Hell and Gone Murder Line: Lori Murchison

guilty in a court of law. Nothing in the podcast is intended to state or imply that anyone who has not been convicted of a crime is guilty of any wrongdoing. Thanks for listening.

Laurie also drank alcohol. Because of that, Laurie had been moving around a little. She had been living on and off with her mother, Nancy Murchison, and also sometimes staying at different local motels. Her mother, Nancy, had been taking care of Laurie's daughter. Laurie and Jerry were out at a bar that night when the officer pulled them over. He believed that both of them had been drinking, so he placed Jerry under arrest for DUI and Laurie for

suspicion of public intoxication. Laurie was taken to the Sebastian County Jail. She was released some time after five am on September second. She told detectives that she planned to get money and come back to bail Jerry out. Jerry had given her fifty dollars, but Laurie needed more. Another inmate later told detectives that she heard Laurie talking to other women in the holding cells about finding a bail

bond place. Laurie also specifically told jailers she was going to pick up her paycheck from the Oaks Lodge nursing home where she had been working, cash it, and come back to bail Jerry out. Most recently, Laurie had been staying with Jerry at the Continental Motel in Fort Smith. Between two and four pm on September second, Laurie went to the office of the Continental Motel to get a key to her room. This is according to an April two thousand and five Times Record report. Laurie's mother said

that she last talked to Laurie on September second. She said that when she talked to her on the phone, Laurie told her that she and Jerry were planning on moving out of Nancy's house, that they had found a room at a local motel. Laurie said that she would come to NaN's house the next day to pick Brittany up, but she never returned to the jail, and she did

not pick up her paycheck at the nursing home. The last time she was seen alive was at the Continental Motel when she picked up a key to her room. After that, she left that motel. None of her close friends or family ever heard from Laurie Murchison again. Her family had no way of knowing where she was, or that the hunt for this missing mother would eventually involve charges of corruption at the highest levels of State government.

I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the past five years of making my true crime podcast, Helling Gone, I've learned that there is no such thing as a small town where murdered never happens. I've received hundreds of messages from people all around the country asking for help with an unsolved murder

that's affected them, their families, and their communities. If you have a case you'd like me and my team to look into, you can reach out to us at our Helen Gone Murder Line at six seven eight seven four four six one four five that's six seven eight seven four four six one four or five, or you can send us a message at Helen gonpod. This is Helen Gone Murder Line. Days went by, Laurie Murchison never showed

up to pick up her daughter, Brittany. According to media reports at the time, Laurie had been making regular trips back and forth to Wilburton, Oklahoma. This was happening for some time prior to her disappearance. A friend of hers told police that Laurie had disappeared before and that she had stayed gone for as long as a month at

a time. But Laurie's mother, Nancy, was worried because she told detectives even if Lourie didn't come by, she always checked in, and Nancy believed she would never stay out of communication with her daughter for that long. Nancy officially reported Lourie missing on September fifth, nineteen ninety five. Police talked to people who claimed they had seen Laurie walking around in different locations. They confirmed she was released from

jail at approximately five forty am on September second. In the day's following Laurie's disappearance, missing posters went up describing Laurie and the last clothes. She was seen in a white sleeveless cotton shirt cut off blue denim shorts, white socks, black sandals, a gold oval shaped knuckle ring on her left index finger, and a cross necklace on a black ribbon. Laurie was white, with brown hair that was bleached blonde,

and brown eyes. She did have several distinctive tattoos, including a tattoo of a unicorn on her left shoulder, a tattoo of a heart with an arrow piercing it on her left breast, and a rose tattoo on her left ankle. Laurie also wore dentures and had several teeth missing. Police, of course had to consider the possibility that Lurie had gone missing voluntarily, but this seemed unlikely given the fact

she never picked up her last paycheck from work. Detective Barrows, one of the investigators on the case, met with Laurie's mother, Nancy. Nancy gave detectives information about some of Laurie's close friends. Nancy later told The Times Record that Laurie was scared worried about something that she had seen or heard in the weeks before her disappearance. A few weeks before her daughter went missing, Nancy told police that Laurie came home afraid that someone was going to come after her, saying

things like they're gonna off me. Nancy said she didn't know who or what Laurie was talking about or what could have scared her, and police weren't getting much from Laurie's friends. None of them had heard from her, and no one seemed to know where she had gone. Laurie had been talking to some female prisoners in jail before

