Ellen Deann Rowden, 23, disappeared from Picher, Oklahoma, in August 1977 after being seen in a local bar with three other people. Her disappearance was one of several that alarmed the small mining community that summer.

In April the following year her remains were found in Treece, Kansas, across the state line. She was discovered bound to a tree near the body of 13-year-old Julia Miller, who had gone missing in June 1977. The similarity of the killings suggested a violent predator operating in the area.

The investigation identified Karl Lee Myers as a primary suspect. He stood trial for Rowden’s murder and was acquitted; he was never charged in Miller’s case. Myers was later convicted of other violent crimes and died in prison in 2012. No one else has been charged in Ellen Rowden’s murder.

Did anyone in Picher or Treece at the time notice suspicious behavior or persons around August 1977 that might shed light on these killings?