Police are still searching for her killer, 10 years later, after she was found dead in a house fire that was deemed arson.

>>Click to see unsolved mysteries in Houston’s suburbs, Houston and central Texas.

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UNSOLVED CASES FROM HOUSTON’S SUBURBS

Magnolia

Jane McDonald Crone was 35 when she was reported missing on Nov. 15, 1993, by her husband. She lived with her husband and children in Magnolia and worked for Baker Hughes in Houston. On Nov. 12, she had visited several nightclubs in the area. Her blue 1982 Ford Mustang was found abandoned on Nov. 13. Crone has not been seen or heard from since. 

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Crystal Beach

Bridgett Gearen, 28, was vacationing with friends and her 2-year-old daughter on July 15, 2007, when she left a rented beach house to take a midnight trail ride on the beach. Minutes after she left the house, her friends could not find her. Gearen was later found, raped and beaten to death, at the edge of the water on the beach. 

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The Woodlands

Michelle Prasek, 12, was last seen by her mother at 7:30 a.m. Dec. 19, 1997, an hour before she was to leave home to get on a school bus. She was a seventh grader at Knox Junior School in The Woodlands. She has a birthmark on the palm of her hand. less

The Woodlands

This is an age-procesesed photo of Michelle Prasek, who was last seen on Dec. 19, 1997. She did not attend school that day.

Katy

Elizabeth Pfeifer was 20 years old when she disappeared after going to a party on April 12, 1986. Due to her erratic behavior, Pfeifer’s parents did not report her missing until four weeks after she was last seen.  less

River Oaks

Fred C. Rogers, 81, and his wife, Edwina Harmon Rogers, 79. The Rogers were dismembered and found in the refrigerator in their home at 1815 Driscoll on June 23, 1965.

Pasadena 

Samarra Kaye Cribbs was found dead in a parking space in the Parkside Place Apartments on Spencer on March 5, 1977. She had a single stab wound to her upper back near her spine. The suspect was described as a white man, 20-30 years old, about 6 feet tall and 170 pounds, large build with dark shoulder-length hair.

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New Caney

Toby Coleman was reported missing Aug. 25, 1997, at age 18, from New Caney. Details about his disappearance have been lost over time, but foul play is suspected. 

Dayton

Cynthia Washington, 44, of Dayton, was last seen Feb. 4, 2008 boarding a Greyhound bus to San Antonio. She has not been seen since.

Freeport

Kristle Bezner, 24, was found dead in the water at Freeport’s Bryan Beach on April 2, 2010. Bezner’s mother said her daughter had been hanging out with friends who were into drugs and had reported her missing several days after she last saw Bezner. 

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Pearland 

Arturo Guerra was stabbed to death at the Royal Oaks Apartments at 1300 E. Broadway on Aug. 19, 2011. Guerra, attacked inside an apartment, was able to call 9-1-1 and later died at Memorial Hermann Hospital. 

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Montgomery

Laura Jean Donez was another victim Henry Lee Lucas once confessed to killing. She was last seen leaving her residence in the 3500 block of Raymond Street in Houston on April 18, 1983. Like Laura Marie Purchase, Donez’ body was found in a fire burning in the woods about 400 yards west of FM 149 near Montgomery. 

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Bellaire

On June 7, 1997, Erica Garcia was murdered inside an abandoned hospital in the 11100 block of Bellaire Blvd. The murder occurred between 12:30 a.m. and 8 a.m. 

Humble

Hiram Vaughn was gunned down in fron of a residence in the 20100 block of Southern Leaf Drive on April 20, 2016. The suspects were seen wearing all black clothing and may have fled in a large white truck. 

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Conroe

On Feb. 13, 2005, the body of Darcus Mashelle Penrice, 26, was found stabbed multiple times on Crater Hill Road. Her body was about 8 miles from where she was last seen, possibly getting into a vehicle. Witnesses saw a dark green car with four doors and tinted windows, possibly a Ford Taurus or For Contour. 

