James "Red" Waybern Hall was born on January 28, 1921, in Happy Valley, Arkansas, to Samuel Jerome Hall, a stern minister known for physical and verbal abuse, and Eva, whose family had mental health issues.
A significant event in his childhood was a farming accident before age 14, rendering him unconscious for an hour and sick for several days, potentially affecting his mental state. He dropped out of school between 8th and 9th grade in early 1937, marking the beginning of a criminal trajectory.
Hall and Fayrene Clemmons were married on March 14, 1944. She vanished on September 28, 1944, initially considered a runaway, but evidence later confirmed Hall beat her to death near the Riverside Golf Course in Little Rock, leaving her body by the Arkansas River.
Her death is considered to be the first of at least eleven murders Hall committed between 1938-45.
This act marked the start of a spree, with subsequent victims including Carl Hamilton, found shot in his car on January 29, 1945, and likely E.C. Adams and Doyle Mulherin, with murders occurring between January and March 1945, though exact dates for the latter two are not precisely documented.
His modus operandi involved hitchhiking, leveraging a friendly demeanor and signature smile to gain trust from motorists. He would then rob and murder them, often shooting them, and kept personal items from victims, suggesting a pattern of trophy-taking.
Hall confessed to killing at least 24 people from 1938 to 1945, with claims including a woman in Salinas, Kansas, in 1938, a man in San Marcos, Texas, in 1944, and 10 migrant workers in Arizona between 1938 and 1944. However, only four murders were confirmed: Fayrene Clemmons, Carl Hamilton, E.C. Adams, and Doyle Mulherin, all in Arkansas.
His claims of additional victims, including a warehouseman from Oklahoma, a Little Rock cab driver, an osteopath from Kansas, and an Army Corporal in Kansas, were investigated but not charged, adding complexity to his criminal profile.
Hall's arrest on March 15, 1945, followed a series of investigations linking him to the murders, particularly after the pattern of shot motorists was recognized. His trial in May 1945 was a two-day event, focusing primarily on Fayrene's murder, with the state viewing it as their strongest case.
The defense attempted an insanity plea, but the jury convicted him, sentencing him to death. He was executed Jamuary 4, 1946. Notably, during his execution, Hall maintained a jovial demeanor, laughing and joking with guards, and reportedly said, "Boys, I'm not afraid, I can take it," as he was strapped in, a stark contrast to the gravity of his crimes.
The trial transcripts, as mentioned in Janie Nesbitt Jones's book "The Arkansas Hitchhike Killer: James Waybern ‘Red’ Hall" (The Arkansas Hitchhike Killer book description), included detailed testimony, offering insights into the judicial system and forensics of the era, with pages devoted to actual court proceedings.
