On April 24, 1977, 59-year-old Juanita Carroll was found dead inside the bathroom of her home on Ballinger Street in Abilene, Texas. Natural gas was flowing from a bathroom heater, and Juanita was seated in a chair, fully clothed, with her legs bound, her hands secured behind her back, and a cloth gag across her mouth.

From the beginning, the scene appeared to investigators to be a homicide. Justice of the Peace Silas Clark described what he saw as resembling an “execution,” while detectives searched Juanita’s home for fingerprints, fibers, hairs, and anything that might identify another person who had been inside. Her purse had been disturbed, an interior door from the garage had been left open, and yet there was no obvious robbery, clear evidence of a struggle, or apparent motive.

But as the autopsy progressed and detectives reconstructed Juanita’s final months, the investigation began moving in an unexpected direction. Medical findings, the unusual bindings, Juanita’s private life, and the absence of evidence clearly showing that another person had overpowered her forced investigators to reconsider what had initially seemed obvious.

Whatever happened inside Juanita’s house carried an unsettling familiarity. Ten years earlier, Sharon Kay Watts had been murdered in the bathroom of her Abilene apartment. In 1973, Geneva Jackson was beaten and left to drown in the bathtub of her home. Now a third woman had been found dead in a bathroom within the same small area of south and southwest Abilene. All three cases involved no signs of forced entry, no obvious robbery, and no clear motive.

What investigators ultimately decided happened to Juanita Carroll would only create more questions about the strange scene, and whether her death truly belonged alongside Abilene’s other unsolved bathroom slayings.

If you have any information about the murder of Juanita Carroll, please contact Abilene Crime Stoppers at (325) 676-8477.

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Six years after the unsolved murder of Sharon Kay Watts, Abilene was shaken by another brutal killing with unsettling similarities.

Geneva Lucille Jackson was a respected seventh-grade math teacher, Air Force widow, mother of three, and grandmother whose quiet life revolved around her students, church, and family. When she failed to appear for a routine beauty appointment just days before Christmas 1973, friends went to check on her and discovered a horrifying crime scene inside her Edgemont Drive home.

Investigators found Geneva had been savagely beaten, stabbed, and ultimately drowned in her bathtub. The house showed no signs of forced entry or robbery, suggesting she may have known the person who killed her. Detectives pursued every available lead, interviewed family, friends, neighbors, teachers, and students, administered multiple polygraph examinations, and sent physical evidence to the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Lab. A mysterious wood splinter recovered from the scene briefly offered hope but ultimately led nowhere.

As the investigation stalled, police examined possible connections to the 1967 murder of Sharon Kay Watts. While both women were killed inside their homes and found in their bathrooms, investigators were never able to establish a direct link between the two cases.

Despite reward increases, tips spanning years, and periodic reviews of the investigation, Geneva Jackson's killer has never been identified. More than five decades later, her murder remains one of Abilene's oldest unsolved homicide cases.

If you have any information about the murder of Geneva Lucille Jackson, please contact Abilene Crime Stoppers at (325) 676-8477.

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In the Summer of 1967, Abilene, Texas, was a growing West Central Texas city where most residents believed violent crime happened somewhere else. Families left their doors unlocked, Dyess Air Force Base brought thousands of military personnel through the community, and investigators still relied on witness interviews and physical evidence rather than modern forensic technology. That sense of security was shattered when 24-year-old department store employee Sharon Kay Watts was found murdered inside the bathroom of her apartment.

After staying home from work because of an illness, Sharon was found dead on September 20, 1967, in a crime scene that immediately puzzled investigators. Her apartment showed no signs of forced entry or robbery, yet she had suffered extensive injuries.

As detectives searched for answers, the investigation was complicated by a mistake surrounding Sharon's autopsy. The resulting controversy limited what pathologists could determine, and left investigators with unanswered questions that would haunt the case forever. Detectives relied heavily on a partial palm print recovered from the bathtub, but in an era before DNA databases and computerized fingerprint systems, every comparison had to be made by hand.

Police interviewed coworkers, neighbors, friends, and numerous persons of interest, including a transient laborer and a man who falsely confessed to the crime. Later, investigators focused on former Dyess Air Force airman after his arrest in Louisiana for a violent crime. But no evidence ever placed him inside Sharon's apartment.

The case went cold, and Abilene moved forward, until another similar crime occurred several years later.

