Chaim Weiss

 

The murder of Chaim Weiss, a 16-year-old student at the Torah High School yeshiva in Long Beach, New York, took place on November 1, 1986. Weiss was bludgeoned to death while sleeping in his dormitory room, with no motive or evidence being found except that his body and the crime scene were possibly tampered with.

Weiss' murder remains unsolved, though investigators believe the murderer was likely a student or faculty member of the yeshiva. The Daily News called it "one of New York’s most baffling mysteries". In 2013, the Nassau County Police Department announced it would reopen its investigation into the murder.

Murder and crime scene

On November 1, 1986, between the hours of 1:20 and 6:00 AM, Chaim Weiss was killed while sleeping at Torah High School, an Orthodox Jewish yeshiva at 63 East Beech Street in Long Beach, New York. Weiss, a 16-year-old student at the yeshiva, was sleeping alone in his third-floor dormitory room, being one of only two students in the dormitory to have his own room. There was no back door to the room. Weiss was struck twice in the head by a large knife or hatchet-like weapon with such force that it crushed his skull and severed his spinal column, in what a detective described as "an extremely brutal murder". His body had been moved to the floor, the window of his room was opened, and the murder weapon was never recovered. Weiss was last seen alive at approximately 12:45 AM Saturday by a study partner. His parents, Anton and Pessy Weiss, were living in Willowbrook, Staten Island, and only received word of his death towards the end of Shabbat, when notified by local police. 1,000 mourners attendedWeiss's funeral service at the Shomrei Hadas Chapel in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn.

Peculiarities

Multiple peculiarities led police to believe that the murderer was knowledgeable in Jewish rituals of death. The window was found open, which, according to police, may be a Jewish custom to allow the deceased's soul to depart. This was strange as the outside temperature was 40°F (4°C) and Weiss was taking antibiotics for a sore throat, making it unlikely that he would have opened it. Weiss's body was found on the floor, clad in pajamas, and with his feet propped on the bed. Police determined that the body was in the bed for several hours after the attack.

A few months before the murder, while Weiss was spending the summer at home, the principal of Torah High School called his home twice, seeking to set up a meeting with him. His parents stated that he did not want to talk about what was discussed in his private meeting with the principal at a Brooklyn home.

In 19,94, a letter was sent to the late Chaim Weiss at his parents' house in Staten Island. In the letter was a humorous Easter card which read, "Know what happens to chickens when they are too old to lay Easter eggs? They dye." Around that time, a stone slab at the decedent's gravesite was vandalized with three Hebrew letters. The message appears to be Hebrew for "murder", but with the last letter incorrect.

Investigation

Yeshiva officials refused to discuss the case extensively until after Shabbat. Investigators looked into a janitor and a mentally ill man, and also considered the possibility that the murder was committed by a Halloween thrill-seeker. The suspects and the thrill-seeker theory were since ruled out. School administrators told the media that they had no previous issues with antisemitism. Police assigned 25 detectives to thecase full-timee for months, and a mobile command center was situated outside the yeshiva for a week, open for anyone to share information. A single strand of hair not belonging to Weiss was found near his body. The police are waiting for a suspect before running a DNA test on the sample, for fear of ruining it. An FBI profile suggested the killer was someone Weiss knew and around his age. There was no sign of forced entry or sexual assault, and no students reported hearing sounds of a struggle.

Anton Weiss was disappointed with the Nassau County Police Department's handling of the case and requested the naming of a special prosecutor, though that never happened.

Reopening ofthe  case

In May 2013, Nassau County police reopened the case and increased the reward to $25,000 for information leading to an arrest. Anton Weiss appeared at the press conference alongside police, urging former students at Torah High School to come forward with any information.

After a PIX 11 interview with Anton Weiss in 2017, the outlet reported that a former student at the yeshiva came forward alleging physical abuse a decade before the murder. They also reported on a suicide by hanging in the yeshiva dorm shower several years before the murder.

Media

Weiss' murder was the subject of episode 4.30 of Unsolved Mysteries and was featured on the true crime podcast Killer Instincts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Chaim_Weiss

Michael Lee Lockhart

 

Michael Lee Lockhart (September 30, 1960 – December 9, 1997) was an American serial killer who received death sentences in three states (Florida, Indiana, and Texas). He was executed on December 9, 1997, by the state of Texas.

Arrest and convictions

Lockhart was caught in 1988 when Officer Paul Hulsey Jr. tried to arrest him for driving a stolen Chevrolet Corvette in Beaumont, Texas. Officers responding to the motel room where he was reported found Hulsey dead in the room. They put out an all-points bulletin for the vehicle, which was spotted. A high-speed chase ensued before Lockhart crashed and was soon apprehended. Evidence of his other crimes was found in the vehicle. Lockhart was convicted of killing Officer Hulsey and was sentenced to death.

