Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Cold Case: Who killed young Debbie Randall?

Episode Date: April 12, 2017

The unexpected discovery of DNA on clothing recovered from clothing worn by murdered Debbie Randall could lead to the person who killed the 9-year-old girl in 1972. Debbie was kidnapped from her Marietta, Georgia, neighborhood and found 8 miles away 16 days later. Cobb County Cold Case Detective Morris Nix tells Nancy Grace in this episode that the DNA is helping to close in on a suspect. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an Stories with Nancy Grace. A group of retired detectives volunteering their time, determined to bring her family answers. She was a beautiful kid. You can look at the picture and you can see the innocence. Detective Nix is part of a rare group of retired police officers who specialize in solving Cobb County's cold cases. If you're an investigator, if you're a detective, if you're a cop, that's what you live for, that phone call, that family saying, sit down because I've got some good news for you. I'd give anything if I could find out who it was before I passed away.

We haven't forgotten, and we're not going to give up. Imagine on a cold winter's night, your nine-year-old little girl is at the laundromat. Boy, I remember going to the laundromat just a half a block away, but she never makes it home. And when you go looking for your nine-year-old little girl, all you find is a spilled box of laundry detergent across the street from your home. It's the only evidence she was ever there. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. I'm talking about cold case, nine-year-old Debbie Lynn Randall, and we are still searching for answers. Along with me today is, of course, Alan Duke, investigative reporter and special guest, Detective Morris Nix. Morris, thank you so much for being with us. Thank you for having me. Morris, what is your recollection

of what happened? Well, Nancy, this is a case that I actually remember the day this happened. So I always had an interest in this case. And once I came to the Cold Case Unit, this was one of the first cases that I asked about. This case originally belonged to the Marietta Police Department, and they did a great job back in the day with the limited resources that they had so we decided to just hey morris morris morris if i may call you that hold on just a minute we say that all the time people ask me all the time morris what do you think nancy do you think the

cops screwed the case up and very often i say i don't know that they screwed the case up I think what happened is they're overwhelmed they don't have all the resources you see on tv okay especially in smaller jurisdictions and they're doing the best they can so I don't know that that's screwing the case up could more have been done sure if there you know, maybe 10 or 15 more detectives and there was all sorts of scientific advances, yeah, maybe, but that's not the case. So working with what they've got, no, I don't think they screwed the case up. I think they're doing everything they can. So could you explain when you say with limited resources, they did everything they could, what does that mean? Basically, this would work three detectives. And of course, they have other caseloads. And they work very hard. No, I don't

think they screwed the case up at all. I think they did the best that they could do. Of course, time moves on. These were not wealthy people. Debbie's family were not wealthy people. They were not members of any certain society. So it goes cold and people start to pass. But once we got the case and started looking at it, we thought maybe there's a chance. You know, people said, well, you'll never get any DNA from this. It's been too old, et cetera, et cetera. But we submitted an article of clothing and we got a DNA match. Morris, when you say clothing, what clothing? Her body was found fully clothed.

Yeah. Marietta Police Department did a great job of preserving the evidence, and we took an article of clothing, her underwear, along with other parts of clothing. We submitted it for DNA, really thinking this was a really, really long shot. And we got a profile. And I was actually on my way out of town when the administrator of the cold case unit, John Dawes, called me and let me know, hey, guess what? We got a profile.

So that closed the door wide open on this case. This is what happened. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, Morris. What's with me is a very well-known crack detective in his jurisdiction, Detective Morris Nix. On a cold winter's night, 9-year-old Debbie Lynn Randall steps out of the neighborhood laundromat. And I've been there. I remember, Morris, when our washing machine broke, I guess my parents didn't have enough money to fix the washing machine.

I'm not really sure, but we started using a laundromat. We would have to drive to it because we lived out in the middle of nowhere. And we'd drive to the laundromat, and it was always, always on a Sunday night. We would go to church on Sunday night as well as the morning. So we were wedging it in and I would go and sit with the laundry during the afternoon at the laundromat and then switch it out and just the whole process. So this little girl, nine years old, goes to do the laundry. It's only a half a block away, and she never makes it. She disappears. There's that spill box of laundry detergent just across the street from her home. Now, over the next week, Cobb County launches an extensive search to find her. Her body, Debbie's body, was found 16 days later. But even now,

over 40 years later, the mystery of who killed Debbie Randall, a nine-year-old little girl trying to do family laundry for her mom, is still unsolved. And with me, veteran detective Morris Nix. I want to thank our podcast sponsor today. It's Blue Apron. And I first heard about Blue Apron from my son, who is nine years old. He had seen it online or somewhere. And what it is, is a fresh food home delivery, but you cook it. it's all fresh ingredients and when we tried it for the first time the twins opened up the box they loved it and then they helped me cook it because it was kind of like our project it was fresh broccoli fettuccine noodles, chicken, and all the makings to make a delicious meal. And they cleaned their plates.

