On December 21, 1997, the life of 35-year-old Albert Bolden Jr. was tragically cut short in Port Arthur, Texas. He was found deceased in a residence, having been shot in the head. The circumstances of his death were initially unclear, another violent chapter in a city gripped by a string of brutal crimes. The truth of what happened to Bolden would eventually emerge as part of a much larger and more terrifying story of a serial killer who had been terrorizing the community.
The man
responsible for Albert Bolden's murder was his own common-law brother-in-law, Elroy Chester. Chester, a man whose name would become synonymous with a six-month reign of terror in Port Arthur, lured Bolden to a vacant home under the pretense of committing a burglary together. Once inside, Chester shot Bolden in the back of the head, leaving him for dead. Chester's motives for killing his brother-in-law were reportedly twofold: he claimed Bolden had been physically abusive towards his sister and that Bolden had humiliated him by setting him up on a date with a transvestite.
Elroy Chester's crime spree, which included multiple murders, burglaries, and sexual assaults, came to an end with his arrest for the murder of a local firefighter, Willie Ryman III, in February 1998. It was during his time in custody that the full scope of his violent acts came to light. Chester confessed to the murders of four other individuals, including Albert Bolden. While he was tried and sentenced to death for the murder of Willie Ryman, his confessions officially closed the cases on his other victims. A jury took a mere 12 minutes to decide on the death penalty for Chester. On June 12, 2013, Elroy Chester was executed by lethal injection, and in his final moments, he reiterated his guilt, stating, "A lot of people say I didn't commit those murders, I really did it." His execution brought an end to a dark chapter for the city of Port Arthur and provided a final, albeit grim, resolution to the murder of Albert Bolden Jr.