Lockhart was later convicted in Indiana for the 1987 murder of 16-year-old Windy Gallagher in Griffith, Indiana. Following the previous conviction, he pleaded guilty to the 1988 murder of 14-year-old Jennifer Colhouer in Land O' Lakes, Florida. He received death sentences in both states. Lockhart was also a suspect in the murder of Kathy Hobbs, a 16-year-old girl abducted from Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1987. Her case was featured on Unsolved Mysteries in 1989 and is officially solved. Before his cross-country murder spree, Lockhart had a previous conviction for robbery in Wyoming.

Execution

Lockhart was executed on December 9, 1997, in Texas. His last meal consisted of a double-patty cheeseburger, French fries, and Coca-Cola. Lockhart's last words were, "A lot of people view what is happening here as evil, but I want you to know that I found love and compassion here. The people who work here, I thank them for the kindness they have shown me, and I deeply appreciate all that has been done for me by the people who work here. That's all, Warden. I'm ready."

Nearly one hundred Beaumont police officers turned up to Lockhart's execution,n and they applauded, clapped, and cheered as witnesses emerged from the prison following the execution.

Lockhart is buried at Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Lee_Lockhart

LaVena Johnson

LaVena Lynn Johnson (July 27, 1985 – July 19, 2005) was a soldier in the United States Army who was found dead in a tent in Iraq. Her death was controversially ruled as a suicide, but the evidence of rape and battery led her family to believe the United States Department of Defense covered it up.

Biography

The daughter of John Johnson, a service veteran, and Linda Johnson, Johnson was born and grew up in Florissant, Missouri.

Johnson enlisted in the Army on September 15, 2004, after graduating from Hazelwood Central High School. She was deployed to Iraq and stationed in Balad. She had been there for eight weeks before her death on July 19, 2005, eight days before her 20th birthday.

Death and controversy

Johnson's death was officially ruled a suicide by the Department of Defense. However, her father became suspicious when he saw her body in the funeral home and decided to investigate. Initially, the Army refused to release information, but did so under the Freedom of Information Act after Representative William Lacy Clay, Jr. raised questions about it at the congressional hearings over Pat Tillman's death.

The autopsy report and photographs revealed Johnson had a broken nose, black eye, loose teeth, burns from a corrosive chemical on her genitals, and a gunshot wound to her mouth that seemed inconsistent with suicide. Several reporters have suspected that the chemical burns were the result of attempts to destroy DNA evidence of a rape. Additionally, bloody footprints were discovered outside of her living quarters.

A spokesman from the House Armed Services Committee said that the committee was looking into Johnson's death, but they were not yet committing to a formal investigation in June 2008. Christopher Grey, chief of public affairs for the U.S. Criminal Investigative Command for the Army, has said that the case remains closed as far as they are concerned[needs update].

Following a February 2007 KMOV news report on Johnson's death, an online petition addressed to the House Armed Services Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee was launched, closing with 37,319 supporters. This was followed by the creation of an official LaVena Johnson website dedicated to developments in prompting a new Army investigation of her death. The petition closed on May 24, 2008, with nearly 12,000 signatures; preparations are being made[needs update] for delivery to the two committees. In July 2008, the online black activist group Color of Change launched another online petition calling on Henry Waxman, chair of the House Oversight Committee, to conduct a hearing into LaVena Johnson's death and the Army's handling of her case and others like it.

A documentary film about LaVena Johnson's family's struggle for justice was made in 2010, directed by Joan Brooker and titled LaVena Johnson: The Silent Truth.

On July 19, 2011, the criminal justice students in the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute (CCIRI), run as a student club by three universities, selected Johnson's case as their case for investigation. The CCIRI's crime scene reconstruction aimed to help shed light on this case that has attracted worldwide attention. The CCIRI investigationeither agreedee with nor dispute the Army's findings. Sheryl McCollum of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute calls the case "gut-wrenching." McCollum says the institute normally spends one year on a case, but spent three years on the LaVena Johnson case. In a phone interview with St. Louis Public Radio, McCollum said that she faults the Army for poor communication, but she does not disagree with its conclusion.

"The problem is – number one – the way the notification happened. And the lack of information given to that family fast enough," McCollum said. "There was nothing about this case that we could go back to the Army to say you need to re-look at it," she said. "We didn't have anything new. We didn't have anything that suggested wrongdoing."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_LaVena_Johnson

Ebby Steppach

 

Ebby Jane Steppach (March 31, 1997 – October 25, 2015) was an American teenager who disappeared under mysterious circumstances in Little Rock, Arkansas. Days before her disappearance, she had accused four men of gang-raping her at a party she had attended. On October 25, 2015, she placed an erratic phone call to her older brother, Trevor; this was the last known contact anyone had with her.

