Deceased/Not Found CA - Deborah Owens, 24, Oroville, 19 Nov 1978 *M. Owens guilty*

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https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/show/17682

Deborah was last seen at home in Oroville by her husband, who reported her missing two days later. LE believes foul play is involved.

Deborah was 5' tall and 100 pounds, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She had a scar on her abdomen. Dental info is available; DNA and FPs currently are not.

There is a discrepancy on Deborah's last seen date; the Butte County Sheriff's Department has the year as 1978 instead of 1979 on this PDF file listing all the county's MPs (scroll down to Page 5):

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-407O01CMl0NXNSQTBEaHlhcmc/view?sle=true

All other websites with Deborah's info that I could find show the year as 1979 but, if she did in fact go missing in 1978, it could make a big difference in trying to match her with unidentified remains. Just thought I should point that out.
 
http://www.krcrtv.com/news/local/husband-arrested-for-murder-in-36yearold-cold-case/31359858

According to a news release from the Butte County Sheriff's office, Marvin Owens has long been suspected of killing Deborah and disposing of her body.

Former Butte County Sheriff Perry Reniff has been working on cold case homicides in Butte County and spearheaded this case. As a result of this investigation, the Butte County District Attorney has filed a felony arrest warrant charging Marvin Owens, now 62, with the murder of his wife, Deborah Owens...

Investigators are looking into the possible connections between the disappearance of Deborah Owens and another missing and suspected deceased woman named Essie Margarette Hiett, who disappeared in February 1978.
 
http://lompocrecord.com/news/state-...cle_d79c507f-913c-5e6f-8301-ffb11054b267.html

Evidence has been recovered from the couple's Oroville home, said Butte County Sheriff's Sgt. Jason Hail, who declined to elaborate.

He said that investigators also conducted fresh interviews with the couple's daughters, who were raised by Owens and are now adults. "It was important for us to talk to them about things told to them as they grew up about their mom," Hail said. "That's certainly a factor in all of this."

Owens is expected to appear Friday in a Keith County courtroom, said Hail, who hopes the suspect will soon be extradited to California to face murder charges.
 
Oroville is a pretty small town. The current population is about 15K. I think it's worth noting that another woman went missing from Oroville in 1978.


CA - Essie Margarette Hiett, 47, Oroville, 13 February 1978

Indeed, and from the article most recently posted it appears investigators are all over it.

"He [Butte County D.A., Michael Ramsey] said investigators are also looking at connections between associates of Owens and the disappearance of another woman, Essie Margarette Hiett, who vanished in the same year"

Bold print added by me for emphasis. - I'm very interested to learn more about these associates of Owens.
 
Man pleads guilty in wife's death 36 years ago

former Oroville man has admitted responsibility for the death and disappearance of his wife 36 years ago.

In court Thursday, Marvin Owens, 62, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in connection with the 1978 death and disappearance of his wife Deborah in Oroville. Deborah Owens' body was never found. She was 23 years old when she went missing from the couple's home on Ridge Crest Drive in November 1978.
 
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2845dfca.html

2845DFCA - Deborah Diane Owens


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2845DFCA.jpg
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Name: Deborah Diane Owens
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: November 19, 1978
Location Last Seen: Oroville, Butte County, California

Physical Description

Date of Birth: May 1, 1955
Age: 24 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'0"
Weight: 100 lbs.
Hair Color: Blonde
Eye Color: Blue
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Scar on her abdomen.

Identifiers

Dentals: Available
Fingerprints: Not Available
DNA: Available

Clothing & Personal Items

Clothing: Unknown
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown

Circumstances of Disappearance

Deborah Diane Owens was last seen at her home around 8:30 A.M., on November 19, 1979 in Oroville by her husband. He reported her missing two days later.
On March 19, 2015, Deborah's husband, Marvin Gail Owens, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in her death. Owens admitted that he strangled Deborah during an argument on November 19, 1978. He claimed to have buried her body in a shallow grave near the Oroville Wildlife Area. To date, her remains have not been recovered.
Investigating Agency(s)

Agency Name: Butte County Sheriff's Department
Agency Contact Person: Det. Rowdy Freeman
Agency Phone Number: 530-538-7321
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 7825454

NCIC Case Number: Unknown
NamUs Case Number: 17682

Information Source(s)

NamUs
CADOJ
ChicoER News
 
I wonder if they have tried using Cadaver dogs to find her remains? Thanks for posting Romulus.
 
Deborah Diane Owens – The Charley Project

Details of Disappearance
Deborah was last seen by her husband, Marvin Gail Owens, at their residence in the 5300 block of Crestridge Drive in Oroville, California at 8:30 a.m. on November 19, 1978. She has never been heard from again. She had a history of dropping out of sight, but she was never away for very long and always kept in touch with her two daughters.

Later, Marvin told people she had been found safe; this was untrue. The police were under the impression that Deborah had been located and it wasn't until ten years after her disappearance that her family contacted them and told them otherwise.

Deborah never took off her wedding rings and she had been seen wearing them shortly before she disappeared. In 1989, when the police got a search warrant for Marvin's residence, they found the rings inside. They also located a pair of roller skates he said she had taken with her when she vanished.

Marvin moved to Ogallala, Nebraska after his wife's disappearance; a photo of him is posted with this case summary. In February 2015, he was arrested and charged with Deborah's murder. Their marriage had been troubled and he had long been a suspect in her disappearance.

Authorities looked into the possibility that he was involved in the case of Essie Hiett, who vanished from Oroville in February 1978. Deborah and Hiett had some mutual friends and they disappeared in the same year.

Marvin was eventually ruled out as a suspect in Hiett's case. In mid-March 2015, he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, admitting he "snapped" and strangled Deborah to death during an argument. He was sentenced to four years in prison, the maximum term possible for voluntary manslaughter in 1978.

He stated he buried her body in a shallow grave in the Oroville Wildlife Area. Four major excavations have turned up no evidence, however. Deborah has never been found; Marvin couldn't pinpoint the exact spot where he'd buried her. Foul play is suspected due to the circumstances involved.
 

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