Strangled by the Telephpone: The Murder of Ruby Lewis Stevens - El Paso's Oldest Cold Case

A pregnant woman is strangled to death by her own telephone cord on a warm summer night in 1966. 

In this episode of "Box in the Basement," hosts Arlene and Leah delve into the haunting cold case of Ruby Lewis Stevens, whose life was tragically cut short in El Paso, Texas, and remains El Paso's oldest cold case. 

Ruby, a young, pregnant wife living in the heart of El Paso, was found strangled in her home in 1966, a crime that remains unsolved to this day. The hosts, driven by personal experiences with unsolved crimes, aim to shed light on these forgotten cases, hoping to find justice for the victims and their families.

The episode paints a vivid picture of El Paso in the 1960s, a bustling city with a population of around 300,000 at the time, known for its cross-border trade, military presence, and vibrant cultural blend. The year 1966, a pivotal period in history marked by political upheaval and cultural shifts, sets the stage for this tragic story. Listeners are taken on a journey through time, exploring the local and global events that shaped the era, from the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson and the Vietnam War to the space race and the cultural revolution in China.

The podcast also dives into the details of Ruby's life, her marriage to James Stevens, a U.S. Army soldier, and their humble beginnings in El Paso. Ruby's gentle nature and low-risk lifestyle make her murder even more baffling and highlight the randomness of such violent acts.

Walk through her last day, the evidence, victimology, and learn how many more boxes are sitting in basements of cases just like Ruby's. 

Is there any evidence to help solve the case today? 

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Transcript

bree: 0:00

Please be advised this episode contains detailed discussions of violence and sexual content and may not be suitable for all listeners.

Leah Collier: 0:09

El Paso, Texas sits in the heart of the Chihuahuan desert. Nestled against the borders of New Mexico and the international boundary with Juarez, Mexico. And reaching to the ruggedly beautiful Franklin mountains. It is a busy city with heavy cross border trade. A large military and intelligence community. And a fusion of Mexican and American culture. This is the backdrop for one of El Paso's oldest cold cases. Where a young husband discovers the body of his pregnant wife. With a telephone cord wrapped tightly around her neck.