On October 27, her abandoned car was discovered in Chalamont Park in west Little Rock. Searches of the woods in the park were undertaken, but no sign of Steppach was found. She remained a missing person for nearly three years before her body was discovered in a drainage pipe in Chalamont Park in May 2018, in the immediate vicinity of where her car had been found. She had been dead since the time her car was found three years prior. Her death has been classified as a homicide.

Timeline

Background

Ebby Jane Steppach was an 18-year-old high school student in Little Rock, Arkansas, who was completing her senior year at Little Rock Central High School. She had previously attended a private school, but transferred to a public school that year. Wanting independence from her parents, Steppach decided to move out of her family's home at the beginning of the school year, butshes mainly stayed with her grandparents and friends. On October 21, 2015, Steppach missed school. On Friday, October 23, she attended a party at some point during the evening.

The following day, October 24, 2015, Steppach arrived at her mother's home and informed her stepfather that she had been gang raped by four individuals at the party and wanted to report the incident to authorities. She also alleged that the rape had been recorded on a cell phone. Later that evening, when Steppach's mother, Laurie Jernigan, and stepfather attempted to reach her by phone, they got no response; her stepfather suspected she had gone to retrieve the video of her rape. That evening, two brief calls lasting approximately one minute each were placed to the Little Rock Police Department from Steppach's cell phone, though the police department would state they had no record of receiving a report. Throughout the evening, cell phone records showed Steppach sent text messages to several of the men she had implicated in her rape, threatening to report them to police.

Disappearance

Steppach last had contact with her older brother, Trevor, around 2 p.m. on October 25, 2015, in a phone call. Trevor described her as seeming "disoriented" during their conversation. She initially told him she was parked outside his house, but upon hanging up and walking out to the street, he did not see her car. When he called her back, she answered, this time telling him she was in her car but was unsure where she was parked. After she told him ", I'm fucked up", the phone call ended. This was the last known contact anyone had with her.

On October 27, Steppach's 2003 Volkswagen Passat was discovered by a security guard abandoned in a parking lot near a wooded area in Chalamont Park, a neighborhood park in west Little Rock. The security guard notified police and waited approximately 2 hours for an officer to arrive; however, none did. The next day, after seeing the vehicle still there as he did his rounds, he once again called and waited forthe police, who finally arrived around an hour later and discovered it belonged to Steppach. The car had an empty gas tank as well as a dead battery, and the key had been left in the ignition.

Investigation

Several searches of Chalamont Park were undertaken after the discovery of Steppach's car, though no additional evidence was found in the surrounding woods. Per a 2017 report, the men Steppach had accused of rape had all spoken to police, though no formal searches of their cell phones were done for the alleged video of Steppach's rape. In an attempt to bring publicity to her case, Steppach's mother and stepfather appeared on Dr. Phil in December 2017. The Steppach family offered a reward of $50,000 with information leading to their daughter's discovery.

Discovery of the body

Around 10 a.m. on May 24, 2018, while performing another search of Chalamont Park, police discovered skeletal remains in a drainage pipe in the vicinity where Steppach's car had been discovered. These remains were subsequently confirmed to be those of Steppach. Extensive searches for Steppach at Chalamont Park had been held in the past. Margie Foley, a family friend and mother of one of Steppach's best friends, told police she had smelled decomposition while doing a private search of the area and alerted the authorities. Upon the arrival of police at the scene, Foley claimed she was "kind of dismissed by [the officers]", who told her the park had been searched with recovery canines who would have picked up on the scent of human decomposition, and assured her it "must be an animal or something".

Media depictions

In 2017, her case was profiled on the podcast The Vanished.

In December 2017, the story of Steppach's disappearance was featured on Dr. Phil.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Ebby_Steppach

Dale Williams

 

Real Name: Dale Duane Williams

Nicknames: No known nicknames

Location: Nucla, Colorado

Date: May 27, 1999

Bio

Occupation: Auto Shop Owner

Date of Birth: July 15, 1956

Height: 5'7"

Weight: 170 lbs.

Marital Status: Married

Characteristics: Caucasian male with graying brown (or sandy) hair and blue eyes. Dale has a scar under his chin, scars on each side of his face along his jawline, and a birthmark on the left side of his face under his jawbone. He was wearing a dark blue T-shirt and blue jeans.