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West Houston

Cheryl Henry, 22, and her boyfriend Andy Atkinson, 21, were found murdered in a wooded area in Harris County, west of Houston, on Aug. 23, 1990. They were both tied up and their throats had been slashed.  less

Pasadena

On October 27, 1978 the victim, Martha Alice Hernandez, died as a result of a gunshot wound to the head. The victim was discovered by a relative in the driveway of her brother’s residence. Hernandez’ husband, Narciso Munoz Hernandez was charged in her murder but was never found. 

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Spring Branch

Connie Montez was shot and killed during a robbery at a bar on Sept. 4, 1981. Two unknown suspects entered the bar with pistols and demanded money from the cash register. Montez, a bar employee, engaged in a struggle with a suspect and was shot. One suspect was a white man with shoulder-length blond curly hair, about 18-25 years old, 5 feet 9 to 5 feet 11 inches. The other suspect was a white man with blond hair, about the same age and 5 feet 8 to 5 feet 10 inches. 

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Conroe

Serial killer Henry Lee Lucas confessed to the killing of Laura Marie Purchase on March 17, 1983. However, he later recanted and DNA evidence excluded him. Purchase’s body was found within a fire set in the woods along northbound Interstate 45 at League Line Road. She had been strangled before her body was set on fire. 

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Dickinson

Justin James Wingo was shot multiple times at the Dickinson Motel at 2514 Hill Street on June 6, 2008. Witnesses said as Wingo parked at the motel, the suspect’s vehicle pulled up behind him. The suspect tried to rob him, then shot and killed Wingo. The suspect vehicle then fled and Wingo’s white Toyota Tundra was later found in Webster. 

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Liberty 

Patricia Small, 18, of Liberty, was last seen May 11, 2002 in the vicinity of the 2400 block of Beaumont Avenue in Liberty. She was dropped off at Liberty High School by a relative that day. 

Pasadena

On March 28, 1979, the body of Angela Desiree Kelly was found on the side of the road in the 7800 block of Red Bluff. She had been strangled and her hands were tied behind her back. Despite numerous interviews, this case remains unsolved. 

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Cleveland 

Larry Baker, 55, of Cleveland, disappeared Jan. 29, 2010. He suffered from multiple serious health problems, including high blood pressure, multiple strokes and the beginning stages of dementia. Numerous searches have been conducted, but there has been no sign of Baker.  less

Southwest Houston 

Sgt. Paul Motard talks about cold case files of five homicides that have baffled Houston police for years. In 1979, a killer, or maybe several, began stalking young people in Houston, and eventually killed five and removed two of their heads. Two others victims’ heads were left hanging. The killings began at the Orchard Apartments in Southwest Houston, and a divorced secretary was the first victim. Her nude body, minus her head, was found in her bed and a blood trial led to the parking lot.

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Humble

Elizabeth Lizama was struck and killed by a truck headed northbound in the 15400 block of Lee Road. The truck may have been a red, 1999-2003 Ford pickup. 

Crosby

Paige Balinski was riding her bike northbound in the 14800 block of FM 2100 when she was struck by a vehicle, also traveling northbound, on June 4, 2016. Balinski died from her injuries at Memorial Hermann. 

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Pearland

Anthony Terrell Williams was killed Oct. 10, 2010 at a house in the 3100 block of Springdale Street. The incident was reported to police as a home invasion. Deputies arrived to find 39-year-old Williams dead. 

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Pearland

This is an artist’s sketch of the suspect in Anthony Terrell Williams’ death. The suspect is a black male, about 5 feet 10 inches and 185 pounds. He was wearing all black clothing and armed with a handgun. 

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Champions

Anthony Barden was struck and killed by a white 2003-04 Ford F-150 pickup truck in the 19400 block of Tomball Parkway on April 23, 2016. The truck first hit Barden, who was talking, then swerved and hit another vehicle before leaving the scene. 

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Pasadena

Detta Dee Taylor Maris, 35, far left, was last seen at her home on July 4, 1990. Her decomposed body was found eight months later in a rice field in Liberty County. Police said Maris’ husband “has been evasive” since her disappearance, and there is little information in the case. 