Now, here's the thing about Blue Apron. Not only are they sponsoring our podcast and our efforts to solve the murder of Debbie Randall, a nine-year-old little girl, but they give working moms and dads a way to make a home-cooked meal. Know what is in the food your children are eating. Not a bunch of chemicals and boxed ingredients, but fresh farm-to-table food. You know what's in there. And check out this week's menu and get your first three meals free with free shipping by going to blueapron.com slash nancygrace.

You'll love how good it feels and tastes and to create incredible home-cooked meals with Blue Apron. So don't wait. That's blueapron.com slash nancygrace. Blue Apron, a better way to cook. Now I want to get back to Detective Morris Nix joining us. Where was Debbie's body found, Detective? Debbie's body was found off of Powers Ferry Road, which is now an empty restaurant. I believe it was a Houston restaurant about 20 feet off the road.

I managed to find the individual who actually found her body. He was a student at Southern Tech, and he volunteered as a group to look for her body. He's now a retired engineer. And so being an engineer, he's very good with measurements, distances. I met him. We went over over there and he said woman about okay wait a minute I want to understand something when you say her body was found off Powers Ferry Road a couple of quick questions one how far away from the laundry mat was from the laundromat it is I'm gonna say about eight miles nine miles Wow but so that was somebody that got her in a car. Correct, but we don't

think that's the place of death. Okay, so that was just a dumping ground and I assume that she was assaulted because you got DNA off her underwear. It was brutal. Yes, she was sexually assaulted. Awful. So somebody got her in a car. She was probably raped, sex assaulted in the car and killed in the car, is my guess, and then dumped there an eight mile distance. So it's somebody that I guess knew the area. And at the time, before it was a Houston's restaurant, what was it, Wooded? It was Wooded at the time, yeah. It was rather remote. And who found the body, detective? Who found, I don't need a name, but was it like a construction worker, a hiker, what?

He was a student at Southern Tech, and he and his fraternity brothers volunteered to do a group search. He discovered the body. I managed to locate him, and he's now a retired engineer. And he took me over there there and he walked to the parking lot went straight to the spot and he said well then about 10 foot 8 foot this is where she was at he said I've done by that location over the years and of course it's just in my mind we believe Nancy that she was abducted from the laundromat she was taken to another location where the crime occurred. Then she

was redressed and her body was dumped in the woods. Okay, you know what? The whole thing is sick, but the redressing part is super sick. So let me understand something. She is raped in one location, you think not the car, redressed, and then dumped. Found by a college student who, along with other people, had volunteered to search. And you find him years later, and he's now a retired engineer? Correct. Man, that's a heck of a story. Now, he obviously, I'm always suspicious of whoever finds the body.

So I assume that you've ruled him out. Yes, yes. He was in a group, actually. They had spread out along the road. And he just by happenstance had wandered up upon her. And he did not go actually down to the body because it unnerved him and he has been very beneficial in some of his descriptions but we think that possibly she was assaulted at a very close place to where her body was found.

Why do you say that, or can you tell me? I can tell you that we have some evidence that was gathered and processed by the FBI back in the day that leads us to a specific location that I don't want to disclose at the moment. Okay. So without you telling me, I'll just clue in our listeners who, you know, they know as much as I do now, Detective Nix, because everybody's legal eagles and they are very familiar with technology. So I'm guessing, as an educated guess, that they found fibers, such as carpet fibers on her back or her body. They found some type of a synthetic floor covering. You know, that's how, I don't know if you remember this, Detective Nix, it was before my time, but I found out pretty quickly, you know, I prosecuted in Fulton DA's office with Vic Reynolds, you know, the now, in fact, you can go ahead and tell him this, that I claim I trained him and for him to never forget the goat man. Okay, the goat man,

