O'HAIR MYSTERY FINALLY SOLVED

The concluding chapter in the five–year search for missing atheist leader, Madalyn Murray O'Hair, and two relatives has been written. In late January, human skulls and other bones, including parts of a prosthetic hip, were dug up by federal investigators. The remains were found buried in a shallow grave on a 5,000–acre ranch in Camp Wood, Texas, 100 miles west of San Antonio.

In September 1995, O'Hair, her son Jon Garth Murray and her adopted granddaughter Robin Murray O'Hair all mysteriously disappeared. For years speculation and rumors circulated as to their whereabouts. The national media, including "Nightline" and "America's Most Wanted," profiled the threesome's disappearance.

The search of the ranch in January marked authorities' fourth attempt to find the bodies since April 1999. The investigators' success in their latest effort resulted from a special plea bargain with the man they believed was the catalyst behind the plot to "kidnap, extort and ultimately murder" the O'Hair family. David Roland Waters, a former office manager for O'Hair's atheist organization, agreed to lead authorities to the remains in exchange for a reduced prison term. A federal judge sealed the exact details of his plea bargain.

According to a report in the Austin American–Statesman, "Investigators believed that Waters, the family's former office manager, kidnapped the three and held them hostage in a San Antonio hotel. Aided by two friends, Gary Paul Karr and Danny Fry, Waters extorted $600,000 from the family, investigators say. The three victims were then killed, dismembered in a North Austin storage unit and buried on the Camp Wood ranch, investigators say."

Even prior to sending the remains to Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos for positive identification, authorities believed the bones were the O'Hair family. O'Hair had undergone hip replacement surgery in 1993, two years before she disappeared.

–MKG

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