon. The thirteen-year-old survivor described the suspect as about six feet tall, middle-aged, clad in a checkered sport shirt, and possessing a “mean voice.”
The boy had not recognized the shooter, and told police that Israel Fowler had not appeared to recognize him either, even though the assailant had allegedly pushed Israel around and appeared angrier at him than at the others.
Early on in the investigation, there was some speculation that Robbie Jean’s work as a stripper and suspected prostitute could have contributed to the dire fate that befell her friends at the house on East Clark. Perhaps, authorities surmised, Robbie Jean had attempted to rob one of her clients at the Kingfish, and the furious individual had followed her home in order to exact revenge.
On the other hand, the fact that Israel Fowler had a bit of a rap sheet for federal narcotics charges raised some eyebrows as well, leading some investigators to believe that the quadruple homicide might have been a contract hit aimed specifically at him, and that the other three victims were simply collateral damage.
However, neither of these lines of inquiry led to anything resembling a suspect or a motive in the shocking bloodbath, and police could do nothing but watch as the leads steadily dried up. The mood of area law enforcement officials was already low, as only two months prior to the Fowler murders, a woman in nearby Richland named Edna Wight was found stabbed to death in her home on June 13th, her fifty-first birthday. This murder was likewise seemingly random, and in many ways just as baffling.
Nearly sixty years on, the slaying of the four housemates in Pasco, Washington is still unsolved, and to this day remains the city’s second-deadliest crime.
Crime Immemorial 