If you have any information about the murder of Sharon Kay Watts, please contact Abilene Crime Stoppers at (325) 676-8477.

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Just days after Roxanne Paltauf vanished from a Budget Inn near Interstate 35 and Rundberg Lane in Austin, her missing ID surfaced in the wallet of a violent offender arrested after an assault at a neighboring motel. Detectives soon discovered that this man and Roxanne’s boyfriend, Louis Walls, offered conflicting stories about how he came into possession of it.

As Roxanne’s family continued searching Austin’s Rundberg neighborhood, they encountered Loretta Lynn Roberts, a woman who promised to help find Roxanne. Less than two weeks later, Roberts was found dead in a vacant lot south of downtown. Her murder remains unsolved, and Roxanne’s family has long questioned whether the two cases are connected.

Over the years, Roxanne’s loved ones organized searches, erected billboards, and kept her story in the public eye as investigators pursued leads across Texas and beyond. New allegations against Louis Walls, a major FBI-backed search near the motel, and newly discovered cellphone records only deepened the mystery surrounding what happened on July 7, 2006. Nearly twenty years later, Roxanne remains missing, and detectives continue to consider both Louis Walls and Geoffrey Moore persons of interest.

Part two of two.

Roxanne’s family is offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to a conviction, or for information that leads to finding her remains. If you have any information about what happened to Roxanne Elizabeth Paltauf, you can submit a tip anonymously at roxannepaltauf.com or call the Austin Police Department at (512) 974-5250.

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In July 2006, eighteen-year-old Roxanne Paltauf vanished from a Budget Inn near Interstate 35 and Rundberg Lane in Austin, Texas. Just hours earlier, she had promised her mother she would be home the next morning.

Roxanne was the oldest of five children and shared an immensely close relationship with her family. She was working toward her GED, holding multiple jobs, and planning for her future. But those closest to her worried about her volatile relationship. 

After she went missing, her boyfriend Louis Reginald Walls called and claimed the couple had argued and that she stormed out of their motel room carrying nothing. He said she left behind her purse, jewelry, clothing, and cellphone, a story that immediately alarmed her family, who knew Roxanne never went anywhere without her belongings.

As detectives began looking into her disappearance, after initially treating her case as little more than a lover’s spat, troubling details emerged. Walls waited nearly twenty-four hours to report Roxanne missing and continued using her cellphone in the days after she vanished. Friends and family also shared allegations of abuse and growing concerns about the relationship.

Despite mounting suspicions, The Austin Police lacked the evidence needed to prove a crime had occurred.

Twenty years later, Roxanne Paltauf remains missing.

Part one of two.

Roxanne’s family is offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to a conviction — or for information that leads to finding her remains. If you have any information about what happened to Roxanne Elizabeth Paltauf, you can submit a tip anonymously at roxannepaltauf.com or call the Austin Police Department at (512) 974-5250.

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In June of 1987, eighteen-year-old Michael Jefferson "Mike" Adams seemed to have everything going for him. A recent early graduate of Cooper High School, Mike had already enrolled at Texas Tech University to study architecture, worked full-time to save for college, and had purchased his own car through hard work and determination.

On the night of June 8, after closing the grocery store where he worked, Mike drove to his family's home in Abilene. His stepsister watched from a window as he stepped out of his car and casually spoke with someone waiting in another vehicle parked along the street. The interaction appeared completely normal.

Mike was never seen again.

When his family awoke the next morning, his car remained in the driveway, his wallet and cash were still inside the house, and his bed had never been slept in. Detectives quickly concluded that Mike had likely believed he was leaving for only a short time with someone he knew and trusted.

Over the years, police have explored numerous theories surrounding Mike's disappearance. Despite decades of investigation, none of those leads have ever provided definitive answers.

Nearly forty years later, Mike Adams remains missing. His father spent the rest of his life searching for answers before passing away in 2024, never learning what happened to his youngest son.

If you have information about the disappearance of Michael Jefferson Adams, please contact the Abilene Police Department at (325) 673-8331.

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In Part Two of our series on the dark history of Wharton County, we examine three more haunting cases that continue to leave families searching for answers.

The episode begins in Ganado, Texas, with the unsolved 1999 murder of beloved English teacher Jean Schoeneberg. A respected educator known for her high standards and daily morning walks, Jean was found brutally murdered along a quiet rural road near her home. Despite decades of investigation, DNA testing, and renewed leads, her killer has never been identified.

