Wydeane Ellerbee, a 26-year-old Black woman, was last seen in Tuskegee, Alabama, on September 12, 1986; a friend recalled she was wearing black pants that day. Her car was later found abandoned in Tuskegee, and a missing person report followed when she did not return.

In April 1987 a separate investigation in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, led to questioning of a man named Jerry Marcus. After being advised of his rights, Marcus confessed to killing Wydeane, drew a map to the burial site, and said the killing was over a debt she owed him. Investigators followed the map to a property in Tuskegee belonging to Marcus’s mother, Ruth Marcus, and uncovered a shallow grave behind the house. Decomposed human remains were recovered; nearby were a pair of black pants identified by Wydeane’s friend as the ones she had been wearing. Medical examiners ruled the cause of death as asphyxial strangulation and dental records, including a temporary filling placed by Wydeane’s dentist in 1980, confirmed her identity.

Marcus was charged, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison. Does anyone have information about Wydeane’s last known movements in Tuskegee or acquaintances who might shed light on what happened that September?