0:47

Hello, and welcome to box in the basement podcast. I'm your host, Arlene. And I'm Leah. In 1996, my world was shattered when my uncle Leon Lorella is. Was shot execution style and a small town in Texas. To this day, his murder remains unsolved. And the pain of that injustice continues to haunt me, my family and Leon's friends and coworkers. Here at box in the basement. We want to shed light on the overwhelming number of unsolved murders and disappearances here in Texas and beyond. Ultimately, we want to get justice for Leon. And for all the victims whose cases are sitting, collecting dust in a box, in a basement. El Paso today is a city with a population that hovers right around 680,000 people in spans some 258 square miles into the desert and mountains. The metropolitan area extends into two countries and two us states. Uh, forming a unique mix of cultures, economies, and histories. El Paso's roots stretch deep into the annals of history. Starting as a point of passage on the Rio Grande day long before Texas became a state. The city's foundation is steeped in a rich blend of native American, Mexican, Spanish, and American influences. Evidence. And it's architecture, cuisine and local customs. Historically. El Paso's economy relied on mining and agriculture. Not unsurprising for an old Western town. Today. It is a diversified modern city with a large government and military presence. And a significant manufacturing and healthcare sector. Fort bliss is one of the largest military complexes in the United States. And serves as the cornerstone of the local community and economy. The entire metropolitan area, which is made up of El Paso. Juarez. And Las Cruces, New Mexico consists of about 2.7 million people. And is the largest bilingual binational workforce in the entire Western hemisphere. In 1966. The world teetered on the edge of transformation and turmoil. A tenuous dance between progress and conflict. Lyndon B Johnson was the president of the United States. And was navigating both the disastrous Vietnam war. And the civil rights era simultaneously. The space race was in full force as the cold war dragged on. With the Soviets, making the first unmanned controlled landing on the moon. China began its cultural revolution under Moussa dong. Which would drastically reroute its social economic and political trajectory for the decades to come. Also in 1966, Charles Whitman terrorized the university of Texas after climbing to the top of the clock tower on campus. And killing 14 people with a rifle. 1966 was the first year Medicare was available to Americans and the Supreme court decided. Miranda versus Arizona protecting the rights of the accused. This is where the Miranda warning came from. MIT biochemist hark. Herana deciphered the DNA code for the first time. China's synthesized insulin for the first time and the FDA declared the birth control pills, safe for human use. The week of August 31st, 1966. Ruby Lewis Stevens and her husband would have probably been hearing the Levin spoonfuls summer in this city. On the radio. Along with Bobby Hebb. The happenings, Sam, the sham and the pharaohs and Donovan. And of course. The beach boys, Bob Dylan, and the Beatles. Each released iconic albums in 1966. Out to steal a million was the number one at the box office and Jacqueline Susanne's valley of the dolls dominated the New York times bestseller list for much of the year. Star Trek and Batman may their television debuts in 1966. became a snack food staple. And surfing went mainstream with the release of the endless summer. England when the FIFA world cup. Notre Dame and Michigan, we're tied for the top college football team and Texas Western college. Now the university of Texas El Paso started five black players. And upset Kentucky in the NCAA basketball championship. The Boston Celtics win the NBA championship. The Montreal Canadiens when the Stanley cup. The Baltimore Orioles would go on to win the world series. In 1966 was the first year the Superbowl was played with the green bay Packers winning. This was before the NFL, as we know it existed. And the game was actually called the AFL NFL world championship game. Just a little football trivia for all of you. A long shadow would be cast in the brutal summer heat in El Paso, Texas. However a monster prowled the streets and tore at the illusion of progress. Ruby Louis Stevens, just 18 years old. Would be taken from the world in an act of horrific inexplicably brutality. Ruby was born in cloud craft, New Mexico, which is a small village tucked in the mountains above the Tila Rosa basin. And located in the Lincoln national forest. Today Cloudcroft has a population of around 750 people. And it's a tourist attraction for those traveling in and through the Southern part of New Mexico. I used to live in Alamogordo, New Mexico, and I would drive up the mountain to Cloudcroft in the summers to escape the heat. It's a beautiful spot. I think it's around 9,000 feet above sea level. So summers are pretty mild up there. Lots of little shops, restaurants, that kind of thing. It's a nice place to spend an afternoon. Ruby lost her parents the year before her own death. But she did have a joy in her life. And she had recently married Jane Stevens, especially in the us army. They were expecting their first child at the time of her death. The young couple moved to El Paso and began their life together it was a humble beginning, but it was happy by all accounts with the couples spending time with James military buddies and Ruby settling into a quiet routine as a homemaker. Uh, Ruby was a gentle soul, quiet and unassuming. And she took pleasure in life. Simple joys. Her risk profile was extremely low. Which makes her murder all the more mystifying. She was not one to venture out alone. She didn't engage in any high-risk activities. And she had no known enemies. It's a stark reminder that sometimes even the most ordinary lives. Are touched by the darkest parts of humanity. August 31st, 1966 was an ordinary Wednesday and the greater El Paso community was firmly in its mid week. Stride oblivious to the turmoil about to wreck a young family, just getting their start. It was a clear day, hot and dry. As Ruby likely set about her normal routine of household chores after her husband, James left for work at Fort bliss. That evening James and Ruby welcomed some of James's friends to their small house on federal avenue. In the central part of the city. This would be the last happy interaction Ruby would have with anyone while she was alive. The timeline gets murky from here on out, but we do know that James spoke to Ruby on the telephone at around 8:20 PM. He was working the overnight shift on post. We also know that a neighbor of the Stevens's was a woken around 1:30 AM by a woman screaming stop. What do you want? The screams abruptly stopped. Uh, car fled the scene and then all was silent.

