Alan Burton with a hat facing the camera in front of a wooded area. About the author photo

Alan Burton

Sports writer. Public relations director. Texas author.

Coming Attractions

The 1965 Texas Coed Murders:
We Saw What You Did

“The story held all the elements of a classic murder case: Campus beauties, youth, mystery,terror, and social standing.’’
-Associated Press

Releasing Spring 2026. Now Available for Pre-Order

Texas author Alan Burton is returning to the publishing scene this spring with the release of a new true crime book, titled, “The 1965 Texas Coed Murders: We Saw What You Did,’’ (The History Press, $34.99, hardcover, $24.99, paperback).

The book is Burton’s 10th, second in the true crime genre, and will be available this spring.

The story begins in 1965 — Sunday, July 18, 1965, started out like any other hot summer day in Texas. Shirley Ann Stark and Susan Rigsby, Chi Omega sorority sisters at the University of Texas at Austin, left their Dallas homes early and drove together in Shirley’s Corvair to Austin. Little did they know the fate that awaited them later that afternoon as they visited the apartment of a friend and fellow UT student. The following day, the women were reported missing. A twelve-day nationwide search ensued, ending with the discovery of their bodies in a north Austin field.

Burton revisits the forgotten, gruesome, and tragic double homicide that shook the Lone Star State, but was largely forgotten after the UT tower sniper shooting that occurred one year later in 1966. 

His most recent book, “Fatal Exam: Solving Lubbock’s Greatest Murder Mystery,’’ was published in 2023. It detailed the slaying of a Texas Tech custodian on the campus in 1967.

He is also the author of a series of quote books, including “Squib-Kick it To A Fat Guy – and 699 more memorable quotes from the playbook of Coach Mike Leach’’ (2016), which was an Amazon bestseller.

Now Reading

For the first time, the account of this shocking murder has been painstakingly reconstructed byAlan Burton and Chuck Lanehart. Piecing together timelines based on interviews, journalists’archives, courtroom transcripts, and the personal experiences of Lubbockites,“FatalExam’’situates the murder, relates the capture, and details the trial of the crime’s perpetrator.Not yourstandard psychopathic master, the criminal at this tale’s center cuts a challengingprofile, and his history shines an unusual light on the criminal justice system.

Fatal Exam

Bestseller

Squib-Kick it to a Fat Guy book cover

Critically Acclaimed

Book cover of Go to the Games with Humble by Alan Burton