In the small town of Emmett, Idaho, the autumn of 1977 was marked by the troubling disappearance of a young mother. Twenty-seven-year-old Marie Ann Watson was last seen on November 21, 1977, a date that would become the beginning of a long and painful mystery for her family. A mother of two young children, an eight-year-old son and a six-year-old daughter, Marie was in the midst of a difficult and emotionally charged custody battle to bring them back into her life. At the time of her disappearance, her children were living with foster parents, Michael and Dorothy Rogers. Marie, described as a white female with brown hair and blue eyes, stood at 5'7" and weighed around 110 pounds. When she vanished, she was reportedly wearing a blue jacket with a sheepskin lining, a t-shirt, and jeans.
The circumstances surrounding Marie's disappearance were immediately suspicious. Dorothy Rogers, the foster mother of Marie's children, was the last known person to see her.
Dorothy claimed to have seen Marie get into a car and drive away, but this account was cast in doubt when Marie's purse and other personal belongings were discovered in a vehicle at the Rogers' residence. Compounding the mystery, Marie's own car was found at her workplace, containing her wallet, keys, cash, and an uncashed paycheck. The discovery of these essential items strongly suggested that she had not planned to leave. Authorities quickly suspected foul play was involved in her vanishing.
The investigation into Marie's disappearance soon uncovered a dark and disturbing history associated with the Rogers family. Marie had been fighting to regain custody of her children, whom the Rogers family reportedly wanted to adopt, even going so far as to change their names and instruct them to call their mother "aunt." In the years following Marie's disappearance, her parents, Leon and Lucille Baxter, successfully fought for and gained custody of their grandchildren, accusing the Rogerses of being responsible for their daughter's disappearance. The case took an even more sinister turn when, in June 1978, Michael Rogers was charged with the rape of his 14-year-old adopted daughter. He and Dorothy then fled Idaho with Marie's children and two of their other children before eventually being located in Arkansas and arrested. Michael Rogers subsequently pleaded guilty to the rape charge. Further suspicion was cast upon the family when it was discovered that their son, Ramon Rogers, who was a teenager when Marie went missing, grew up to be a serial killer, convicted of murdering three people in California in the 1990s. Despite strong suspicions about their involvement in Marie's disappearance, there has never been enough evidence to charge anyone in connection with the case. The case of Marie Ann Watson remains an unsolved and heart-wrenching puzzle, leaving her loved ones without answers for decades.Last Seen: Nov 21, 1977
