Marjorie “Margie” Dabney 70, Msg 05/12/01 [Body Found 11/07], Bakersfield CA

[sarahhod]

Police: Case cold again despite recent finding of woman's remains

BY STEVE E. SWENSON, Californian staff writer
sswenson@bakersfield.com | Sunday, Jan 25 2009 2:01 PM

Last Updated: Friday, Jan 23 2009 1:27 PM


The discovery a few months ago of the body of a Bakersfield woman who disappeared from a Dallas airport in 2001 gave new hope for finding out what happened to her.
Photos:

http://static.bakersfield.com/smedia/2009/01/23/13/416-947-344-MargieDabney.standalone.prod_affiliate.25.embedded .prod_affiliate.25.jpg (http://static.bakersfield.com/smedia/2009/01/23/13/307-947-344-MargieDabney.standalone.prod_affiliate.25.standalo ne.prod_affiliate.25.jpg) Margie Dabney went missing in 2001. (Photo courtesy of the family)
http://static.bakersfield.com/smedia/2008/11/17/17/757-MARGIE_DABNEY.embedded.prod_affiliate.25.JPG (http://static.bakersfield.com/smedia/2008/11/17/17/784-MARGIE_DABNEY.standalone.prod_affiliate.25.JPG) Margie Dabney




But after an extensive review of evidence, the hope has faded. Police say they have no leads.
Even so, the Lewisville Police Department, which took over the investigation after Marjorie “Margie” Dabney’s remains were identified two months ago, is continuing to investigate.
Capt. Kevin Deaver said he’s trying to get the case on the "America’s Most Wanted" television program. Detectives will also return to the remote lakeside road where her remains were found for a further review, he said.
Deaver revealed for the first time Thursday that the 70-year-old Dabney, a diabetic and Alzheimer’s patient, was not on any videos his department has received from the airport.
He also said a report that she was seen on the tarmac outside the airport building is “unconfirmed.”
Dabney was last seen Dec. 5, 2001 while traveling with her husband, Joe, from Indianapolis to their new home in Bakersfield. He, too, cannot be seen on any video, Deaver said.
During a layover, an airline escort took her wheelchair-bound husband to the restroom and asked Margie to meet them at the gate.
She never showed.
Her daughter, Candice Price of Indianapolis, said Thursday she’s certain someone abducted Dabney because “my mother would never walk away. She was too clingy to my daddy.”
Price said that this month she put her mother’s pictures up on Myspace.com (http://www.bakersfield.com/hourly_news/story/www.myspace.com/lovedones_lost_margie), a social networking Web site, in hopes of finding someone who may have seen her.
Dabney’s pictures were published and broadcast in the Texas media after her remains were identified, but nothing promising came from the few calls police received, police said.
In November, 2007, Margie’s skeletal remains were found by a dirt road after a controlled burn in a remote area by Lewisville Lake, about 15 miles northwest of the airport.
Another burn nearly a year later revealed Margie’s multicolored sweater, dark pants, a bus pass, an American Airlines tag and an AARP card. DNA tests later confirmed the remains were hers.
Joe Dabney said in November that he had hoped his wife of 34 years would be found a live. He could not be reached for comment Thursday.
A pathologist said the nature of fractures on Dabney’s skull shows she was either hit or shot in the head.
Her disappearance drew national attention. A lawsuit against American Airlines was settled in 2003 for an undisclosed amount.
Lewisville police have reviewed the airport investigation and have obtained tollgate records to show license plates of vehicles that entered and left the airport, Deaver said.
But those records are not in good shape, he noted.
Police also tried to find store videos in the area where her remains were found, but they had been destroyed by the time they asked, he said.
Suspicious activity reported in communities near Lewisville was reviewed, but produced no promising results, he said.
Lewisville has a population of about 100,000, less than a third of the size of Bakersfield. The police department has five detectives assigned to crimes against person.


http://www.bakersfield.com/hourly_news/story/671881.html

[sarahhod]

Husband of missing woman settles lawsuit with airline

Staff and wire reports | Monday, Nov 17 2008 6:11 PM

Last Updated: Monday, Nov 17 2008 6:11 PM
This story was originally published on March 20, 2003.




