During that same night, in Lufkin, a local resident named Robert Atkinson spotted a peeping tom in his window. Atkinson grabbed a flashlight and chased after the man, but he escaped. Atkinson then got in his car and went looking for him. Atkinson caught the man he believed was the peeping tom, but the man convinced Atkinson that he was not the window peeper and that he had just taken his girlfriend home. Atkinson later heard the story about Thomas and decided to notify the police of his experience. Atkinson said the man he saw was 5'9" tall, wore khakis, and had hair that could have been dark red. Gonzaullas stated, "We don't believe that the man who killed the five people here in the past six weeks would boast about his crimes and then let the Negro go."