Gardener1850

Timeline Guru (Still Remembering Cupcake)
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  • #1
17

Debra A. Murr
Davidson County, Tennessee
26 year old white female

Debra Murr lived at 2519 Ketharn Street, Nashville. According to her husband, she left her home on February 8, 1983 and never returned home.

Height: 67 inches
Weight: 120 lbs

Hair: Blond/Strawberry
Eyes: Blue

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/15/
 
  • #2
Bumping for Debra, today is her birthday.
 
  • #3
  • #4
Debra Ann Hazelwood married Bobby Gene Murr in 1974 at Hamblen, TN (from Ancestry marriage record). It was a teenage marriage for both of them. The husband remarried on 25 February 1983, so only 2 weeks after Debra went missing(!). The identity of the husband is confirmed by his birthdate and the location (Hamblen) being the same on both 1974 and 1983 marriages. So I assume Debra and Bobby were divorced when she went missing as I cannot imagine a divorce being granted (or a declaration of death) in only 2 weeks. But this seems odd if she was living with him. Perhaps the line that 'she left her home and never returned home' suggests they did live apart?

I am not sure what to make of this or whether it is relevant to the case (it may suggest a motive for her to leave or for him to want her to leave).
 
  • #5
I have found that I have made a bad mistake. I had relied on the Ancestry records and identified the only case of a Debra Ann marrying a Murr in Tennessee. I had noticed a small (days) discrepancy in birthdate but, given errors creep into records and LE records, I had discounted that as a small issue, but it turns out I was wrong. A new interrogation of Ancestry records has identified a marriage of a David Eugene Murr to Delora A Binkley in Tennessee on 4 December 1982. An examination of the image confirms that the transcript record is incorrect and it should read Debra Ann Binkley. Further checks have turned up an article in The Tennessean from June 1983 which confirms her husband's name as David. So sorry, but I was wrong.

Debra Ann Murr was Debra Ann Binkley prior to her 1982 marriage. A lesson for me to cast the net wider on Ancestry to deal with mistranscriptions. Her husband, David Murr, died in 2009 and this is confirmed by an entry in the US Social Security Index which matches precisely on birthdate as well as name.

Unfortunately the Tennessee marriage record, unlike some states, does not record the prior status of the marriage partners (single. widowed, divorced) so it is not possible to say if Debra married under her maiden name or a previous married name.

My apologies for my error and hopefully the new information is more helpful.
 
Last edited:
  • #6
Debra has been missing for 38 years today.
 
  • #7
  • #8
Bumping, today is Debra’s birthday.
 
  • #9
Debra's NamUs profile was modified yesterday 2/10/22. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
She currently has 11 rule outs
UP8419 01/16/2001 Isle of Wight VA
UP6149 01/22/1996 Halifax VA
UP6629 02/03/1991 Frederick VA
UP12683 06/06/2014 Newport News VA
UP2895m 03/06/2000 Anderson TN
UP2895 03/06/2000 Anderson TN
UP6642 08/07/1986 Chesterfield VA
UP6796 11/18/1985 Alleghany VA
UP6665 05/14/2007 Petersburg VA
UP1567 06/01/1987 Knox TN
UP6150 11/07/1998 Stafford VA
 
  • #10
Missing 39 years :(
 
  • #11
Both the Doe Network and the Charley Project now add that Debra left "to see her stepson at the hospital."

I think the street where they lived is probably spelled "Katherine" since I couldn't find either "Kathryn" or "Ketharn" on this list of street names in Nashville.

I don't know what hospitals existed in Nashville in 1983, but there don't seem to be any in the immediate vicinity of 2519 Katherine Street now. The closest is Nashville General, about a 15-minute drive or a 1-hour bus ride today.

Maybe the stepson was at a different hospital, but this suggests that she wasn't planning to walk. If she drove, where's her car? If she took a bus, were there other witnesses? No mention is made of her arriving to visit her stepson, so she may not have reached the hospital at all.
 
  • #12
Bumping, today is Debra’s birthday.
 
  • #13
Bumping, the 40th anniversary of Debra’s disappearance passed recently.
 
  • #14

Debra Murr was last seen at her home at 2519 Ketharn Street in Nashville. Murr’s husband told police she had left the residence to visit her stepson in the hospital.

However, Murr never returned home and has not been heard from since. Few details are available in her case.
 
  • #15
Poor woman, I have the impression that she ran away from home, the hospital was an excuse to leave the house, perhaps her husband mistreated her, perhaps she fled from a beating or insults... sometimes it may be that despair has made her commit something crazy.
Whatever she is, she rests in peace.
 
  • #16
Bumping, today is Debra’s birthday.
 
  • #17
Debra has been missing for 41 years today.
 
  • #18

Last updated October 30, 2024; details of disappearance updated.

Details of Disappearance​

Murr's husband told authorities that his wife left the family's residence in the 2900 block of Susan Drive in Nashville, Tennessee on February 8, 1983 to visit her stepson at the hospital. She never returned home and has never been heard from again. Authorities believe her husband may have murdered her, but he is now deceased and was never charged in her case.
 
  • #19
Today is Debra’s birthday.
 
  • #20
Debra has been missing for 42 years today.
 

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