The Bakersfield husband of an elderly Alzheimer's patient who vanished at a Dallas airport has settled with American Airlines.
Joe Dabney agreed to an undisclosed settlement Monday in U.S. District Court in Fresno.
Dabney originally sought $10 million from the airline, and a revised lawsuit filed in September raised the amount to more than $75 million.
Dabney and his 70-year-old wife, Margie, became separated after landing at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on Dec. 5, 2001. She hasn't been seen since.
The couple, married for 34 years, were headed from Indianapolis to Los Angeles after a visit with their daughters when they stopped in Dallas to change planes.
The airport was notified of Margie Dabney's condition, but a Dallas attendant who was supposed to help her off the plane went to the wrong gate, Dabney's attorney said.
Joe Dabney, 64, recently had undergone hip surgery and was being escorted to a restroom when his wife apparently wandered away. She reportedly told her husband she would meet him at the departure gate.
Airline officials said the attendant may not have realized he was responsible for both individuals, or that the woman had Alzheimer's.
American Airlines spokesman Marty Heires said he couldn't discuss details of the settlement, but said the airline was "obviously very pleased it was resolved amicably."
"We continue to hope Mrs. Dabney is returned to her family," Heires said.
Members of the Dabney family traveled to Dallas several times to search for the missing woman and post fliers with her picture.
Margie Dabney weighed less than 100 pounds and had high blood pressure and diabetes.
She wore no medical identification bracelet and had wandered before, once disappearing for three days in Bakersfield while her husband used a bus depot restroom.


http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/612716.html

[sarahhod]

Reward raised for information on missing Bakersfield woman

By CHARLES ADAMSON, Californian staff writer | Monday, Nov 17 2008 6:13 PM

Last Updated: Monday, Nov 17 2008 6:13 PM
This story was originally published on August 12, 2004.


A $100,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the safe return of a Bakersfield woman who has been missing for nearly three years.
Alzheimer's patient Margie Dabney disappeared from the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in December 2001 while her wheelchair-bound husband Joe Dabney went to the rest room. She was 70 at the time.
Her disappearance made national news, appearing on television stations and in newspapers across the country. Despite the publicity, she has not been found.
Garry Montanari, a Westlake Village attorney representing American Airlines and Prospect Airport Services, sent out a flier this month announcing the new reward. American Airlines had previously offered $10,000 for information leading to her return.
"We're simply renewing the efforts with the agreement and assistance of the family," Montanari said Wednesday. "Maybe someone out there somewhere has taken her in.
"A body has never turned up. There is some hope that she is still out there," Montanari said.
Mr. Dabney sued American Airlines and settled for an undisclosed amount in March 2003. He had sought $75 million in the suit.
His attorney from the civil case, Timothy Darden of Walnut Creek, did not return messages left at his office Wednesday. Since the announcement of the settlement, he has not returned calls.
Likewise, Mr. Dabney has been unreachable since the suit was settled. When asked where he was, the Dabneys' daughter, Dorothy Nelson, said, "I have no idea. He's out there somewhere."
She blamed the media for not assisting in finding her mother.
Nelson, of Indianapolis, said Wednesday that the family still has hope her mother will be found safe.
"My mother is still alive," she said. "We're still waiting on her."
Sgt. Tim Coyle of the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport Department of Public Safety said the case will remain active until the missing woman is accounted for.
"We are still following up on any and all leads that we do get, but we don't have any new information," Coyle said.
The Dabneys were traveling from Indianapolis to Los Angeles when Mrs. Dabney disappeared.
She was supposed to be escorted from one plane to another while her husband, who had recently had hip surgery, was taken to the rest room. The attendant who was supposed to meet Mrs. Dabney went to the wrong gate, and Mrs. Dabney is believed to have wandered off, according to previous news reports.
She was spotted several hours later by witnesses on airport grounds, her presence later confirmed by bloodhounds.
Police have not verified sightings after that, Coyle said.
The sergeant said authorities believed they had found Mrs. Dabney in June 2003 in Cerritos. A woman who had a strong resemblance was given a fingerprint analysis, but she proved to be someone else.
The flier announcing the reward says that it will not be paid "to family members or relatives by marriage or descent of Margie Dabney."
Montanari said there was no indication that any family members were involved in Mrs. Dabney's disappearance and that such rules are standard for rewards.
Dabney is a black woman in her early 70s, described when she disappeared as 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighing from 90 to 95 pounds.
She has black hair and wears glasses.
In addition to suffering from Alzheimer's, she is diabetic.
Anyone with information about her whereabouts is encouraged to call Sgt. Coyle at (972) 574-8608.