she was released. They told police they heard Lurie talking about a local bonding agency, so it seemed like Laurie had been planning on getting out of jail, picking up her paycheck, and bailing out her boyfriend, but there were a lot of dead ends. We did a Foyer request for Laurie's case file, but we only got part of

it covering the first few weeks of the investigation. An officer from the Fort Smith Police Department went to the Midland Motel, the motel where Laurie was living before she moved to the Continental, but no one had seen her there. Police were able to figure out that on the night Laurie was arrested, she and her boyfriend Jerry, went to a bar called Shooters. They were hanging out there from around seven to around eleven PM or midnight, right before

they were pulled over by police. Police checked local hospitals, motels, and rehabs, but no one had seen Laurie Murchison. Police also talked to Laurie's boyfriend, Jerry. He said he had no idea where his girlfriend had gone. Police did say he was cooperative and they cleared him pretty quickly. Nancy did tell police that Jerry had told her that since he and Laurie had been together, they hadn't been to

any bars. Now obviously this wasn't true because Laurie and Jerry were at shooters and they were intoxicated when they were picked up. But there are a lot of reasons why Jerry might have told this small white lie to Laurie's mother. Jerry Cogan was working at a glass plant in Midland. He came in and talked to detectives, and apparently he was very cooperative. He said he was as shocked as anyone else when Laurie never showed up to

come bail him out. During this time, detectives did get a report that a body was found a white female in Salasaw Creek in Oklahoma, but it was not Laurie. Laurie had been at work at the nursing home on Friday. A friend of hers named Ronda had seen her there, but Ronda said that was the last time that she saw Laurie. Laurie never came back. Police wondered could someone at the nursing home have wanted to hurt Laurie. During this time, Captain J. C Ryder, one of the investigators

on the case, interviewed a confidential informant. This was someone who was in jail in Ozark. Now. This person told him Laurie had been having a sexual relationship with a married man who worked with her at the nursing home, and that the married man's wife was violent and it threatened to kill Laurie. J. C. Rider interviewed the married man. This person denied having a relationship with Laurie. They said they had never had more than a casual conversation with her.

When Captain Rider asked who would have a reason to make up a story like that, this person gave the name of someone who was married to one of his family members, someone with a grudge against him. He said he didn't know if this guy would know about the disappearance of Laurie since this person was in jail in Ozark. Captain Rider said after reviewing the information, he believed that the married man was being truthful about not having a

relationship with Laurie. Captain Rider also spoke to the man's wife. She said she had no knowledge of an affair between him and Laurie, so that possibility of Laurie having an affair with a married man that led to her death was apparently ruled out. Police investigated another man, someone with a long criminal record, including aggravated robbery, burglary, assault and battery. This person was one of Lurie's acquaintances, but apparently this

was another dead end. Nancy told police about some friends of Lourie's, a man named Floyd who was nicknamed Corky, and his wife Sue. Nancy Murchison said Sue told someone that one night Laurie showed up at her house with two men in a red car. Sue denied telling Nancy this when police asked her about it, but Corky said Sue had told him that same story. So who were these two men, what did they want? And could they

have had anything to do with Lurie's disappearance. Another detective, Detective Reese, called the Razorback cab company, trying to retrace Lori's steps after she was released from jail. He figured out that a driver had picked her up at a local bonding company. The driver told police he took Lurie to a local Taco bell to pick up her car, but the driver said that Lourie's car was not there.

The cab driver said at this point, Laurie was upset and surprised because she said the police had told her they were not going to tow the car, so the driver told police that after that, Laurie had him drive her to a local apartment complex. The Weregond Courts, so detectives went to that apartment complex they found a man named Billy Aaron. Billy told them that he knew someone who may have information about Loriie. This person's name was Jimmy.

He was living in an apartment in that complex, and Jimmy was living on and off with a woman named Mary Chipman who went by the nickname Cricket. Jimmy's exact address was kind of a mystery. He said. He stayed sometimes in Van Buren with a woman, some of the time with his mom, and part of the time in another house. Billy said Jimmy and Cricket fought a lot, that Cricket had kicked you out of his house from time to time, and that at that point Jimmy ended

up crashing with Billy. In fact, a lot of what unfolded next would center on that apartment complex, the Ragon Court, and on apartment number eighty seven, where Billy said Jimmy and Cricket were living, and according to Billy, they also all hung out regularly at Shooters, the bar where Laurie and Jerry were last seen before they got arrested. Billy's story was that Jimmy had come over to his place

and that they were drinking one night. Billy said they happened to be watching TV and a news story about Lourie's disappearance came on. Billy said Jimmy told him that he recognized Laurie. Billy said Jimmy had seen Laurie at a party at Cricket's place, which he said was apartment number eighty seven, where they were doing drugs. He said Kirky was there too that night, and at that party, Laurie was sitting in a chair. Laurie overdosed and died.