Case

Details: Forty-two-year-old Dale Williams was an active community leader, devoted husband, and doting father of two teenage daughters. He owned and operated "Dale's Pro Body Shop", an auto body shop in the town of Nucla, Colorado. He also owned Showtime Movie Rentals, along with other businesses and buildings. On the evening of May 27, 1999, he failed to make it home for dinner. His wife of twenty-three years, Diana, assumed he was preoccupied with a job at the body shop and lost track of time.

By bedtime, however, Diana was concerned. She called Dale's shop a couple of times, but he did not answer or call back. She figured that he did not hear the phone ring because he was using the air ratchets or another loud tool. At around 10 pm, she went to bed. As shelayd there, she felt something was wrong. She tossed and turned all night and woke up several times. Each time she woke, he still was not home.

Diana woke at dawn and was horrified to discover Dale had not made it home all night. As soon as she got their children off to school, she drove straight to his garage. When she first walked into his shop, she noticed that the door was unlocked. The hood was still up on a van he was working on. His tools were lying around it. It appeared as if he had walked away for just a few minutes and would be back. She immediately went over to his mother, Ida's, house. She had also not heard from him in the past day.

Dale often shopped at junkyards, looking for spare parts to use at the body shop. Diana and Ida thought that would be a good place to start their search. When they did not find him at the junkyards, they figured that he might have accidentally driven off the road somewhere. They figured that something had happened to him, but they also felt that they would be able to find him. However, they were unable to find any trace of him. His family knew something was wrong, especially because his daughter was supposed to graduate that weekend.

Within a few hours, Diana notifiedthe police, and word of Dale's strange disappearance spread through Nucla. Investigators began piecing together his day. They learned he made a brief stop at his friend Tami Lowrance's office about 12:15 pm on May 27. She had a windshield that neededto be repaired on a truck. He told her that he would not be able to repair it until the following Wednesday. She thought it was strange because he didn't need to stop by and tell her that; he could have called her instead.

Dale was in a hurry. He told Tami he was on his way to help a stranded motorist. She wonders if he felt uneasy about the person he was going to help. When he left her office, she never saw him again. She is believed to be one of the last people to see him. Investigators determined that his friend, Pastor Tom Ross, had been with him just before Tami saw him. Tom and his young son had stopped by the body shop late that morning to have Dale replace the windshield on the church van. Dale told Tom that he had a busy day ahead of him, but he had enough time for a game of darts.

While they were playing, a phone call came in. The caller told Dale that they were broken down on a remote stretch of highway about three-quarters of a mile east of a small country store in Bedrock, Colorado. Tom was under the impression that the caller was a woman. There was nothing that was actually said that confirmed this; according to Tom, it was just "the way [Dale] talked and stuff." Tom also believed that the caller was not alone and was in a panic. Originally, Dale was going to bring the tow truck, but the caller declined and said that they only needed something minor (like a jump).

Dale's shop did auto body repair. He was not a mechanic. So, it was unusual for him to receive a call for roadside help. Tom thought it was odd that this person had called Dale for assistance. However, he noted that Dale was the type of person who was willing to go and help somebody if they broke down. Shortly after the call, Tom and his son said goodbye to Dale at the shop door. It was the last time he ever saw Dale. He left in his pickup truck soon after.

The citizens of Nucla responded to the emergency. Missing posters were printed up and distributed by Dale's friends and family. Diana said that it felt great to know that she was in a small town where everybody cared about her and Dale. However, she would soon come to understand that not everyone in her town cared.

About two days after Diana put up missing persons posters in the Nucla post office, she discovered that they were all gone. So, she put more of them up. Then, about two or three days later, they disappeared again. The apparent removal of the posters led police to install a hidden camera in the post office. Within a few weeks, the camera captured images of a man tearing down the posters. Incredibly, he was ultimately identified as a former longtime family friend of Dale and Diana.

The man was questioned by the police. He denied any involvement in Dale's disappearance. He was also able to give them an alibi for May 27, 1999. For the most part, police were able to confirm it. Could Dale's disappearance have had anything to do with some bad blood between the two men? Twelve months before he vanished, he and Diana helped move the man's ex-wife to another state without his knowledge. The man was angry at Dale for doing this. Dale and Diana would not tell him where she was. Diana believes that he was really angry with Dale for that.

A month after helping the man's ex-wife move, Dale found some disturbing items outside his auto body shop. There were torn-up pictures scattered on the ground. The pictures had been stolen from his shop. They depicted him and Diana with their now-divorced friends in happier times. Several .22 caliber bullets were also scattered across the ground. Several days after that, Diana made a strange discovery in the night drop box at the video rental store she ran: a .22 caliber revolver.

