TX TX - Sharon Zelinski McCully, 25, Austin, 11 December 1984

Sharon Zelinski McCully
Missing since December 11, 1984 from Austin, Travis County, Texas.
Classification: Involuntary

* Date Of Birth: July 1, 1959
* Age at Time of Disappearance: 25 years old
* Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'6"; 130 lbs.
* Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; brown eyes. She wears contact lenses.
* Tattoos: Tattoo of a yellow and red rose on her abdomen.
* Dentals: Available
* Clothing: Dark blue slacks with white pin stripes, an unknown color of blouse, and white tennis shoes with red stripes.
* AKA: Sarah

McCully was last seen at Howard Lane and Interstate 35. She was on a Christmas shopping trip, and had just left her husband after a lunch date. Her Volkswagen was seen on Bee Cave Road that day, and in the area where Barton Creek Square is now located. It was found at an apartment complex on Research Boulevard. She was a nurse with hopes of going to medical school.
A resident told police she saw a woman fitting McCully's description getting out of the car with a man, but the tip didn't develop. Fingerprints were found on her car but there hasn't been enough physical evidence to link anyone to the crime.

If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Austin Police Department Cold Case Unit 512-974-5281
Texas Missing Persons Clearinghouse 512-424-5074

NCIC Number: M-141052381
The Doe Network: Case File 1114DFTX

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1114dftx.html

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/m/mccully_sharon.html

http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/mpch/m...d='M5/31/20023:15:05PM'&Person=Missing Person

Here is her NamUs page: https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/8651/0/

I'm really glad that she has DNA in the system. I wish they'd put her dentals in soon, but maybe they will if someone tries to submit her for a Doe?

Sharon's Doe Network page says it was recently updated (not sure what has changed): http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1114dftx.html

Article from 2016
https://www.google.com/amp/s/wherea...ress.com/2016/09/09/sharon-sarah-mccully/amp/

Updated Charley Project link: http://charleyproject.org/case/sharon-zelinski-mccully



McCully was employed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) at the time of her disappearance, and dreamed of going to medical school. Authorities believe she was taken against her will.

Sharon Zelinski McCully

Alias: Sarah
Missing Since: December 11, 1984
Missing From: Austin, Travis County, Texas
Classification: Endangered Missing
Sex, Race: Female, White
Date of Birth: July 1, 1959
Age: 25 years old
Height: 5’6” - 5’9”
Weight: 130 - 140 pounds
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Tattoos: A yellow and red butterfly on her abdomen

Clothing/Jewelry/Accessories: A purple shirt with sleeves that reached the elbows, dark blue slacks or jeans with a small check pattern and white stripes, and red high-top sneakers with a white logo (possibly Adidas) on the side. She wears contact lenses.

NamUs MP8651
The Doe Network 1114DFTX
Whereabouts Still Unknown

Details of Disappearance (per The Charley Project)

McCully was last seen at 1:40 p.m. on December 11, 1984 in Austin, Texas. She was driving east on Howard Lane towards Interstate 35 at the time of her disappearance. She was doing Christmas shopping that day and was last seen after she left a lunch date with her husband of two and a half years. She dropped him off at his job and drove away.

Several witnesses thought they saw McCully's vehicle, an off-white 1965 Volkswagen Beetle with a faded orange hood and a missing front bumper, on Bee Cave Road the afternoon she disappeared. These sightings have not been confirmed.

The Volkswagen was discovered unlocked and abandoned at an apartment complex in the 8600 block of Research Boulevard, five a half miles from McCully's last known location, two days after she went missing. McCully's loved ones don't think she knew anyone at the complex and can't think of a reason why she would have gone there, and it's unlikely she would have had car trouble because her husband, a mechanic, had just turned the engine.

McCully's purse, which had contained about $170 in cash, was missing from the vehicle when it was located. There were no indications of foul play. Fingerprints were found, but there was no evidence to implicate anyone in her disappearance. A witness stated McCully was seen getting out of her car with a man, but this has not been confirmed.

McCully lived in an apartment in the 4300 block of Avenue G at the time of her disappearance. A former licensed vocational nurse, she was employed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and dreamed of getting a degree in biology and going to medical school. Her husband passed a polygraph about her disappearance. Authorities believe she was taken against her will.

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Unidentified Person Exclusions per NamUs:
UP6796 11/18/1985 Alleghany VA
UP6642 08/07/1986 Chesterfield VA
UP1567 06/01/1987 Knox TN
UP6629 02/03/1991 Frederick VA
UP6150 11/07/1998 Stafford VA
UP8419 01/16/2001 Isle of Wight VA
UP6774 12/29/2009 Harris TX

Sharon reminds me very much of this UID found in Georgia in February 1988! Vital stats line up, although I can’t explain the timeline. The UID was thought to have been dead about a week.

Unidentified Remains: Jenkins County, Asian Female

BethAnn777 said:

Article from 2016
Sharon “Sarah” McCully

Click to expand...

This article references a possible link to the Lauren McCarty murder, which took place a week after Sharon McCully disappeared and shared characteristics (apart from being local). It notes that there was a suspect in 1998 for the McCarty murder. The suspect was Richard Alan Woods, who was convicted in 1998 for the McCarty murder based on dna evidence. Given his record (not only for this offence) and presence in the area at the time he does seem an obvious suspect. But, surprisingly, there seems to be no follow up on his possible links to the McCully case after his conviction in 1998 (he is still in prison). Whether this means he was eliminated or LE could not be bothered after he got life or they have just kept quiet, I do not know. But I would have expected some follow up and that John McCully (the husband) would have been kept informed.

An update on her Charley Project profile: Last updated July 6, 2020; details of disappearance updated.