Next, we explore the 2014 disappearance of Mitchelle Deborah Hicks, a 25-year-old mother of two who vanished after leaving a residence in Wharton. Investigators believe she may have been taken against her will, but more than a decade later, few details have been released publicly, and her family is still waiting for answers.

Finally, we follow the remarkable identification of Wharton County Jane Doe, whose skeletal remains were discovered in a remote field in 2021. For four years she had no name, until advances in forensic genetic genealogy revealed she was sixteen-year-old Yeimy Maciela Beltrand. Her identification led investigators to name a suspect in her murder, but he fled before he could be arrested and remains a fugitive.

These cases span more than twenty-five years, yet they share the same painful reality: families whose lives were forever changed, investigations that remain incomplete, and the enduring hope that someone, somewhere, still knows the truth.

If you have any information about the murder of Jean Schoeneberg or the whereabouts of Luis Omar Beltran-Mendoza, suspected in the murder of Yeimy Maciela Beltrand, please contact the Wharton County Sheriff’s Office at (979) 532-1550.

If you have any information about the disappearance of Mitchelle Deborah Hicks, please call the Wharton Police Department at (979) 532-3131.

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For more than 150 years, Wharton County, Texas, has been shaped by both prosperity and violence. In the first installment of this special series, we trace the county's darker history: from racial terror and vigilante justice in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to two heartbreaking crimes in modern times that forever changed the community.

In 1988, 24-year-old Juana Velasquez Moreno was brutally murdered while opening the Kwik Chek convenience store where she worked. For decades, her family believed the investigation had simply gone cold, only to later discover that a suspect had twice been indicted for her murder without their knowledge.

Just over two years later, fifteen-year-old Rosemary Diaz vanished while working alone at a small country store in Danevang. Twenty-five years passed before long-hidden secrets led investigators to her grave, finally revealing what happened on the night she disappeared.

This episode explores how violence has echoed across generations in Wharton County, where justice has never necessarily prevailed, sometimes failed, and sometimes arrived far too late.

If you have any information about the murder of Sanjuana Velasquez Moreno, please contact the Wharton County Sheriff’s Office at (979) 532-1550.

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Nearly twenty years after Brandi Wells disappeared, the questions surrounding her case remain as haunting as ever.

In part two, we examine the investigation that unfolded after Brandi's black Pontiac Grand Prix was found abandoned near Interstate 20. Detectives pursued leads, including a man whose phone number was discovered inside Brandi's car and the mysterious trail left by Brandi's actual cellphone after it passed through multiple hands. A critical mistake involving nightclub surveillance footage sent investigators down the wrong path for weeks before the real Brandi was finally identified entering and leaving Graham Central Station alone.

As searches expanded across East Texas, Brandi's family refused to let her name fade from public memory. They endured the emotional turmoil of potential identifications, including the heartbreaking possibility that Brandi might have been the young murder victim later known as Lavender Doe. Each lead brought renewed hope, only to end in disappointment.

Someone, somewhere, knows what happened after Brandi Wells walked out of Graham Central Station in the early morning hours of August 3, 2006. Until that person comes forward, one of East Texas's most enduring mysteries remains unsolved.

Part two of two.

If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Brandi Ellen Wells, please contact the Longview Police Department at (903) 237-1110.

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In August 2006, twenty-three-year-old Brandi Wells left her mother's home in Tyler, Texas, for what should have been an ordinary night out. Excited about returning to college and rebuilding her life after a difficult few years, Brandi drove to Longview's popular Graham Central Station nightclub for Ladies Night. She was seen socializing, dancing, and asking acquaintances for a few dollars for gas before leaving the club shortly after midnight.

When Brandi failed to return home, her family initially hoped there was a simple explanation. But as hours turned into days, concern gave way to fear. Unknown to them, Brandi's black Pontiac Grand Prix had already been discovered abandoned along Interstate 20, its driver's door standing open and several troubling details left behind. Personal belongings remained inside, but Brandi had vanished without a trace.

Nearly twenty years later, the disappearance of Brandi Wells remains one of East Texas's most haunting unsolved mysteries. In this first installment, we explore who Brandi was before she became a missing person's case, retrace the final confirmed hours of her life, and examine how an ordinary night out ended with questions that still have no answers.

Part one of two.

If you have any information about the disappearance of Brandi Ellen Wells, please contact the Longview Police at (903) 237-1110.

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