Unexplained death of Debbie Wolfe

[KMaynerECU04]

I live in Fayetteville, NC where this case happened and has always found it intriguing.

On Wednesday, December 25, 1985, after completing her shift at the hospital, Debbie Wolfe of Fayetteville, North Carolina, left work, presumably heading home. Debbie’s parents and a family friend named Kevin Gorton hurried over to her house, an isolated cabin, four miles outside Fayetteville. Debbie’s purse was not in its usual place. Kevin found it shoved under her bed. There was also an odd message on Debbie’s answering machine recorded earlier that day. A man from the hospital was calling to see how Debbie was doing. He mentioned that she had missed many days of work.

The search continued outside the cabin and around a nearby pond. There were no signs of Debbie. Debbie’s mother called the Sheriff’s office and was told they would investigate only after Debbie had been missing for three days. But five days passed before authorities began a full-scale search. Jenny Edwards decided to hire her own divers. On January 1, 1986, Kevin Gorton and another friend, Gordon Childress, returned to the pond. Both men were familiar with rescue work. Childress dragged the pond looking for evidence. In fact, according to Gordon Childress, he found two sets of footprints pressed into the thick mud, along with the drag marks. Once he went under the murky water, it wasn’t long before Childress came across a body. The police were called to the scene. The dead woman was identified as Debbie Wolfe.

The coroner concluded that she had drowned. An autopsy revealed no trace of drugs, no alcohol in her system, and no signs of foul play. Kevin Gorton does not believe Debbie’s death was as a result of drowning. What really happened to Debbie Wolfe? Her mother believes she was taken hostage and then murdered. She believes that, later, someone returned to the pond to remove the oil barrel (where family said she was found in) so that the death would seem accidental. (www.unsolved.com)

[justins5256]

I have seen this story on UM a few times over the years. I always believed that she was murdered and that the police probably botched the investigation. I thought it suspect that the police initially acknowledged the existence of the barrel in the pond. After the barrel disappeared, they basically took the position that it didn't exist at all, despite the fact that there were a couple of unbiased independent witnesses who reported seeing it.

[yuppielawyer]

I don't remember the case, but it sounds like a botched investigation by the police that would prevent the case being solved, absent a confession that could somehow be corroborated.

[lilmissd]

I think this case can definitely be solved! There have been cases solved with a lot less evidence than this. Someone has to have known who did it. or at least heard someone talk about it. I think Debbie was killed by someone she knew. I recall in the segment that she had been dating someone and he came to the hospital on a regular basis. I think Debbie broke it off with him though, because if I remember right he was a weirdo and was stalking her.

[UMfan77]

Originally Posted by lilmissd

I think Debbie was killed by someone she knew. I recall in the segment that she had been dating someone and he came to the hospital on a regular basis. I think Debbie broke it off with him though, because if I remember right he was a weirdo and was stalking her.

From what I learned in the segment, Debbie was being hit on by someone that worked at the hospital, but she told him that she was already involved with someone else and this person was not involved with the hospital. It was suspected that this person from the hospital had murdered Debbie after she had rejected him.

[TracyLynnS]

I've been running in and out of the house, working on my studpid car, so I only caught part of this when it aired a little while ago.

There are some cases where UM should give us more details and less mystery.

They said that Debra had a male hospital volunteer with a history of mental health problems pursuing her. He then left the state after she was found murdered.

Well, what are the details?!? Was this volunteer giving his time freely at the hospital, working there, giving back to the community until his out of state job came through? Then it did, at the inconvenient timing when Debra was murdered? Was his mental health history nothing more than he needed to take an occasional xanax for anxiety and his condition posed no threat to himself or anyone else?

Or was this an unemployed life long loser with a volatile mental health history, who was in and out of institutions, and was volunteering at the hospital because it provided him with a hunting ground for vunerable females? Then, having no job or other ties to the state, he skips town when Debra is found murdered?

Because based on the info UM gave us, it could be either one.

[Apostapler]

Originally Posted by TracyLynnS

I've been running in and out of the house, working on my studpid car, so I only caught part of this when it aired a little while ago.

There are some cases where UM should give us more details and less mystery.

They said that Debra had a male hospital volunteer with a history of mental health problems pursuing her. He then left the state after she was found murdered.

Well, what are the details?!? Was this volunteer giving his time freely at the hospital, working there, giving back to the community until his out of state job came through? Then it did, at the inconvenient timing when Debra was murdered? Was his mental health history nothing more than he needed to take an occasional xanax for anxiety and his condition posed no threat to himself or anyone else?