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Aldine

Leandrea Foster was shot on Sept. 18, 2016 after an argument with two other people outside a barbecue stand at Interstate 45 and West Little York. Foster left in her car with her husband and 2-year-old daughter. The pair of suspects chased them in a small, silver SUV, cornered the family in a parking lot off Aldine Westfield, and shot Foster. She died 3 days later from her injuries. 

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Southeast Houston

Shelby Bustamante was killed in a hit-and-run on Monday, Dec. 19, 2016 at 2200 Gulf Freeway. Bustamante exited a vehicle she was a passenger in and was struck by a red GMC or Chevrolet pickup truck with a white “fox” sticker on the back window. The truck was headed northbound. 

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Fort Bend

Marick Caleb Anderson was shot to death on July 20, 2016 inside a vehicle in front of a convenience store at 12300 Hillcroft. A struggle seemed to ensue before the shooting. 

The suspect was described as a black man wearing a blue and white plaid shirt, gray pants and black and white shoes. 

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Liberty

Edwin Clark Rogers, 62, spoke with his son and brother by phone Dec. 30, 2011, saying he had been at the VFW in Liberty. The next day his Jeep was found on the side of Texas 321 with his phone under the seat, but he has not been seen since then. less

Robert Durst, the eerie real estate heir with Houston-area ties, has grabbed recent headlines after a documentary on HBO and a high-profile arrest in New Orleans. He’s been associated with multiple homicides or disappearances, including an acquittal in a Galveston murder in 2003 (he did admit to dismembering his neighbor’s body, but claimed the killing was in self defense). Durst remains a suspect in the vanishing of his first wife, Kathleen and faces charges in Los Angeles over the death of his friend Susan Berman 15 years ago. 

Here are some of the eeriest unsolved murders and disappearances tied to the Houston area.

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The Texas Killing Fields 

From the 1970s up until the 1990s, the bodies of young women kept turning up in a marshy, secluded area between Houston and Galveston. The area located alongside Interstate 45 became known as the “Texas killing fields.”

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Law student vanishes, then turns up dead

Law student Helen “Dawn” Williams went missing from her home in Houston’s Third Ward on Oct. 15, 1993. The 25-year-old was close to graduating with a degree from the Thurgood School of Law at Texas Southern University when she suddenly did not turn up to classes one day. Her body wouldn’t be discovered for almost a month. Williams was found with her throat slashed in a shallow grave in Montgomery County. Police believe Williams knew the attacker since nothing was stolen from her besides the clothes she was wearing and her purse. However the case remains cold.

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A deputy’s slaying outside Greenspoint Mall

Harris County Deputy Roxyann Allee was killed in 1991, and authorities are still searching for her killer. Allee was abducted on Sept. 30, 1991 as she walked to her vehicle in the parking lot of Greenspoint Mall in north Harris County. Witnesses saw two gunmen force her into her vehicle. The deputy’s van was found on fire 90 minutes later, without her body inside. A short time after, Deputy Allee’s body was found with gunshot wounds to the head.

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Lovers’ Lane Murders

So far no arrests have been made in a grotesque two-decade old slaying. The victims Cheryl Henry and Andy Atkinson, both in their early 20s, had driven to a part of west Houston called Lover’s Lane. The next morning Henry was discovered raped and with her throat slashed. Atkinson’s throat was also slashed and his body was tied to a tree.  less

Strip club assassination

Phillip Liase planned to bring a high-end Vegas style strip club to Houston. Instead he was killed in a mob-style hit early in the morning on Oct. 21, 2013. He had just left a strip club in Richmond Avenue when he was mowed down in his Bentley by assassins that had been waiting for him. Liase, 40, died at the scene – but even with some assistance by the FBI – police have never made an arrest in the case. The victim’s family said he never mentioned having enemies who were out to get him, although some theorized that rival strip club owners had wanted to keep him out of the area.  less

The Lost Boys

The Houston serial killer Dean Corll kidnapped, tortured sexually and killed at least 30 boys around the Heights area in the early 1970s. He was only stopped after a 17-year-old accomplice turned on him and shot Corll to death. At least one of Corll’s known victims has not been identified, many of the victim’s bodies were never found and there likely were more victims beyond the 28 deaths positively tied to Corll.