Billy said, quote, Cricket went ape, shit, started throwing shit, throwing everybody out, flipping out and all this. That's when they picked her up and carried her outside. He said that they carried her out like she was drunk, put her in the vehicle like she was drunk, and he drove off end quote. He is in reference to Corky, by the way, because according to Jimmy's story, Corky drove off somewhere and buried the body. Billy said that Jimmy told him he didn't know where they went and that

he didn't have a lot of other details. Billy said, quote, he said, at least you ought to have the decency to tell somebody or just let somebody know. That's what he said there in my house end quote. Later, the Fort Smith Police Department interviewed Cricket, but they said she was actually living in apartment number ninety nine. At first, police said Cricket seemed uncooperative, but she eventually told police that on the night Laurie was arrested, she was out

with her boyfriend. She said Laurie had stopped by her residence while she was out and talked to her babysitter, then Laurie left. Cricket said she never saw Laurie that night. Then Cricket changed her story. This time she said she was out with another guy. Police said she never mentioned this other guy before, and they were asking her a lot of questions about her story and why it changed.

They searched Cricket's room and seized items described as drug paraphernalia, but Cricket was never arrested or charged in connection with Laurie's death, and after the initial few weeks it seemed like Laurie's case went cold. No trace of Laurie was found and no body. But then Lourie Murchison made headlines again because there was a big development in the case

from a very unexpected source. News broke that the FBI was investigating the prosecutor for Sebastian County, Ron Fields, of dealing drugs and of ordering the murder of Lorie Murchison, and that the person who ron Fields allegedly ordered to murder Laurie Murchison was one of the investigators on the case, the police captain j c Ryder. In the weeks following Laurie Murchison's disappearance, police were questioning people at a nearby

apartment complex. They found a man named Billy, who claimed that Laurie overdosed at the residence of a woman named Cricket in a room at the Ragencourt apartment complex, and that they carried her lifeless body out in a vehicle. Billy claimed that Jimmy was afraid to tell the authorities because Jimmy was afraid that he would be charged with her death and disposal of her body. Then the case went quiet for years, but then all of a sudden.

Around two thousand and five, Laurie Murchison made headlines again because there was a huge development in the case from a very unexpected source. News broke that the FBI was investigating the prosecutor for Sebastian County, Ron Fields, of dealing drugs and of ordering the murder of Lorie Murchison, and that the person Ron Fields allegedly ordered to murder Laurie was one of the investigators on the case, the police

Captain J. C. Rider. I want to back up a minute and talk about ron Fields, because there is a massive controversy about ron Fields that is still unresolved. We've talked about him briefly before when we were talking about the unsolved murder of Melissa Witt. Ron Fields was close to Captain J. C. Rider of the Fort Smith Police Department, and Captain J. C. Rider later made news for becoming involved in the Melissa Witt cold case.

Task Force in Western Arkansas. Ron Fields actually started in Arkansas the practice of requiring prosecutors rather than police to get search warrants in drug cases. This meant that ron Fields or one of his deputies actually went on drug raids with the police. Now, his supporters said that this made sure the evidence was all gathered by the book, and to be fair, the conviction rate in Arkansas for

drug offenses did go up under ron Fields. His critics said the fact that he personally went on those drug raids was a massive red flag for other reasons which we'll get to a little later. Ron Fields was also a close friend of Republican Congressman A. SA SA Hutchinson. ASA Hutchinson, of course, served as US Attorney and later went on to become the forty six governor of Arkansas.

He served from twenty fifteen to twenty twenty three. In two thousand and one, ASA Hutchinson took ron Fields with him to Washington, d C. Ron Fields became A. SA Hutchinson's special assistant at the Drug Enforcement Agency and later worked with Hutchinson in the Department of Homeland Security. According to The Arkansas Times, this position that ron Fields had

with DA was very powerful. He worked on a coalition that battled terrorism and drug trafficking, and then in around two thousand and four two thousand and five, these accusations surfaced about J. C. Ryder and ron Fields that according to media reports, these two men were allegedly involved in Lourie Murchison's murder. On May second, two thousand and five, officials at the Department of Homeland Security pulled ron Fields security clearance and then he was suspended from his position

at the Department of Homeland Security. He appealed that decision but lost. Suddenly, ron fields days in Washington were numbered the FBI continued their investigation. Ron Fields went back to Fort Smith ASA. Hutchinson also left Washington at around that time. This connection between ron Fields and Lori Murchison was allegedly JC Rider. J. C. Rider was also a powerful figure in Arkansas. He had been in the Department since nineteen seventy five and was head of the Department's Major Crimes