Diana and Dale later discovered the gun, like the torn pictures, had also been stolen from Dale's auto body shop. Diana was very nervous about the situation because she did not know what to think. Dale told her not to worry about it, saying that things would be okay and would settle down. He believed that what was done was more to scare him than anything else. Police interviewed Dale's former friend about the burglaries. He denied any involvement in the break-in.

Dale's life seemed to return to normal. Then, eleven months after his body shop was burglarized, he suddenly disappeared. Six weeks later, on July 4, 1999, a family swimming at the confluence of the San Miguel and Dolores Rivers in Unaweep Canyon in western Colorado made a grim discovery. Submerged in the muddy waters was Dale's white 1994 Ford F250 pickup truck. The Montrose County Sheriff's Department responded to the scene. Investigators hoped that this was the break they needed. However, no other trace of Dale was found.

The area where Dale's truck was recovered is located near a dirt road that connects Colorado Highways 141 and 90 between Uravan and Bedrock. It is believed that the river was swollen by spring runoff, hiding the truck from view. An analysis of the vehicle and its recovery site provided more clues. The truck's ignition was turned on. The vehicle was in low gear. The highway ran parallel to the river. The angle between the highway and the river was extremely sharp. The driver would have had to make a sharp and abrupt turn to put it in the river where it was found. Tire tracks showed the truck slowly rolled down an embankment and into the river without braking. Each detail seemed to indicate that someone had deliberately steered his truck into the water. Authorities stated that Dale couldn't have accidentally driven into the water.

Once Diana viewed photographs of Dale's truck, she was certain someone other than him last driven it. She took particular note of the partially open driver's side window. According to her, he usually drove with the driver's window all the way down, but never halfway. It was always down or up. She believes that somebody puttheirs truck in the river to get rid of it. She believes that this person knew the river well.

The amount of debris in the truck's cab indicated that it may have been in the river since the day Dale went missing. Oddly, a metal toolbox that was bolted to the back of the truck was missing. Its lid and several tools from it were later discovered; the lid was found downstream. Some tools were also found near Bedrock. No footprints were found at the scene. Dive teams searched the rivers but found no other trace of Dale. Several abandoned mines nearby were also searched; however, nothing was found.

Generating further speculation, police have not located the stranded motorist whom Dale went to help. Was the mystery caller a woman, as Tom surmised? And why has that person never come forward? Investigators may already have that answer. The purported distress call was placed from a stolen cell phone.

Dale's loved ones must also face yet another perplexing scenario. Some claim that his truck was parked in its normal spot at his body shop by 1:30 pm the day he vanished. If true, Dale or someone else drove his truck back into town within ninety minutes of his responding to the distress call outside of town. There were even reports from witnesses who claimed to have seen Dale early that evening purchasing a soda at the Family Market grocery store in the neighboring town of Naturita.

Tami believes that the people who saw Dale between 5 and 6 p.m. at the store did, in fact, see him. According to Tami, these witnesses are people in the community whose word can be trusted. So, what happened to Dale? And where is he now? Diana believes he either saw something he should not have seen or knew something he should not have known. And that somebody was looking to "shut him up." She speculates that he may have been ready to go to the cops and tell them what he knew. And they killed him to stop him from talking to the police.

Suspects: Authorities believe that the unidentified motorist was involved in Dale's disappearance. It is believed that the caller was a woman. The caller may not have been alone that day. The caller said they were broken down on a remote stretch of highway about three-quarters of a mile east of a small country store in Bedrock. It is not believed that Dale knew the caller. That afternoon, Dale was reportedly seen between Bedrock and Paradox with his hood up beside a car. It is possible that the car belonged to the caller.

The individual who took down the missing persons posters was also considered a suspect. He was a former friend of Dale's. However, they had a falling out when Dale and Diana helped move the man's ex-wife without his knowledge. Shortly after that, pictures of Dale, Diana, the man, and his ex-wife were found ripped up at Dale's shop. Scattered among the pictures were several bullets. A gun was later found at the store where Diana worked. The gun and the pictures had been stolen from Dale's shop. The man was first questioned about the stolen items and denied any involvement. He also gave the police an alibi for the day of Dale's disappearance.

A rumor circulated that the former friend had poured a concrete foundation for some type of structure he was building a few days after Dale disappeared. However, nothing has been found to corroborate it.

Extra Notes

This case first aired on the September 16, 2002 episode.

Results: Unresolved. Over the years, Dale's daughters tried to bring his case back into the spotlight via social media. In May 2019, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation made a public announcement, asking for help with the case. Specifically, they were looking for anyone with information on the unidentified caller. In September 2023, the CBI opened a new inquiry into this case. In October, the Montrose County Sheriff's Office and the CBI searched a Nucla residence after they received a tip that Dale's body might be buried on the property. It is not known if anything was found.