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The Orchard Apartment murders

In this file photo, Sgt. Paul Motard talks about five homicides that have baffled Houston police for 34 years. In 1979, a killer, or maybe several, began stalking young people in Houston, and eventually killed five and got away with two of their heads. Two other victims’ heads were left hanging. The killings began at the Orchard Apartments in Southwest Houston, and a divorced secretary was the first victim. Her nude body, minus her head, was found in her bed and a blood trial led to the parking lot.

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The Sun family slayings 

The Sun family – parents Maoye Sun and Mei Xie and their two young children Timothy and Titus – were shot in the head at their Cypress home in January 2014. The deaths shook the Chinese community in Houston and attracted international headlines. But a motive was never determined for the attack, and no suspects were ever arrested.

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The Ice Box Murders

On June 20, 1965, Houston police officers took a look around the house of an elderly couple that they had been asked to check up on. The police glanced inside the freezer, and after a moment realized the butchered meat they saw in the ice box was actually a body. Edwina Rogers, 79, had been beaten and shot execution style. The killer had smashed in 81-year-old Fred Rogers’ head with a hammer, gouged out his eyes and removed his organs. The lone suspect was their 43-year-old son Charles Rogers, who lived with his parents. Rogers’ whereabouts remain unknown. 

Conspiracy theorists, including two who authored a book on the case, believe Rogers was a covert CIA operative involved in the Kennedy assassination. His parents died after discovering his identity. Houston investigators had a different explanation. They told Fox4News that Rogers was a brilliant geologist with powerful connections who harbored deep resentment against his parents after suffering years of abuse at their hands.

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The Ice Box Murders

On June 23, 1965, Houston police officers took a look around the house of an elderly couple that they had been asked to check up on. The police glanced inside the freezer, and after a moment realized the butchered meat they saw in the ice box was actually a body. Edwina Rogers, 79, had been beaten and shot execution style. The killer had smashed in 81-year-old Fred Rogers’ head with a hammer, gouged out his eyes and removed his organs. The lone suspect was their 43-year-old son Charles Rogers, who lived with his parents. Rogers’ whereabouts remain unknown. 

Conspiracy theorists, including two who authored a book on the case, believe Rogers was a covert CIA operative involved in the Kennedy assassination. His parents died after discovering his identity. Houston investigators had a different explanation. They told Fox4News that Rogers was a brilliant geologist with powerful connections who harbored deep resentment against his parents after suffering years of abuse at their hands.

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The Kennedy sister murders

In January, a suspect was finally arrested in a three-decade-old murder case. The Kennedy sisters were shot to death inside their home on March 5, 1984. The case of Yleen, 33, and Lillie Kennedy, 23, remained cold until 2009 when the HPD Homicide Division took a second look at forensic evidence collected at the scene. With the help of modern-day forensics and a tip, police made an arrest of 57-year-old Edmond Beauregard Degan, possibly resolving one of the city’s most confounding cold cases. less

Click ahead to view DPS’ cold case files around Central Texas.

Carol Joyce Deleon

San Antonio

On June 4, 1981, an unidentified body of a teenage female was found along Interstate 35 in Comal County. An autopsy later determined the victim died from gunshot wounds.
In 2009, through DNA technology, the victim was identified as 18 year old Carol Joyce Deleon.

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Olga Alicia Paz

Seguin

Paz, 31, was last seen alive on the morning of March 22, 2010, as her husband left to take their children to school. Her husband returned home shortly after dropping the children off at school and discovered Olga inside the residence, brutally stabbed.
Evidence from the crime scene ruled out the husband as the attacker, but has yet to identify the actual offender.

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Lupita Cantu

San Antonio

On April 26, 1990, Lupita Cantu, 41, was last seen at her home on the West Side. Her abandoned vehicle was found the following day. In May of that year a body was found in rural Frio County and in 2011 identified as Cantu.