Unit until his retirement in two thousand and two. So suddenly the FBI have announced they were investigating claims that ron Fields had allegedly been involved in drug dealing and that he ordered J. C. Rider to kill Laurie Murchison and to dump her body. J C. Rider was subpoena to Washington, d c. To appear in front of a grand jury convened by the Public Corruption Section of the

Department of Justice. Now, in the end, no charges were filed against J. C. Rider or Ron Fields, but it is hard to find any information out about exactly what went down during this investigation. We have made a Foyer request to the FBI for any and all case files involving investigations into ron Fields, but our request has been denied. Meanwhile, ron Field's lawyer Eddie Christian said the FBI investigation into ron Fields was the biggest witch hunt he'd ever seen.

Eddie Christian was also J. C. Rider's attorney. He later told The Arkansas Times that the investigators were absolutely nuts. Eddie Christian told the Southwest Times Record in April two thousand and five, quote, I've known this guy, meaning ron Fields, for a long damn time. Let me tell you he's one of the most impoverished lawyers. I know he wears J. C. Penny suits. He does not live high on the hog.

This boy's never made any money. I mean, he's been a public servant and that's been about it, except for a short stant in private practice. It's crazy to accuse ron Fields of selling drugs or doing drugs end quote. Eddie Christian also claimed that FBI agents had harassed ron Fields and J. C Ryder's families. Ron Fields had other supporters.

Jack Moseley, the former editor of the Times Record, wrote, I would sooner believe mother Teresa was an axe murderer than think Ron Fields could be guilty of using and trafficking in illegal drugs. I've never known a more straight error fellow than Fields, and the idea of him ordering a police officer to kill a missing woman in Fort Smith to keep her quiet about his alleged drug activities

is even more ridiculous. End quote. But it's interesting because in that same column, Jack Moseley wrote, quote, Fields or one of his deputies personally went on almost every local drug rate in order to guarantee that evidence was properly gathered, protected and kept for use in criminal trials. En quote. But the Arkansas Times reported that they had spoken to

a lawyer. They didn't name this person, but they said the source had been interviewed by the FBI and that the FBI were asking about money that was forfeited as a result of drug arrests. Now, this source said the DOJ threatened to pull the lawyer's license if he didn't give them the information they wanted about ron Fields. The source said they didn't have any information on ron Fields. They didn't know why this investigation was happening at all.

But The Arkansas Times talked to other sources who said that ron Fields quote ran the police department and that the fact that he carried a gun and accompanied police on drug raids was in fact a massive red flag and a conflict of interest. The source told the Times that he had seen statements from witnesses people who claimed that they had seen ron Fields use drugs. So what does any of this have to do with Lourie Murchison. Well.

One of the allegations that federal investigators were looking into was whether ry Murchison may have had knowledge about ron Field's alleged drug activities and whether j. C Ryder went to question Laurie Murchison. The allegation was that he and ron Fields may have gone together to question Laurie. This federal investigation went on for two years. During that time, a lot of rock Field's supporters stated it was ridiculous to believe that Ronfield's impeccable character could ever be questioned

and that his activities could be covered up. But later in two thousand and seven, very ugly allegations surfaced again about ron Fields, allegations that he sexually assaulted his mentally disabled daughter, twenty six year old Bridget Dollar, and that the prosecutor's office declined to prosecute. On June twenty second, two thousand and seven, Bridget told the police in Fort

Smith that her stepfather, ron Fields, had raped her. She came to police after first confessing the alleged sexual assault to a relative. The officer who interviewed Bridget, Christine Deeson, was quoted in The Arkansas Times. Bridget said she was sitting on the couch watching The Prices Ride on TV when ron Fields came in and quote pulled her off of the couch by her arm and took her to her mom's bedroom. He took off her clothes and put her on the bed. She said she knew what he

was doing was wrong. She also told me it was painful. I asked her what made him stop. She said she thought his cell phone rang and he stopped to answer it. When asked what happened next, Bridget said that he put on his clothes and left. Bridget said that after that he would come on Tuesdays and do the same thing. She couldn't tell me how many times this happened, but said it was more than two. She said he told her not to tell or he would get in big trouble.