Arlene: 9:36

James Stevens returned to his home from work around six 30 the next morning. Some articles say he found the front door open slightly. Others just say the door was unlocked. But in any case, this was the first indication that something was a mess. He walked into the house and found his young wife lifeless on their bedroom floor with a telephone cord wrapped around her neck. Ruby's nightgown had been pulled up around her. Exposing multiple bruises and indicating a violent struggle in which had once been a happy home. I'm like many of the cases we cover or plan to cover. Police had the murder weapon readily available. The telephone cord was still around.

10:25

Ruby's neck. It was wrapped so tightly, it was embedded into her neck. And the firefighter charged with removing it had difficulty getting it loose. The house itself told a story of violence. The normal tidy bedroom was in disarray. And there were dishes scattered in the kitchen. And close strewn about. Ruby fought her assailant hard. She had bruises and wounds on her arms and hands. Her state of partial undress initially led investigators to believe sexual assault had been emotive. But there was no evidence of a sexual assault found. And as we've said, in other cases, just because no evidence of an assault was found doesn't mean it wasn't a motive. Before we go on, let's remind ourselves that this was 1966. Forensic science was still fairly rudimentary compared to what we have today. It would be another two decades before DNA evidence was even a thing. Surveillance cameras. We're not stuck on every traffic, light and doorbell. There were no cell phones or cars with computers and GPS and trace evidence as a concept was still fairly new. Investigators had to rely on witnesses and the scientific tools of the time. Unfortunately here, there were not many witnesses as the crime occurred in the middle of the night. The neighbor Arlene mentioned a few minutes ago was pretty much it. And even that was problematic. Think about it. You're asleep in your house and you hear what this neighbor heard. Stop. What do you want? First off. You'd probably be wondering if you actually heard something or if you dreamed it. And then there's the lack of context. You're next door. You have no idea what's going on. And this makes no sense to your tired brain. I've been awoken in the night by loud sounds and it's pretty disorienting. We have a neighbor who throws loud pool parties that stretch far into the night. Sometimes we'll hear screams are yelling and it's crazy. I get up and go to the back door and determine it's just a party and go right back to bed. This neighbor had limited mobility, so he wasn't able to go investigate. Like I do. Then your brain starts going over all the possible scenarios. Maybe the young couple next door was just fighting and blowing off steam. Maybe it's a mother and her teenage son having an argument. There are a million possibilities to consider. The neighbor also said he heard a car speed away. Dogs barking. And then it was quiet. Another neighbor also told police he heard a scream and saw a car drive away. Yet another Unnamed., witness reported seeing a man removing a screen from a kitchen window at Ruby's home. But I don't have any more details than that. Unfortunately. Investigators focus initially on three of James Stephen's work friends. As they were the last people, other than James himself, seeing with Ruby the night she was murdered. These men were subject to rigorous questioning and even polygraphs, which they all passed. Law enforcement was essentially back at square one. With an entire city of potential perpetrators looming ahead in their investigation. To their credit. Investigators documented the state of Ruby's body and the crime scene, meticulous sleep and their notes. But the piece of the puzzle that would likely make this a solvable case today. DNA. Was simply not in the toolkit yet. Police interviewed Ruby's husband, James, of course. And his account simply outlined. The horrifying moment. He found his pretty young wife dead on the bedroom floor. Quote. I walked in the house and found her there. Uh, check to see if she was breathing and I call police on our other telephone. End quote. Detectives question other acquaintances of the victim. But no solid leads were ever developed. The couple was still fairly new to the area. Remember? And they didn't have a lot of close friends or associates. And hadn't had time to make any real enemies that anyone knew of. Okay. So what are our thoughts on this one? It's the oldest cold case we've discussed so far. So we have to consider the technology or lack thereof. I don't think this is a case of law enforcement dropping the ball. It seems like the investigators were competent and did a good job of collecting and analyzing evidence they had with the tools they had available to them at the time. They interviewed a lot of witnesses and acquaintances. They just simply didn't have enough to go on.