On October 17, 2024, sixty-eight-year-old Dan Bishop was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in Dale's case. Bishop was the former friend whose ex-wife, Dal,e had helped move. It was alleged that Dale was also having an affair with the ex-wife. When Dale's truck was found, investigators discovered a .22-caliber rifle in the truck's bed. There was a spent shell casing in the chamber. Firearm purchase records showed that it belonged to Bishop.

Investigators believed that Bishop worked with his now-deceased cousin, in Veldon "Bones" Bar,nes and Barnes' girlfriend at that time, Debbie "Happy" Lacy (who is also deceased), to murder Dale. Investigators claimed that Lacy acted as a lure, calling Dale's auto shop to request help with a stranded vehicle about ten miles southwest of Nucla. Investigators alleged Bishop gave Barnes a priced Corvette as compensation for helping with Dale. They claimed to have discovered sales receipts to support this.

In March 2025, the charges against Bishop were dismissed without prejudice, meaning he could be charged again. He was then released from custody.

Links

Dale Williams on Unsolved.com

Where is Dale Williams? Website

Missing Dale Williams Facebook Page

Dale Williams on The Charley Project

Dale Williams on The Doe Network

Dale Williams on NamUs

Dale Williams on TrackMissing

Nucla resident missing: Man's disappearance leads to fear of foul play - June 2, 1999

Friends fear foul play in man's disappearance - June 16, 1999

Teens find truck of missing Nucla man - July 7, 1999

Missing man's pickup found - July 7, 1999

Dogs used in search of missing Nucla man (Pag 1) (Page 2) - July 24, 1999

Divers search river for clues in May 1999 disappearance - March 4, 2000

Gone, but not forgotten - March 15, 2008

My dad is a missing person and was featured on Unsolved Mysteries (Reddit Post by Dale's daughter) - July 18, 2018

Dale Williams - Last Call (includes interviews from family and friends) - September 3, 2018

Episode 160: Dale Williams - January 30, 2019

Nucla man went toassist at stranded motorist and was never seen again - May 23, 2019

CBI seeking new leads in 20-year-old Western Slope cold case - May 23, 2019

CBI seeks help in 20-year-old cold case - May 23, 2019

Where's Dale? After 20 years, few leads on missing man - May 25, 2019

Dale Williams – Jack of Hearts, Colorado - July 12, 2022

Sheriff: Nucla search warrant tied to 1999 missing man Dale Williams - October 23, 2023

Arrest made in 25-year-old Colorado homicide case - October 17, 2024

Montrose County murder charges dropped in cold case - April 1, 2025

Websleuths Discussion forum

https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Dale_Williams

Deborah Poe

 

Real Name: Deborah Deann Poe

Nicknames: Debbie

Location: Orlando, Florida

Date: February 4, 1990

Bio

Occupation: Clerk (Orlando Sentinel and Circle K)

Date of Birth: August 3, 1963

Height: 5'2"-5'3"

Weight: 100-105 lbs.

Marital Status: Single

Characteristics: White female with curly, dark blonde hair and blue eyes. Deborah’s hair was streaked at the time of her disappearance. She wore minimal makeup, and her ears were triple-pierced. She has a burn scar on her left shoulder. She may have been wearing ahalf-caratt round diamond ring with diamond chips in the shape of a leaf, and a sapphire-colored ring. Shortly before her disappearance, she underwent experimental eye surgery to help improve her vision.

Case

Details: Twenty-six-year-old Deborah Poe grew up in northern Virginia and had dreams of becoming a professional dancer. In October 1989, she moved to Orlando, Florida, with her friend and roommate, Lori Tillman. Deborah worked during the day as a clerk in the retail sales department at the Orlando Sentinel. At night, she worked at the Circle K convenience store at the intersection of Hall Road and Aloma Avenue in Orlando.

At 4:30 am on February 4, 1990, sheriff's deputies responded to a call at the store. Two customers had found the all-night market open, but curiously unattended. No one was minding the store. One of the customers was a friend of Deborah's. Deputies immediately searched for any sign of her. Behind the counter, they found her work smock neatly folded. A cup of coffee and a carton of chocolate milk were on top of a stack of house plans on the floor behind the counter. The cash register was locked, and there was no evidence of a robbery.

According to Detective Riggs Gay of the Orange County Sheriff's Department, the store appeared to be abandoned. There were absolutely no signs of any struggle. Except for Deborah herself, nothing appeared to be missing from the store. Her vehicle, a red Toyota Celica, was parked in its usual spot. It was locked, and her purse was sitting on the back seat. Her paycheck and car keys were still inside the purse. There was no evidence to suggest that someone had tried to open the vehicle.