End quote. Now this became a big story because not only did it involve a powerful politician and his former stepdaughter, but her mother, ron Field's ex wife, Claire, was at the time the prosecuting attorney for the city of Fort Smith. Bridget lived at home with her mother. She had never held a job and had an intellectual development disorder. She is described in court documents as a disabled and incapacitated adult. She has always had a family member appointed as a

permanent guardian. Despite that, and despite the fact that police reviewed phone records and voice mails and said they believe Bridget ron Fields was never interviewed. The Arkansas Times kind of summed up the case progress in two thousand and eight by quoting an investigator who said of Ron Fields, quote, if he had been a janitor, he would have been

arrested the next day end quote. According to the police record of the rape investigation that was quoted in the Arkansas Times, Claire boy and Gasser, ron Fields X's wife told police that ron was drinking heavily when he came back from Washington, d c. In two thousand and five, but she told investigators they were on good terms even after the divorce. She said the accusations had shocked her,

but that she believed her daughter Bridget. She was willing to put herself and her daughter through whatever police and prosecution and cross examination they would need to go through to get justice. The investigators also believed that Bridget was telling the truth. So why wasn't Ronfields prosecuted or even questioned? According to Arkansas law, it's a crime to have sexual intercourse with a person who is incapable of consent because

she is mentally defective. That would mean a person who is incapable of understanding the nature and consequences of sexual acts. But in the memo quoted in the Times, the prosecutors wrote, Bridget understood what sex was. She knew that she did not want to go upstairs with Ron. But the memo stated this meant that mentally defective does not apply because

she kind of understood what was happening. So apparently, because Bridget understood the concept of sex, the prosecutors believe she was not mentally defective, at least according to the law at the time. So the next question was if she understood what was happening, did she consent? The memo reads quote this question is very difficult to answer at this time. Victim is stated that the defendant would come to her home, grab her arm, pull her off the couch, and take

her upstairs to perform sexual intercourse. How much force was exerted end quote. So in this memo they talk about a nineteen ninety five case and that it involved a fourteen year old in her stepfather. And apparently the Arkansas Supreme Court found that when an assailant has an in loco parenthous relationship to a victim, that the law regarding force is a little bit different. When someone is acting as a parent, the victim does not have to display

what they call utmost physical resistance. Now, this would definitely seem to apply to Ronfield's and bridget dollar And yet six months after this alleged assault was reported, the prosecutor's office notified the police charges would not be filed. And this blows my mind. In the explanation letter, the prosecutor wrote, Bridget's mental deficiencies do not rise to the level of

charging rape under the law. While in the prosecutor's opinion, Bridget was not lying, the office believed she would have perhaps insurmountable problems if she was cross examined if the case went to trial, and one of the main issues they kept debating was the question of force. Prosecutor's office stated the only force that Bridget talked about was when ron Fields grabbed her arm when she was on the couch and took her upstairs. Bridget did say she said

no and slapped at him. However, the prosecutor's office believed she did have an opportunity to leave while ron Fields was undressing. Bridget's family were outraged. They believed the prosecutors were saying basically that Bridget wasn't mentally capable of testifying, but she was mentally capable of consenting sex. Claire's sister, Sarah Estraat, wrote to the prosecutor about Ron Fields. She wrote, quote, Ron Fields is a cunning lawyer who is accustomed to

kicking indoors during drug raids. A terrified, mentally impaired young woman is no match for him. End quote. So no action was taken against ron Fields in the sexual assault case, and the FBI never conclusively linked him to Laurie Murchison's disappearance. The FBI investigation was ended with no progress on Laurie's case. Over the years, Nancy Murchison told The Times Record she would get anonymous calls from people claiming they knew what

happened to Laurie. They would tell her that Laurie had been burned into stove or put through a wood chipper, or that she had been fed to pigs. In two thousand, a new detective named Ron Lockhart was put on Laurie's case, and he started digging for answers. According to news reports, the new detective assigned to Laurie's case, Ron Lockhart, and his team, conducted interviews and they went under cover wearing wires. Ron Lockhart did not believe that the investigation into Ron

Fields and J. C. Rider were justified. He said he found no evidence that either of them were involved in Laurie Murchison's disappearance. He called this investigation a waste of taxpayers money and a waste of time. He said he believed that the allegations against ron Fields had come from someone with a grudge. Others have suggested it could be someone Ron prosecuted in the past. Obviously, in a job like ron Fields, it goes without saying that you can

make a lot of enemies. But that person or person's were never named. The FBI never filed any charges against Ron Fields or J. C. Ryder. The jury in Washington, d C. Heard testimony that it led to nothing. Over the years, Ron Lockhart developed a theory, one that seemed very similar to what Billy had initially told detectives, that Laurie had accidentally overdosed and then the person or people she was with got rid of her body. Every once in a while, Lourie's name pops up in headlines again.