Arlene: 15:40

I agree. I don't think that this is a matter of incompetence or laziness. Because the couple was so new to the area. I think it's possible. Maybe even probable. That this was a matter of Ruby being a target of opportunity. Or this being a case of random violence. Nobody ever wants to consider the possibility of random violence because it's frankly terrifying. But it does happen.

16:07

Maybe someone took a chance and broke into the little rental house, hoping to find something uh, value to steal. Maybe someone noticed Ruby earlier that day and thought she lived alone and decided to break in to sexually assault her. Yeah. Remember, we did have that one witness claiming they saw an unknown man removing a screen from Ruby's kitchen window prior to her murder. So it's entirely possible. A local Creek either knew her husband's schedule or thought Ruby lived alone and decided to break in. We know that eye witnesses, testimony, isn't always reliable. So we'll take that with a grain of salt but it does raise the possibility, like you said, I know the investigators, Claire, James Stevens, coworkers early in the investigation. But there's a chance. One or more of them was involved and lied their way out of suspicion. They were the only people who really knew anything about the young couple. Thank you where they lived. They would have known James's schedule. And they would have no Ruby would have been alone that night. The lack of technological advancements really hurts the process here. If one of these guys was lying, the tools we have available today may have been able to link them to the crime. But the evidence available at that time clear those guys. So we're just speculating. And let's talk crime rates for a second, just to kind of put things in perspective. El Paso kind of gets a bad rap because of its proximity to the border. But historically it's actually a lot safer in terms of violent crimes than other large cities. In 2021, it was the third safest, large city per FBI data in the entire us. El Paso is a big city and it was a pretty good sized city in 1966. Sitting right around 300,000 people. And that's just the city of El Paso that figure doesn't include the larger Metro area. There were 16 murders in El Paso in 1966, which translates to a murder rate roughly equal to the murder rate in the city today. 1966 was well before the spike in violent crime in the 1980s and 1990s. We're murders in El Paso numbered in the high fifties on average. State of the investigation today is pretty much the same as it was in 1966. No suspects. No leads, no nothing. He'll pass the police and the media have both noted that the evidence that is available in the cold case archives. Related to this case as well preserved. And meticulously documented.,. It's just waiting on a usable tip or the ability of investigators to analyze a piece of evidence with the right tool or the right process. The El Paso police cold case unit has this case and they've actively worked on it in the last few years. So while that box is still in the basement, it has seen the light of day in recent years. Law enforcement doesn't think it's hopeless. They believe it's solvable. Ruby's husband. James is now dead. Movies parents both died before she did. There is nobody left in this case, but it haunts the greater El Paso community as well as local law enforcement to this day. These are the cases that are the most heartbreaking to me. I feel obligated to tell the story and to do what I can to help find answers for the sake of finding answers and for getting justice that James couldn't get for her. While he was still alive. This is Bree producer here at box in the basement. How many boxes are in the basement that are just like rubies. In this case, the death was by strangulation. Not the most common murder weapon. So let's take a look at how many strangulation cases of women in general. There have been 6,917 murders using strangulation since 1976. With 3,747 unsolved. Women are strangled twice as often than men who have 3,179 cases, total. This is a much different statistic than gun violence. Now, if we add aged 18 to 24, there are 1,420. Total cases with 743 unsolved. So half going solved. Why. Let's take a look at the solved cases. 