BONES FOUND ON TEXAS RANCH DURING SEARCH FOR MISSING O'HAIRS

January 28, 2001

In what may be pivotal evidence in the case of missing American Atheists founder Madalyn Murray O'Hair and her family, investigators unearthed bones and incinerated pieces of fabric yesterday during a search at a remote West Texas Ranch.

"We have what appears to be a long bone, maybe a femur, that is of substantial size and appears to be cut off on one end," said FBI special agent Roderick Beverly. "We also found what appears to be finger bones and parts of a hand. The bones appeared to be charred like they were set on fire."

Investigators converged on the 5,000-acre Cooksy Ranch in Real County early yesterday morning, and are expected to continue working today. Evidence which has been unearthed so far has been sent to a forensics lab in San Marcos for further study.

David Waters

All of this comes after a special plea bargain was struck between federal authorities and David Roland Waters, a former office manager for the O'Hairs and the man believed to have been the mastermind in a plot to kidnap, extort and ultimately murder the family. Mrs. O'Hair, her son Jon Garth Murray and her adopted granddaughter Robin Murray O'Hair disappeared in September, 1995. There were no clues to their whereabouts, nor was there initial evidence of foul play at their home, or the offices of American Atheists. Indeed, utility bills for the next month had been paid in advance, and the O'Hairs were awaiting delivery of a new printing equipment. Their beloved dogs were left behind as well.

It was later learned that $600,000 was missing from the bank account of one of the Atheist groups controlled by Mrs. O'Hair. This

Danny Fry

initiated a fraud investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, but that quickly turned into a murder probe. The initial break in the case occurred when John MacCormack, a reporter with the San Antonio Express News, linked David Waters to a small time con man and drifter name Danny Fry. Fry's decapitated and handless body was discovered in October, 1995 along a creek near Dallas. From there, other principals in a plot to kidnap, extort and kill the three family members were identified.

Yesterday was the fourth time that authorities searched the ranch for evidence of bodies. In April, 1999, nearly 100 investigators used back hoes and special equipment, but found only animal bones.

Waters was originally scheduled for trial beginning Monday on kidnapping and extortion charges. A close associate, Gary Karr, was

Gary Karr

convicted last June of four counts in connection with the case, and received a life sentence. On Wednesday, however, Judge Sam Sparks cleared his Austin, Texas courtroom as a plea agreement was struck with Waters. Published reports confirm that Waters was allowed to plead guilty to lesser charges in exchange for showing investigators where the remains of the Murray O'Hair family has been buried.

Yesterday morning, a caravan of nearly two dozen vehicles including a mobile crime lab unit rolled onto the Cooksy Ranch about 100 miles west of San Antonio, and immediately headed to a section along a dry creek. Media vehicles, reporters and locals staked out an area outside the entrance gate. David Waters, originally scheduled to arrive by helicopter, instead was driven on to the property around noon and reportedly pointed out an area near a grove of oak trees . Agents began digging a 15' by 15' section with shovels; dirt was carefully sifted while Waters, guarded by two U.S.Marshals, stood by.

The excavation area was reportedly close to where authorities had looked in previous visits to the ranch. This time, however, authorities began to discover bones as they dug down approximately 2-1/2 feet. There, they began to uncover the remains along with remnants of burnt fabric.

A Grisly Case Of Kidnapping, Torture, Extortion -- and Murder

The case of the missing O'Hairs has captivated the nation, and fueled a cottage industry of speculative theory. The disappearance was reported in national media, and covered by television programs including "Nightline" and "America's Most Wanted." One "tell all" book published by O'Hair critics about the case promised a treasure trove of new revelations, but ended up with predictions by psychics. When word of the missing funds broke, newspapers and magazines speculated that the family was in a foreign country living off the pilfered riches. One national publication ran an "Elvis sighting" account which placed Mrs. O'Hair and her offspring living in New Zealand, and frequenting a Mexican food restaurant there.

What began as an investigation into money laundering and missing funds by the IRS Criminal Investigations Division, though, soon turned into a murder probe. Authorities discovered that Waters and his associated had come into possession of gold coins which had been purchased with the missing $600,000 as well as personal items from the O'Hairs. Over a period of nearly two years, they pieced together an intricate, and chilling account of the family's fate.

Waters, 53, had worked as the office manager for American Atheists. In May, 1995 he pled guilty to the theft of $54,000 in cash and financial instruments from the O'Hairs, and originally received a fine and probation. He later denied any role in the disappearance, and even suggested that the O'Hairs were alive and well, having absconded with funds from the organization. Waters also said that he was writing a book, "Code Name Satan," about his experiences with the O'Hairs.

Authorities say that Waters was enraged with a report O'Hair had run in the organization's newsletter that detailed his background and the circumstances of the theft. A combination of vengeance and greed, they say, led to an extortion and murder plot involving Waters and several associates including Danny Fry, Gary Karr and Gerald Lee "Chico" Osborne. Investigators say that the group, under Waters' direction, kidnapped the O'Hairs and held them in a San Antonio motel room. There, over a period of approximately two weeks, they extorted the family of personal items, cash, funds raised from credit cards, and the $600,000 taken from an account in a New Zealand bank. Jon Garth Murray, accompanied by Karr, even went to New Jersey to facilitate the transfer of certain funds.

Accounts of threats, torture and rape characterize the period when the family members were in confinement. A police raid on Waters' apartment produced items such as handcuffs, duct tape and listening devices believed to have been used on the O'Hairs. When the bulk of the pilfered money was converted into gold coins, the trio was then murdered, their bodies dismembered in a storage locker, and transported in 55-gallon drums to the burial site.

Waters is currently serving a 60 year sentence for violating probation and federal firearms laws. "Chico" Osborne was convicted of using a false social security number to rent the storage locker where, say authorities, the bodies were dismembered. After the incident, the locker was thoroughly scrubbed down, but investigators reportedly did find minute traces of blood.

Should the remains unearthed at the Cooksy ranch definitely be linked to the O'Hairs, it may mark the closure of one of the most baffling disappearances in recent history. The story was made especially compelling by Madalyn O'Hair herself. At the time of the disappearance, she was 77 and suffering from a variety of diseases, but still remained active writing and working at the American Atheists offices. She had been a plaintiff in the historic 1963 U.S.Supreme Court case MURRAY v. CURLETT which had helped to remove unison Christian prayer and Bible verse recitation from the nation's public schools. The management of the organization had shifted to Jon Garth Murray and her granddaughter and adopted daughter, Robin Murray O'Hair.

Mrs. O'Hair's feisty and combative style not only saw her through the turbulent times of the 1960s when it was unpopular, even dangerous, to openly identify one's self as an Atheist, but made her a constant target for critics. She was branded "the most hated woman in America" by Look Magazine, and often elicited extreme loyalty or revulsion from those she came in contact with. She often described herself as a "confrontationalist." Over more than three decades of social activism, though, O'Hair became a household name identified with the 1963 case which resulted in her and her family being literally driven out of their home in Baltimore, Maryland. Her oldest son, William Murray who was also a plaintiff in the MURRAY v. CURLETT case, suffered through periods of drug and alcohol abuse, and became further estranged from his family when he announced his sudden conversion to fundamentalist Christianity.

Ironically, even with such a violent death, Mrs. O'Hair succeeded in avoiding the fate she had feared throughout much of her life -- being prayed over while on her deathbed by religious zealots, and scandalized by reports of a last-minute conversion to Christianity. What may be soon proven to have been violent murder, though, snuffed out the lives of three people who devoted so much of their energies to Atheism and the separation of church and state.

[text only]