Lori says that she and Deborah were very close, like sisters. She says they had a very unusual friendship. They could fight and ignore each other as sisters do. But they were there for each other. If they ever needed anything, they could count on one another.

The most dangerous time for convenience store employees is the graveyard shift. This was Deborah's shift. Five nights a week, from 11 pm to 7 am, she was behind the counter alone. Some of her loved ones had begged her to quit, but she thought nothing bad would happen to her. Her boyfriend, Scott Iaggi, was so concerned that he began staying with her during the night shifts to help keep her safe.

Lori says that, despite the risks, Deborah needed to work because she had a brand new car to pay for. Deborah also wanted to save enough money to buy a house and start a catering business. Lori says if that meant that Deborah had to work two full-time jobs that she really did not like, then that was what she did.

Just after 11 p.m. on the night Deborah disappeared, a friend of hers dropped by to discuss some house plans with her. Scott also visited her and left aroun1 amam. Police verified that she waited on customers from the time Scott and her friend left unt3:05 am5am. Another friend drove by the store3 am 3 am and saw her standing behind the counter. Everything seemed fine. But when the first friend returned at 3:50 am, she was nowhere to be found.

Tracker dogs traced Deborah’s scent to the rear of the store, through a wood slat fence, and to the parking lot of the nearby Shoals Apartment Complex, suggesting she left in or was forced into a vehicle there. An extensive search of the area turned up no trace of her. Investigators do not believe she left voluntarily; they have concluded that she was probably abducted. They soon discovered that she was not the first store clerk in Florida to disappear on the graveyard shift.

Six months earlier, on August 6, 1989, twenty-nine-year-old Donna Callahan disappeared from a convenience store in Gulf Breeze, Florida. As in Deborah’s case, there were no signs of struggle at the scene. Donna was three months pregnant and left behind a two-year-old daughter. Five weeks later, on September 18, thirty-six-year-old Darlene Messer was abducted from a Lake City convenience store. Two days later, her body was found in a nearby creek. She had been bludgeoned to death.

The three victims were all single females in their twenties or thirties. And they all had vanished while working the graveyard shift alone. Investigators believed that the cases were linked but had no suspect. Then, three days after Deborah’s disappearance, they were contacted by a young woman who read about the case in the local paper. She came forward after realizing that she may have stood face-to-face with Deborah's abductor.

The woman says that she stopped by the store at around 3:30 a.m. that night to pick up a pack of cigarettes. She says there was only one person in the store: a man behind the counter who appeared to be the clerk. Looking back on it, she remembers that he did not know where the cigarettes were, which is not uncommon if the clerk is new. She says she had to point out which ones she wanted. When he handed her the cigarettes, he said, “You really shouldn't smoke, you know.” He then used the cash register and made change for her.

Detective Gay says that investigators have been unable to locate anyone else who was in the store that night who remembered seeing the man. He theorizes that the man may have been a customer who walked in and was looking around for the clerk. The man might have taken the opportunity to shoplift, but was caught by the woman. Or, he might be responsible, or at least partially responsible, for Deborah’s abduction. Regardless, police want to identify and question him.

Detective Gay says there is a good possibility that they are dealing with a serial abductor/killer. Deborah is officially listed as missing. Lori says if they find Deborah and she is deceased, then they can at least put her to rest, give her a decent funeral service, and go after her killer.

Suspects: The man who was behind the counter around the time Deborah disappeared is considered a potential suspect in her disappearance. Police are not sure if he was actually involved or if he merely went behind the counter to shoplift and was caught by the woman. She described him as a white male, at least 5'10" with a muscular build, between nineteen and twenty-five (in 1990), with long, stringy, black (possibly shoulder-length) hair, and dark eyes.

The man was wearing a wire earring of a cross in his right ear, a skull ring, and a black t-shirt with the name "Megadeth" across the top and a dragon spitting fire. He apparently drove a black van with a Megadeth mural airbrushed on the side of it. No employees at the time fit his description, and he has never been identified.

Deborah's boyfriend, Scott Iaggi, said that men, some of whom were drunk or "weird", frequently bothered her while she worked the night shift at the store, and he was concerned for her safety. Detective Gay suspects that one of the customers may have become infatuated with her and decided to abduct her. The police also looked into Scott as a possible suspect. He said he went home after he left the store that night. He passed a lie detector test.

Two weeks pbeforeDeborah's disappearance, she reported that a naked man had jumped over the counter and chased her around the store a few times. She ran outside to the gas pumps, and he followed her. Fortunately, she was able to re-enter the store and lock the door before he was able to re-enter. It is not known if this incident had anything to do with her disappearance. The man has never been located.