http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/612717.html

[sarahhod]

Body of Bakersfield woman missing for seven years found near airport

The Bakersfield Californian | Monday, Nov 17 2008 5:53 PM

Last Updated: Tuesday, Nov 18 2008 8:43 AM
The seven-year mystery of the disappearance of Joe Dabney’s wife is over.
But it didn’t end the way Joe wanted it to. And the end of that mystery is the start of another.
The disappearance of Marjorie Dabney, an Alzheimer’s patient who went missing during a layover at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport seven years ago, became a homicide case Monday after an examination of skeletal remains found miles from the airfield.
The Tarrant County medical examiner used DNA tests to identify the remains as 70-year-old Marjorie Dabney and ruled that her death was caused by a blow to the head, police said.
The remains were found last year near Lewisville Lake, about 15 miles north of the airport. Last month, Dabney’s clothing and business cards were found near the lake.
“I don’t feel too good,” Joe said Monday from his Bakersfield home. He was hoping Marjorie would be found alive.
And the search took too long.
“I can’t see why they took all that time,” he said.
Dabney’s daughter, Candice Price, 38, of Indianapolis, said she was shocked to find out her mother was the victim of a homicide. The remains were found in 2007 and authorities contacted her family last month to ask for a DNA sample, she said.
She said that in the years after her mother went missing, she convinced herself that someone had found her mother and was caring for her. Her mother was diabetic and an Alzheimer’s patient.
“What did she ever do to anybody to be knocked upside the head?” Price asked.
Authorities could not determine when Dabney died or if she was killed at the location where the remains were found, Linda Anderson, a spokeswoman for medical examiner, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Price said she hoped the people of Texas, who helped the family distributed fliers when her mother was missing, would help the family find her killer.
Dabney disappeared Dec. 5, 2001, while traveling with her husband from Indianapolis to Bakersfield, where they were to move into a new home. During the layover, an airline escort accompanied Mrs. Dabney’s wheelchair-using husband to the restroom and asked Dabney to meet them at the gate. She never showed up and couldn’t be located.
Her mysterious disappearance drew national attention when trial lawyer Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. joined the family in the search. Cochran was one of the attorneys who represented O.J. Simpson during his 1995 murder trial in Los Angeles.
In 2003, Dabney’s husband, who had filed a $10 million lawsuit against American Airlines, agreed to an undisclosed settlement.


http://www.bakersfield.com/1380/story/612697.html

[sarahhod]

Texas police begin sifting through evidence in case of slain Bakersfield woman

By JORGE BARRIENTOS AND STEVE E. SWENSON, Californian staff writers
jbarrientos@bakersfield.com
sswenson@bakersfield.com | Tuesday, Nov 18 2008 5:59 PM

Last Updated: Tuesday, Dec 2 2008 1:49 PM


For seven years, Marjorie “Margie” Dabney's whereabouts were unknown after she disappeared during a trip to Bakersfield at Dallas-Forth Worth International Airport. Then her skeletal remains and belongings were found near a lake in Texas, after fire burned away the brush.

