Through the 1960s, the Morgan County area of northern Alabama grew pretty significantly. The area was receiving an influx of families due to the emerging market of Huntsville, as well as the US Army Missile Command established at Redstone Arsenal.
On May 6th, 1967 - a rainy Saturday in Decatur, AL - a woman named Mary Faye Hunter left her family's home on the 800 block of 8th Avenue SE. She headed towards the House Of Beauty, where she had an appointment to get her hair styled.
She left the salon at around 11:30, and went up a block to a nearby A&P Grocery Store, where she was last seen by witnesses leaving a little before noon.
She never returned home, and her family reported her missing at around 1:00 PM that afternoon.
About five months later, on October 14th, the skeletal remains of a young woman were found in an offshoot of the Tennessee River (referred to as Flint Creek in one newspaper report, and Wheeler Lake in another).
Police were able to confirm the identity of the remains as Mary Faye Hunter, but made a confounding statement when they announced that they believed the body showed signs of sexual assault. Other authorities were curious how they came to this conclusion, but it has never been revealed how they determined any sexual assault took place.
The case went cold, and state investigator Bob Hancock later told reporters:
"We just had nothing to go on in that case."
No leads or significant POI's developed. Mary Faye had no real romantic history, and rumors have persisted that she had some kind of mental disability (which is why she was still living at home at 34 years old). She worked as a Secretary at Redstone Arsenal, but nobody noted anything out-of-the-ordinary for Mary Faye.
Over two years later, another woman fell prey to a violent crime.
Juanita Acker (formerly Juanita Holland) was 40 years old, with three children: William, Susan, and Kathy. In 1966, her husband, Cal, had succumbed to cancer, making Juanita a young widow.
In April of 1969, the Acker family home had burned down, meaning that Juanita and her two daughters needed to move into a motel room in Decatur, AL, off of US Highway 31 (her son, William, moved in with friends for the time being).
On May 23rd, her 12-year old daughter Kathy was staying the night at a friend's house; and her 16-year old daughter, Susan, was out on a date with her 21-year old fiance, Nathan Harton.
Rumors allege that a family friend visited
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