Ep 97: The Disappearance of the Murray-O'Hair Family, Part II

Welcome to the second part of this series about the Murray-O’Hair family. After Madalyn, Jon Garth, and Robin mysteriously vanished in September 1995, a year went by without any further investigation. It wasn’t until a reporter began asking questions that the story finally got the attention it deserved. In this episode we’ll discuss how the case was unraveled, and the clues involve a hundred pounds of gold coins, a perfect diamond, unlikely heroes, and finally, the discovery of the truth after a 5-year hunt for answers.

Sources:

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Bryce, R. (1999, June 4). Preying on atheists. Austin Chronicle. https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/1999-06-04/522124/

Bryce, R. (2000, June 9). Picking up the pieces. Austin Chronicle. https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2000-06-09/77537/

Dracos, T. (2003). Ungodly: The Passions, Torments, and Murder of Atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair. Free Press.

Duggan, P. (1999, August 16). The atheists’ cold case gets warmer. The Washington Post.

Fairbank, K. (1997, March 9). Oh god, O’Hair is still missing. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-03-09-mn-36392-story.html

Hall, M. (1999, May). Has Madalyn Murray O’Hair met her maker? Texas Monthly. https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/has-madalyn-murray-ohair-met-her-maker/

MacCormack, J. (1996, August 11). Atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair’s disappearance a mystery one year later. San Antonio Express-News. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Archive-Atheist-Madalyn-Murray-O-Hair-s-11017379.php

MacCormack, J. (1996, December 8). Funds missing along with atheist O’Hair. San Antonio Express-News. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Archive-Funds-missing-along-with-atheist-O-Hair-11017393.php

MacCormack, J. (1998, February 1). IRS probes O’Hair trio; atheists left nearly $100,000 in gold coins in S.A. before vanishing. San Antonio Express-News. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Archive-IRS-probes-O-Hair-trio-atheists-left-11017369.php

MacCormack, J. (1999, January 31). ID of headless body may revive O’Hair case. San Antonio Express-News. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Archive-ID-of-headless-body-may-revive-O-Hair-11017421.php

MacCormack, J. (1999, February 18). The case of the headless, handless corpse. Dallas Observer. https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/the-case-of-the-headless-handless-corpse-6401233

MacCormack, J. (1999, November 6). An investigative reporter’s inside story untangling the O’Hair vanishing. 22nd annual convention of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, San Antonio. https://ffrf.org/legal/item/17152-an-investigative-reporters-inside-story

MacCormack, J. (2003, June 29). O’Hair’s last days. San Antonio Express-News. https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Archive-O-Hair-s-last-days-11017564.php

MacCormack, J. (2003, July 10). True Confessions. Dallas Observer. http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/true-confession-6387834

Milloy, R. E. (2001, March 16). Bodies identified as those of missing atheist and kin. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/16/us/bodies-identified-as-those-of-missing-atheist-and-kin.html

Selcraig, B. (2019, January 30). Texas Institute of Letters honors San Antonio Express-News veteran. San Antonio Express-News. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Texas-Institute-of-Letters-honors-San-Antonio-13574192.php?utm_campaign=twitter

Swartz, M. (1997, March). The lady vanishes. Vanity Fair. https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/1997/3/the-lady-vanishes

Travis, A. (2021, March 12). Man convicted for ties to 1995 death of ‘Most Hated Woman in America’ resentenced to nearly 50 years. KXAN Austin. https://www.kxan.com/news/crime/resentencing-hearing-friday-for-man-convicted-for-1995-murder-of-madalyn-murray-ohair-theft-of-600k-in-gold-coins/

Tregaskis, R. (1965, October). Madalyn Murray. Playboy.

Van Biema, D. (1997, February 10). Where’s Madalyn? TIME. https://web.archive.org/web/20080314192357/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,985893-2,00.html

Without a Prayer (Season 7, Episode 10). (2002, December 14). In Forensic Files.

Wright, L. (1989, January). God Help Her. Texas Monthly. https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/god-help-her/

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