Back in two thousand and five, n WA News reported that someone had tipped off the Fort Smith Police that Laurie's body was buried in salvageyard, so they went out and dug there. That salvageyard was reportedly less than a mile from the motel where Laurie was last seen. Searchers were sent in to dig. In the end, they found no trace of Lourie. The Times Record did a follow up story on Laurie Murchison in twenty fourteen, coming up

on the twenty year anniversary of her disappearance. They interviewed Ron Lockhart and he gave more details about his theory. Ron Lockhart said he had a suspect in mind, and it was J. C Ryder or Ron Fields or anyone connected to them. He told The Times Record it was someone who was in prison in Oklahoma. He said that he felt that he did have enough to charge this

person with abuse of a corpse. He said he took the information he had to the Sebastian County prosecuting Attorney, but unfortunately he found out that it was too late. Ron Lockhart told the Times Record quote, back then there was enough evidence to file disposing of a corpse, but the statute of limitations had run over. But we did have a strong suspect that we felt like knew what

happened with her. End quote. He said the detectives did interview their suspect in prison, that they asked the person where Laurie's body was, but in the end they weren't able to find her. At the time, Ron Lockhart said he believed someone might have dumped Loriie into the Arkansas River. He said, quote, it was a sad deal. We did everything we could do, and I feel confident I know

what happened to her. Ron Lockhart said five different sources told him that a man whom you would not name, said Laurie died of a drug overdose and that this man worried about being charged with her death and disposal of her body. So my question is, are these the same people who were questioned in the early weeks of the investigation or someone else? And if this is where police have landed, if this is all they're going to do, then why won't they release the rest of the case file.

Nancy Murchison said back then she still believes that Laurie was murdered. She can't forget what Laurie said in the weeks before she disappeared, especially that one time when Laurie came home and said that someone was planning to offer her. But could that have been Laurie's paranoia due to drug use or could it have been something more? After all, there was a lot that Nancy Murchison admitted she didn't

know about what was going on with Lourie. She told the newspaper she didn't even know that Laurie was on drugs. In twenty twelve, she met with a volunteer group called the Cold Case Revivors, people whose relatives had been murdered or missing. They had regular meetings in Muldrow, Oklahoma. But I don't think that group still exists because a link to the organization's web page appears to be inactive. The latest update about Laurie's case from the Fort Smith Police

Department came from a news report in twenty fourteen. It said a new detective had been assigned to Laurie's case, Detective David Williams. This person had been working in the Criminal Investigation division for a year and at that time in twenty fourteen, he told the newspaper there had been nothing new added to Laurie's case file in years. He said, quote that things hundreds of pages. I haven't even been

able to make it through all that end quote. Laurie's mother, Nancy took custody of her daughter Brittany, who would now be in her thirdies. Nancy Murchison talked to the media several times over the years. She made public police for whoever killed Laurie or who was involved in any way to come forward. She said, even if it was an accident, she would want to know so that the family could have some kind of closure and they could put Laurie

in the family plot. But in twenty seventeen, Nancy passed away, never knowing what happened to her daughter Laurie and never being able to bring her body home. Anyone with information on the disappearance of Laurie Murchison can call the Fort Smith Police Departments Criminal Investigation Division at four seven nine seven oh nine five one one six, or email Missing Persons at Fort SMITHPD dot org. I'm Katherine Townsend. This is Helen Gone Murder Line. Helen Gone Murder Line is

a production of School of Humans and iHeart Podcasts. It's written and narrated by me Catherine Townsend and produced by Gabby Watts. Special thanks to Amy Tubbs for her research assistance and to James Wheaton for Legal Review. Noah camer mixed and scored this episode. Our theme song is by Ben Sale, Executive producers of Virginia Prescott, Brandon Barr, and L. C. Crowley. Listen to Helen Gone ad free by subscribing to the

iHeart True Crime Plus channel on Apple Podcasts. If you were interested in seeing documents and materials from the case, you can follow the show on Instagram at Helen gonpot. If you have a case you'd like me and my team to look into, you can reach out to us at our Helen Gone Murder line at six seven eight seven four four six one four five. That's six seven eight seven four four six' one four or.