Or was this an unemployed life long loser with a volatile mental health history, who was in and out of institutions, and was volunteering at the hospital because it provided him with a hunting ground for vunerable females? Then, having no job or other ties to the state, he skips town when Debra is found murdered?

Because based on the info UM gave us, it could be either one.

That's the problem with some of the stories, though. UM probably couldn't expand on it because they didn't have proof. Medical records are confidential, and if they gave too many details the person could be identified and then sue for libel or slander. That's why getting details about suspects sucks until they are officially arrested.

[liv1527]

Originally Posted by yuppielawyer

I don't remember the case, but it sounds like a botched investigation by the police that would prevent the case being solved, absent a confession that could somehow be corroborated.

Isn't it sad that because of police messing up an investigation, a family will never know the truth of what happened to their loved one?

[UMfan77]

Originally Posted by liv1527

Isn't it sad that because of police messing up an investigation, a family will never know the truth of what happened to their loved one?

This, unfortunately, happens all too frequently. The Michael Rosenblum case is a perfect example.

[Mastermind]

Isn't it sad that because of police messing up an investigation, a family will never know the truth of what happened to their loved one?

Unfortunately police are all too human. The mistakes we do in our everyday jobs happen to them as well.

On the whole police do a fantastic job giving the restrictions placed on them.

You have to consider that a lot of times police are extremely overworked, undertrained and politically pressured

In small cities, the police don;t get nearly the experience they need to solve homicides.

And conversely in large cities, the police are so overwhelmed with cases that they have to prioritize and limit their work on cases.

In Detroit, if your a family member who's loved one is killed, your pretty much treated with the "take a number" approach. It's almost like being at a crowded deli.

i tend to think the most shoddy police work occurs in those small cities and counties where the cops handle one murder every 6 months.

That's why I am very much in favor of the FBI going back to their more prominent role in violent crimes that they had in the 1990s. Sadlly with the war on terrorism and economic fraud, that may not happen for a while.

[TracyLynnS]

Yeah, detroit averages about a murder a day, I think. Then add on top of that the major drug crimes, rapes, assaults, and even the (former) mayor being a convicted felon, and you've got one screwed up city.

It seems like about 10 years ago here in Detroit, we had two newbie cops out on patrol who were ambushed and murdered in their patrol car. They were quite young, a man and woman, I think. While reading the news articles on the case, I found out that the new cops salaries were in the $23,000 per year range.

Good grief. Can you imagine that? You're working in detroit, putting your life on the line every day, and you're not even getting paid a living wage. $23,000/yr was barely a decent wage 25 years ago. Ten years ago, it probably didn't even cover food and rent.

Anyway, I'm sure lots of big cities have a hard time getting their crimes solved and prosecuted. Although, out of all the obstacles the cops face, I think political pressure is the one that irritates me the most.

[wiseguy182]

Originally Posted by TracyLynnS

Yeah, detroit averages about a murder a day, I think. Then add on top of that the major drug crimes, rapes, assaults, and even the (former) mayor being a convicted felon, and you've got one screwed up city.

It seems like about 10 years ago here in Detroit, we had two newbie cops out on patrol who were ambushed and murdered in their patrol car. They were quite young, a man and woman, I think. While reading the news articles on the case, I found out that the new cops salaries were in the $23,000 per year range.

Good grief. Can you imagine that? You're working in detroit, putting your life on the line every day, and you're not even getting paid a living wage. $23,000/yr was barely a decent wage 25 years ago. Ten years ago, it probably didn't even cover food and rent.

Anyway, I'm sure lots of big cities have a hard time getting their crimes solved and prosecuted. Although, out of all the obstacles the cops face, I think political pressure is the one that irritates me the most.

yeah, big cities in Michigan are pretty bad. Flint is atrocious, I won't go there. Saginaw, where I was born, is getting worse all the time.

[lindamichelle1]

yeah but there is a MASSIVE difference between police being "human" and making mistakes. and police completely denying there was a barrell when they knew there was. some police are a complete joke, in so many of these episodes ive watched this week there is WAY too many that involve police corruption.

[idol]

Debbies mom had mentioned in the segment that on top of the one guy hitting on Debbie at work there was also a second guy hitting on her.

Its like she's a female version of Perman Gilbert.

[WishfulDreamer]

Another case of shoddy police work. Especially about this whole barrel business. It was a pathetic excuse for an investigation that cannot be excused by the concept of "human error."