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Mikiko Kasahara

Seguin

Mikiko Kasahara, 21, was a foreign exchange student from Japan at Texas Lutheran University. Her body was found on the morning of Dec. 14, 2002, in her burned apartment following a fire in her apartment complex. An autopsy later determined the manner of death to be a homicide.

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Linda Muegge

Fredericksburg

On the evening of April, 14, 2007, Muegge, 51, returned home from yoga class. At 7:45 p.m. a witness reported a fire at her home. Once extinguished, v was found deceased inside. An autopsy later ruled her death a homicide. The fire was ruled arson.

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Heidi Seeman

San Antonio

Heidi Lynn Seeman, 11, disappeared Aug. 4, 1990, while returning from a sleepover with friends. Her body was found on Aug. 25, 1990, near Wimberly. her death was ruled a homicide.

Beth Hicks

Boerne

Beth Marie Hicks, 36, was found dead near her vehicle outside her home on June, 30, 2004.

Blasé Allen Wright

Universal City

Blasé Allen Wright, 21, was fatally shot on Feb. 2, 2007, during an apparent burglary at his residence.

Samantha Zublionis

San Antonio

On Sept. 3, 1994, Samantha Zublionis, 17, was found in a rural area of Frio County. An autopsy determined her death to be homicide.

Leonard Carl Grimm

Seguin

Leonard Grimm, 45, was last seen on the evening of Aug. 13, 1989. He had been out with several people who report last seeing him with a blown tire. His body was found the next morning in his truck, his body with multiple stab wounds.

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Danydia Thompson

Killeen

Danydia Thompson was last seen in the company of an unknown man as she walked to school the morning of April 30, 1997. Her body was found near a rural highway on May 8, 1997.

Mary K. Harris

Belton

Mary Harris, 31, was found shot in the head in a storage room in the convenience store where she worked on March 10, 1984. She died on Nov. 16, 1984 from complications from that gunshot.

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Yolanda Herrera

Universal City

Yolanda Herrera, 23, was last seen walking from the bar Johnny’s Inn in Universal City the morning of April, 11, 1981. Her nude body was found in a field and an autopsy ruled her death a homicide.

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Emily Garcia

New Braunfels

The nude body of Emily Jeanette Garcia, 15, was found on Feb. 25, 1993, in Comal County. An autopsy determined she died from asphyxia.

Amber Lyn Smith

Seguin

on Jan. 29, 2006, Amber Lyn Smith, 28, was reported missing from her home. Her body was found nearly three weeks later under a bridge on FM 725. An autopsy ruled her death a homicide.

Sylvia Clark

La Vernia

Sylvia Clark, 50, was found dead in her home on July 19, 2009. She was last seen by her husband earlier that day. Her death was ruled a homicide.

Christa Williams

Pearsall

Christa Lea Williams, 16, with connections to San Antonio was last seen on April 20, 1977 at her work in Pearsall. Her nude body was discovered on April 23, 1977, along FM 2779. An autopsy determined she died from numerous gunshots.

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Toni Ann Ackerman

Seguin

Toni Ann Ackerman, 26, was shot to death on the evening of Aug. 18, 1992. Witnesses say Toni was last seen with a male subject in the area of W. Kingsbury in Seguin.

Richard Anthony Garza

Bexar County

Richard Anthony “Tony” Garza, 21, disappeared from South Bexar County on Sept. 9, 1984. His body was found near U.S. 281 in Wilson County on Jan. 4, 1986. Garza was working as a stable hand at a local ranch at the time.

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Charles Bates

San Antonio

Charles Bates, 51, was found stabbed to death in the Balcones Heights restaurant he managed on May 22, 1983.

Dalia Hernandez Soto

Seguin

Dalia Hernandez Soto, 23, was found on the side of the road on July 3, 1983. She had been beaten and possibly thrown from a vehicle. Her death was ruled a homicide.

Holly Simmons

Buchanan Dam

Holly Simmons, 46 was last seen while dropping off her daughter at a bus stop on Nov. 28, 2006. In July 2009 her remains were found in Lake Travis.