21% are committed by an acquaintance 16%. The husband 16% boyfriend. And 13% stranger. Now let's use the victimology and evidence to examine each group of perpetrators. I took a look at some similar cases from the FBI's behavior analysis unit and applied some of their theory of this case based on these statistics. First it started with the location, her home more often than not. It points to someone who knew her and was somehow in her orbit and could gain access easily. The other option is that it's a local paper who saw an opportunity. This might lead investigators to checking for reports of peeping Toms in the area. Weapon strangulation. Now this points to a perpetrator that was not prepared. This weapon is considered disorganized. The addition of the phone cord, according to the FBI, BAU means the killer likely underestimated how hard it is to strangle and had to find another weapon. This usually means young and disorganized. Strangulation is also up close and personal. Oftentimes people think that this means that the killer must have known their subject or their target. And this could mean that the killer knew her and became enraged, but there's also another option that she is the proxy for a woman that the killer hated. His ex his mother, the real target of his homicidal rage. Now let's take a look at the victim. A pregnant, newly married, 18 year old with no sexual assault. This could point to jealousy, anger that the woman has wronged him by becoming pregnant with another man's baby. Uh, this often can bring out emotions in ex lovers. Now let's take a look at the circle of suspects. Husband often in strangling cases, the intimate partner would have likely strangled their partner before hand as a leading indicator. Also domestic violence increases when a woman is pregnant. And this case the husband appears to have had an alibi as he was at work. Ex-boyfriend. This one is interesting in our statistics. We have boyfriend in this case, it could be an ex-boyfriend, a pregnant woman was murdered. So, and with no sexual assault, it could point to an ex lover. He would be stalking her and even perhaps waiting outside her apartment and looking for an opportunity to confront her after her husband left. I'm not sure if there was an ex enrolled town and maybe he became enraged that she moved on to a new life, but it is worth investigating. Acquaintance the same could be true for an ex-boyfriend as an acquaintance, someone that was in her orbit that became jealous and enraged, that she moved away and became pregnant. Someone that was in her high school that may have had a crush on her. This was like the Idaho for murder case where the murderer had been in the orbit of those that he murdered, but not necessarily knew them.. And in the stranger, this would be the peeper. This person would likely have been caught. Peeping in the neighborhood, even though there was no sexual assault that was found, the thrill of the murder itself can be sexual. Last, but not least. We have to look at post offender behavior, this offender would have likely been so upset that he had committed a murder most likely because he wasn't planning it. That he would have gotten out of town and tried to get away from the crime until it actually died down. He would be mortified that he committed this crime. He may have been under the influence of alcohol or drugs, which lowered his inhibitions, making him more likely to commit the crime. This is most likely a person who would have had remorse if you have any information about the death of Ruby at Lewis Stevens on August 31st, 1966, please contact the El Paso police department at 9 1 5 2 1 2 4,000. Or submit a tip anonymously at the department's webpage. This podcast has a bigger purpose than Just providing information and the entertainment. The homicide victims, families rights act is a bipartisan bill that was signed into law by Congress in 2021. And we want to see it put into action. This law establishes a systematic process for reviewing case files. Related to cold case murders. The focus is on providing a mechanism for the families and friends of murder victims. To request a formal review of such cases. We need an attorney or teams of attorneys and legal professionals To take on the bold and brave fight against the system around the country. In our case, we need someone to fight for Leon to help not only put fresh eyes on the case. But to get his body zoomed, to search for evidence that was not collected the first time around. We and other families and friends need assistance with getting foyer requests. It blows our minds that so many murders occurred from 1976 to 1997. In Brownwood, Texas under the watch of the same investigators, responsible for handling Leon's case. We're going to look at all the unsolved murders in Brownwood. And maybe even if you solved ones, if it helps uncover what was happening in that era that left so many families devastated. And a community living in fear. If you want to hear more about victim focused. Unsolved cases. And get updates about what we know. Please subscribe, like and share our podcast. Also visit our website. Justice for leon.com to donate to our cause to hire an attorney. You can also join our email list to stay current on developments on Leon's case and other cases. We cover as they happen. pleaSe follow and lagger. Bigger Facebook pages for box in the basement. And justice for Leon Corellas and follow our Instagram pages