Officials on Monday said the 70-year-old was killed. But the questions of who killed her, how, when, where and why is what police are now facing.
“Certainly it's going to be an uphill battle,” said Joni Eddy, Lewisville Police Department assistant police chief. “Now is the point we really gear up and hopefully develop some leads.”
The police department has begun sifting through seven years of airport police files including videos, to figure out how Dabney wound up murdered. Officials said she died of blunt force trauma to her head.
Dabney, a diabetic and Alzheimer's patient, disappeared in Dec. 5, 2001 while traveling with her husband from Indianapolis to their new home in Bakersfield. During a layover, an airline escort took the wheelchair-bound husband to the restroom and asked Margie to meet them at the gate. She never showed.
She was last seen walking on the tarmac, which is outside of the airport building in the area where planes load and unload, by two pilots, said Bruce South, the original attorney in a lawsuit brought against American Airlines by Margie’s husband, Joe Dabney.
South said Tuesday he guessed she just walked out one of the doors.
In November 2007, an environmental preservation center conducted controlled burns in a remote area by Lewisville Lake, about 15 miles northwest of the airport area. It revealed Margie’s skeletal remains by a dirt road. Another burn nearly a year later revealed Margie's clothes and AARP card.
DNA tests later confirmed it was her.
Joe Dabney said on Monday that he had hoped his wife of 34 years would be found alive.
Joyce Dabney, one of the couple's daughters, said Tuesday police had not contacted her, but hoped they would work hard on solving the case.
Police said taking over the case after so many years since the investigation first started is actually a good thing because you have a “different set of eyes looking at it,” Eddy said.
Margie's disappearance drew national attention, and a lawsuit was settled in 2003 for an undisclosed amount. South said he rejected a $550,000 offer while he was their lawyer. Joe Dabney asked for $10 million.
The lawsuit alleged that American Airlines was negligent in not keeping close tabs on Margie because she was an Alzheimer's patient.


http://www.bakersfield.com/1380/story/613776.html

[sarahhod]

Plane passenger remembers the day woman went missing

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From Indiana to Texas to Bakersfield, no doubt many have been affected by the disappearance and alleged murder of Marjorie “Margie” Dabney.

Dabney, a diabetic and Alzheimer's patient, disappeared in Dec. 5, 2001 while traveling with her husband Joe from Indianapolis to their new home in Bakersfield. During a layover in Dallas, an airline escort took the wheelchair-bound husband to the restroom and asked Margie to meet them at the gate. She never showed.

For seven years, Margie’s whereabouts were unknown. Then recently, her skeletal remains and belongings were found (http://www.bakersfield.com/1380/story/612697.html) near a lake a few miles from the Dallas airport. Officials said the 70-year-old was killed. But the questions of who killed her, how, when, where and why is what police are now facing (http://www.bakersfield.com/1380/story/613776.html).

Margie's disappearance drew national attention, and a lawsuit was settled (http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/612716.html) in 2003 for an undisclosed amount. The lawsuit alleged that American Airlines was negligent in not keeping close tabs on Margie because she was an Alzheimer's patient.

Renee Baker remembers the day Margie went missing. Margie’s husband Joe sat next to her that day on the plane seven years ago. Here she shares what she remembers:

“I first laid eyes upon Joe in the terminal in Dallas. Most everyone already had their boarding passes and Joe came in on the scene late, visibly and verbally upset about something.

“I boarded the plane and sat in a window seat. The plane was full. The seat next to me was empty. Here came Joe, down the aisle. He was disabled and barely could walk. He used left and right aisle seat shoulder rests as handrails.

“No doubt, Joe sat down next to me. Joe started to share his story to me. He had lost his wife Margie.

“He told me that they both went into the restroom. He went into the men’s room, while she went into the women’s room. When he came out, he waited for her, but she never came.

“Joe didn’t have any money. He had no food and had not eaten all day.