Details of Disappearance

Click to expand...

McCully was last seen at 1:40 p.m. on December 11, 1984 in Austin, Texas. She was driving east on Howard Lane towards Interstate 35 at the time of her disappearance. She was doing Christmas shopping that day and was last seen after she left a lunch date with her husband of two and a half years. She dropped him off at his job and drove away.

Several witnesses thought they saw McCully's vehicle, an off-white 1965 Volkswagen Beetle with a faded orange hood and a missing front bumper, parked alongside Bee Cave Road near a shopping mall the afternoon she disappeared. These sightings have not been confirmed.

The Volkswagen was discovered unlocked and abandoned at an apartment complex in the 8600 block of Research Boulevard, five a half miles from McCully's last known location, two days after she went missing. The white rope that had previously been used to hold the hood down after its latch broke was no longer on the car when it was found.

McCully's loved ones don't think she knew anyone at the complex and can't think of a reason why she would have gone there, and it's unlikely she would have had car trouble because her husband, a mechanic, had just tuned the engine. McCully's purse, which had contained about $170 in cash, was missing from the vehicle when it was located. There were no indications of foul play. Fingerprints were found, but there was no evidence to implicate anyone in her disappearance. A witness stated McCully was seen getting out of her car with a man, but this has not been confirmed.

McCully lived in an apartment in the 4300 block of Avenue G at the time of her disappearance. A former licensed vocational nurse, she was employed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and dreamed of getting a degree in biology and going to medical school. Her husband passed a polygraph about her disappearance. Authorities believe she was taken against her will.

Click to expand...

Sharon has been missing for 36 years today.

My previous post (#9) references the possibility of a link to the Lauren McCarty murder which took place a week later and for which Richard Alan Woods was convicted 14 years later on DNA evidence. The clipping in post #10 references the white rope missing from McCully's car when it was found. The attached file from The Austin American Statesman of December 24 1984 contains the following;
"Her (McCarty) hands were tied in front of her with heavy white twine. ..... John McCully said the first thing he thought of when he heard of McCarty's death was a piece of white rope he had used to tie down the hood of his wife's car..."

Did the police rule out this lead? Since the development of more advanced DNA testing has the rope been tested for McCully's DNA (which would confirm the link)? Have they even retained the rope and if it has not been tested, why not?

Seems her maiden name is Zelinski. She married a McCulley in 1983. It’s weird though... there’s a public record of her (on Ancestry) from circa 2008.

MadMcGoo said:

Seems her maiden name is Zelinski. She married a McCulley in 1983. It’s weird though... there’s a public record of her (on Ancestry) from circa 2008.

Click to expand...

Could that mean a relative entered her into their family tree in 2008?

I feel like there were quite a few cases of girls and women disappearing from mall parking lots over the years. (Just speculation about what happened).

I suspect that LE could still make progress to identify whether Richard Alan Woods, the murderer of Lauren McCarty a week after Sharon went missing, is also responsible for Sharon's disappearance. He was alive in a Texas prison in 2018 (evidenced by a case he brought against a prison officer) and is probably still held there as he would only be aged in his mid 60s today. And when he was convicted in 1998 (14 years after the crime) it was on the basis of dna testing of samples police had retained for those 14 years. So there seems to be a good chance they also retained the white twine used to tie McCarty and which, if it was dna tested and held dna from either Sharon or her husband, would prove it was the rope used on the hood of Sharon's car. This would then link the two crimes and point to Woods as the attacker in both cases.

So LE have the opportunity for both reinterviewing Woods and seeking forensic evidence.

Sharon Zelinski McCully – The Charley Project

Last updated May 14, 2021; details of disappearance updated.

Details of Disappearance
McCully was last seen at 1:40 p.m. on December 11, 1984 in Austin, Texas. She was driving east on Howard Lane towards Interstate 35 at the time of her disappearance. She was doing Christmas shopping that day and was last seen after she left a lunch date with her husband of two and a half years. She dropped him off at his job and drove away.

Several witnesses thought they saw McCully's vehicle, an off-white 1965 Volkswagen Beetle with a faded orange hood and a missing front bumper, parked alongside Bee Cave Road near a shopping mall the afternoon she disappeared. These sightings have not been confirmed. When her husband got home from work at 6:30 p.m., McCully wasn't home. He spent the night waiting for her and calling her friends and family to see if anyone had heard from her. The next day he called the police to report her missing.

The Volkswagen was discovered unlocked and abandoned at an apartment complex in the 8600 block of Research Boulevard, five a half miles from McCully's last known location, two days after she went missing. It was unlocked. The white rope that had previously been used to hold the hood down after its latch broke was no longer on the car when it was found.

McCully's loved ones don't think she knew anyone at the complex and can't think of a reason why she would have gone there, and it's unlikely she would have had car trouble because her husband, a mechanic, had just tuned the engine and because the police were able to start the car and drive it with no problem. McCully's purse, which had contained about $170 in cash, was missing from the vehicle when it was located, as were the keys.

There were no indications of foul play. A few partial fingerprints were found on and in the car, but there was no evidence to implicate anyone in her disappearance. A witness stated McCully was seen getting out of her car with a man, but this has not been confirmed.

McCully lived in an apartment in the 4300 block of Avenue G at the time of her disappearance. A former licensed vocational nurse, she was employed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and dreamed of getting a degree in biology and going to medical school. Her husband passed a polygraph about her disappearance; they reportedly had a happy marriage with no problems, and had recently purchased land to build their own home on.

Authorities believe McCully was taken against her will. Her case remains unsolved.

Bumping for Sharon, today is her birthday.

Sharon has been missing for 37 years today.

Bumping, today is Sharon’s birthday.

Sharon has been missing for 38 years today.