The police questioned a man whom Deborah had previously dated. She stopped seeing him because she was afraid of him and thought he was "mentally unbalanced". After they stopped dating, he began to harass her. He told the police he was homesick that night. It is not known if he is considered a suspect.

The police also questioned a woman who came to the store drunk at around 88 pmthat night after she found Deborah's name and work number in her husband's wallet. However, she had an alibi for the time Deborah disappeared.

Extra Notes

This case first aired on the November 6, 1991 episode.

It was also featured on The Trail Went Cold and Trace Evidence podcasts.

Some sources spell Deborah’s first name as "Debra", her middle name as “Deanna”, list her eye color as hazel or blue/green, list her birth year as 1964, and state that Scott left at midnight or 12:30 am.

It is possible (but not confirmed) that the friend who visited Deborah that night was actually Scott. His name was not mentioned during the broadcast.

To protect her identity, the witness at the store was filmed in silhouette.

Results: Unsolved - In November 1996, police announced that they believed the man behind the counter was the boyfriend of one of Deborah's coworkers and was merely a witness in the case. However, they were never able to locate or question him. According to some reports, they now believe he was a customer and was not connected to the case.

In February 1998, Deborah was declared legally dead. In March 2002, police announced that they had a suspect in her case. Although the suspect was not named, it was reported that he was a friend of hers. Around the same time, investigators searched an area of land near Chapel Hill Baptist Church in Orange County. It was five miles from the store and close to the home of the suspect.

The police said that a re-examination of the case evidence led them to the suspect and that area. Cadaver dogs were brought in and detected the scent of human remains there. However, nothing was found. Interestingly, Scott used to live across the street from the church and had once been a pastor there. Some have speculated that he is the suspect mentioned by the police. However, this has not been confirmed.

Donna’s case was solved in 1996; William Alex Wells confessed to killing her and led police to her body in a remote area near DeFuniak Springs, Florida. Wells then implicated his half-brother, Mark Riebe, in the murder. Both were convicted and are serving life sentences. They are considered potential suspects in Deborah’s case as well.

Deborah and Donna both disappeared under similar circumstances. Wells and Riebe were together the weekend of Deborah's disappearance and had a close relative in the area. The female eyewitness picked Wells out of a photo lineup and identified him as the man she had seen in the store that night. Wells, however, denied being involved in the case, saying he was under house arrest at the time. Neither he nor Riebehase been charged in connection with it.

Sadly, Deborah's father, Alvin, and brother, Stephen, have since passed away without seeing a resolution in her case. It, as well as Darlene’s, remains unsolved. Her mother, Nancy, is still searching for her.

Links

Deborah Poe on The Charley Project

Deborah Poe on The Doe Network

Deborah Poe on NamUs

Deborah Poe on Trace Evidence Podcast

Store clerk disappears in Orange - February 5, 1990

Deputies Say Missing Clerk Left In A Car - February 6, 1990

Missing clerk's friends plan search - February 7, 1990

Volunteers searching fora  clerk draw a blank (Page 1)

(Page 2) - February 8, 1990

Body found in Seminole can't be missing clerk, friend says - August 28, 1990

Examiner: Body wasn't a store clerk's - September 1, 1990

Disappearance leaves parents trapped in time - February 3, 1991

Missing convenience store clerk worked 2 jobs to save for a house - September 15, 1991

Police seek abduction witness - November 24, 1996

In Florida, Finding The Missing Often An Impossible Task - July 9, 2001

Search For Long-missing Clerk Yields No Body In Grassy Field - March 28, 2002

Search fails to find remains - March 28, 2002

Deborah Poe vanished 25 years ago from Circle K in East Orange - February 3, 2015

Minisode 7: Deborah Poe - November 30, 2016

Around 3:00 AM on February 4, 1990, Deborah Poe disappears from the graveyard shift at a convenience store. Minutes later, a strange man is seen behind the counter helping customers. (includes articles) - April 14, 2017

Quick Entry #5: Where is Deborah Poe? (includes articles) - November 18, 2017

Mark Riebe: Sins of the Father - July 28, 2019

Update w/ A Special Guest: Where is Deborah Poe? - September 7, 2019

The Disappearance of Deborah Poe - August 19, 2020

Unsolved Disappearance: Deborah Poe - June 5, 2023

Store Clerk Deborah Deann Poe Disappeared During Overnight Shift At An Orlando Gas Station - July 2023

The Mystery Delver: No Poe - January 10, 2024

Websleuths Discussion forum

Stephen's Obituary

https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Deborah_Poe