“He asked American Airlines for help, but they just put him on his flight and sent him home. They should have taken action. For her sake, the airline should have kept Joe behind to help in the search.

“Joe explained Margie had Alzheimer’s and couldn’t remember her identity and home address and the basics. So, if she wasn’t found soon, she was gone for good.

“What I regretted most for years was never taking any real action. I should have gotten off the plane with Joe right then and there and helped him search for Margie. I should have stood up for him. I should have given him money. I should have told the airlines that this man was being mistreated. But no, I did nothing more than lend him my ear. How many times have I had to mentally drive the highways of Dallas, wondering where she was? Too many.”

http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/BreakingNewsTeam/37995

[sarahhod]

Mystery of missing local woman solved after seven years


(http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:launch_middle%28%20%27Largeview%27,%20%27http ://people.bakersfield.com/home/ViewImages/blogpost/37410%27,%20700,%20620%20%29)
DALLAS (AP) — A mysterious disappearance of an Alzheimer’s patient during a layover at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport seven years ago became a homicide case Monday after an examination of skeletal remains found miles from the airfield.

The Tarrant County medical examiner used DNA tests to identify the remains as 70-year-old Marjorie Dabney and ruled that her death was caused by a blow to the head, police said.

The remains were found last year near Lewisville Lake, about 15 miles north of the airport. Last month, Dabney’s clothing and business cards were found near the lake.

“I’m still shocked,” Dabney’s daughter, Candice Price, 38, of Indianapolis, told The Associated Press on Monday.

She said that in the years after her mother went missing, she convinced herself that someone had found her mother and was caring for her. Her mother was diabetic and an Alzheimer’s patient.

“To get this, that somebody hit her upside the head — you can’t prepare yourself for this,” Price said. “I’m furious because I’m hearing that someone has killed my mother. I want to know why. I want to know when.”

Authorities could not determine when Dabney died or if she was killed at the location where the remains were found, Linda Anderson, a spokeswoman for medical examiner, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Dabney disappeared Dec. 5, 2001, while traveling with her husband from Indianapolis to Bakersfield, Calif., where they were to move into a new home. During the layover, an airline escort accompanied Dabney’s wheelchair-bound husband to the restroom and asked Dabney to meet them at the gate. She never showed up and couldn’t be located.

Her mysterious disappearance drew national attention when trial lawyer Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. joined the family in the search. Cochran was one of the attorneys who represented O.J. Simpson during his 1995 murder trial in Los Angeles.

In 2003, Dabney’s husband, who had filed a $10 million lawsuit against American Airlines, agreed to an undisclosed settlement.

Price said that her father was in shock after learning of the developments in her mother’s death. “He’s in disbelief,” she said.

http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/BreakingNewsTeam/37410

[Grande]

The Lewisville Police Department needs your help in a Homicide Investigation

http://i26.tinypic.com/262mji8.jpg

Sex: Female
Race: Black
Height: 62 inches
Weight: 95 pounds
Hair Color: Black
Hair (Other): Portion of hair is braided.
Eye Color: Brown
Complexion: Dark
Glasses/Contacts Description: Glasses with brown frames
Clothing: Dark blue shirt, dark blue pants, multi-colored scarf, brown shoes.

The Lewisville Police Department is investigating the homicide of Marjorie Dabney. In November 2007, skeletal remains were located on U.S. Corp of Engineering property south of the Lake Lewisville dam. The property is located north of the intersection of Fish Hatchery Road and State Highway 121 (Business) in Lewisville. On December 5, 2001, Dabney was reported missing from D/FW International Airport. Dabney was switching planes at DFW when she went missing. Police believe Dabney was murdered in late 2001 or early 2002.

Anyone with information on this case is urged to contact the Lewisville Police Department on the Crime Tip Line at 972-219-8477 (TIPS) or the Denton County Crime Stoppers by following this link or by phone at 1-800-388-TIPS (8477).

http://www.cityoflewisville.com/wcmsite/publishing.nsf/Content/Most+Wanted+