Cheryl Ann Calloway was 18 years old when she was murdered. She was attacked in the parking lot of a shopping mall in Arlington, Texas, more than 45 years ago, and the person responsible for her death has yet to be brought to justice.
On the night of Jan. 30, 1974, Calloway, an 18-year-old Sam Houston High School graduate, left her job at Dairy Queen, located at 900 West Pioneer Pkwy., and went to the Forum 303 Mall at 2700 E. Pioneer Parkway.
She wanted to buy a birthday gift for her fiance, Clint Harris.
By 8 p.m., she had finished her shopping. As Calloway walked to her car in the west parking lot, outside the entrance to Montgomery Ward, she was nibbling on the candy that she just purchased.
Before she made it to her vehicle, Calloway was attacked by an unknown man. The suspect dragged her to his vehicle, where he began to stab her repeatedly with an icepick.
Two individuals happened to witness the attack after hearing Calloway’s screams, but they “mistook it for a family quarrel,” according to The Odessa American.
The witnesses went to a nearby shop, Ward’s Auto Service Center, to call the Arlington Police Department, who then instructed them to jot down the suspect’s license plate number.
They failed to do so because, when they returned to the parking lot, Calloway had been stabbed multiple times and had to render aid.
Meanwhile, her assailant got into his vehicle, a possibly white Oldsmobile Cutlass SS, and fled the scene, according to the Arlington Daily News.
Emergency responders arrived about 30 minutes later. They then transported Calloway to Arlington Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The State Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Calloway sustained more than 40 stab wounds to her neck and body.
Funeral services for Calloway were held at Moore Funeral Home. She was buried at the Oak Grove Cemetery in Bosque County, Texas, with the words “Beloved Daughter” inscribed on her headstone.
Bobby Wiggins, a captain with the Arlington Police Department, told
The Odessa American 10 years after Calloway’s murder that “the case is still open… and anytime we have a murder anywhere in the nation with a similar method of operation, we check it out.”
He added, “But nothing has matched up. It’s just as mysterious as it was the day it happened.”
Arlington police conducted an investigation to uncover what criminal activity Calloway may have been involved in, but there was none.
The police said she was clean.
They then turned their attention to her fiance, but he, too, was clean, and they later stated that they regretted being hard on him.
Calloway’s father told the media that “if he is ever caught, I pray that the police are very careful—that they say ‘good morning’ to him and meet all the other necessities so that no judge will ever turn him loose on a technicality.”
The suspect is described as a black man with an afro. He was wearing a light-colored shirt and dark pants at the time of the murder.
Anyone with information regarding the unsolved murder of Cheryl Ann Calloway is encouraged to contact Sergeant Brian Jones with the Arlington Police Department at 817-459-5772.
To remain anonymous, contact Tarrant County Crime Stoppers at 817-469-8477.