as I digress, so I had a huge calendar, you know, in front of an awesome judge, Luther Alverson. He was the oldest judge in the courthouse, and he wanted to keep the lowest jail count. In other words, his courtroom had the fewest people in jail on their calendar because we would try so many cases. And he wanted to prove he was still fit as a fiddle, and he was. So Vic came to the office after after me and he rotated into my courtroom i took a couple of murders and gave him you know here take everything else and he did and one of them was the goat man and what i mean by that was this old guy god bless him he smelled

like a goat he smelled awful and he was the victim okay i don't know when the last time this guy took a bath. Well, Vic, Vic had to try the case, okay, because I was getting ready on, I guess, a murder and a rape and a dope dealer. And so, I didn't even know what was in the file. So, here,

here's the ones that have to go. Just pick one and go. Well, that's the one he ended up with. I guess the others pled out. I don't know what happened to them. He had to try. So, he gets the goat man, who I don't know what happened to them, he had to try, so he gets the goat man, who I believe could walk, but liked being wheeled around in a wheelchair, so he gets

the goat man up on the stand, okay, and the goat man, he's stuck to high heaven, and Vic was questioning him, and he said, okay, sir, do you see the man that stabbed you the day of the incident? Well, the goat man started looking around. And he started looking over at the jury like maybe it was one of the jurors. And I'm like, oh, dear Lord, no, please don't let him identify a juror. And, I mean, we had the guy, you know you know dead red-handed i mean he had the stabbing he had the knife with him there was still blood on the knife he had the knife for pete's sake the perp did so vick had to get the guy back in the wheelchair and take him straight up to the

defendant across the table from the defendant. And for a moment, we thought he was going to identify the defense attorney. But he looked and he looked and he looked, and finally he identified the defendant. I'm like, oh, dear Lord in heaven. But every time I see Vic, which I don't see him a lot now, but I say, you remember the goat man, and I just die laughing. Now, he doesn't think it's as funny as I do,

but anyway, whenever I think of Vic Reynolds, you know, he has all these very important conferences and press releases, and he's an awesome trial lawyer, but I always think of the goat man. I digressed for a moment with fond memories of Vic Reynolds in my courtroom. Okay, I want to get back to Debbie because, you know, I'm just thinking about, you know, Debbie was just in the third grade. Detective Nix, you know what grade my children are in, right? Third grade. And when I think of how defenseless both of them are,

and so trusting. Now, Debbie, third grader at Pine Forest Elementary, I'm trying to figure out, she was going to Marietta Place, Duds and Suds, co-op laundry. Now, did she make it to

the laundry? Yeah, she asked asked me this was a gathering place for the little girls in the area uh unfortunately that was about the only place they had and debbie lived pretty much just across the street a lot of people said well how could you let a little girl go there by herself but they have to understand that they usually were with someone it was about 75 feet from where she lived and it was a gathering place where the little girls would they would trade doll clothes the manager of the laundromat would she made doll clothes for them and it was just a place where they would get together. And she was just a very... It sounds like in my world when I was little, the corner store. It was also called the

pep station. And we had to actually ride our bikes like two miles to get there. Now my mother would have done a backflip if she had known during the summer we would get on our bikes and ride to the pep station, which was a gas station, but they also sold candy bars and, you know, crackers. This same thing, you know, we would all get on a bike and go there. We wouldn't get on the main roads. We'd take back roads and trails and end up behind the pep station. And we would buy a candy bar and then bike all the way back home. And we thought we had really done something. So this little girl goes, it's about 7 p.m., she goes with a load of laundry,

she's given two butts, and while she was putting the clothes into the washing machine, her stepfather left. And, I mean, I've read that her stepfather, Robert Hooker, took her there. And the laundromat attendant states Debbie left about 30 minutes later with a box of detergent. And that was found near a car across the street from her home. You're telling me it's only like 75 feet, right? Correct. Wow.

I also have reports that residents saw a dark pickup truck around that time. I have one witness who said that she went into the laundromat and she mentioned to her older sister, there's a truck out there that I'm not familiar with. And her older sister basically said, well, mind your own business and help me fold clothes. And so she did. And I talked to another witness that said, I spoke to Debbie right when she got ready to leave. And Debbie had a habit of she would collect the unused soap powders and she would take them home to her mom. And she was getting ready to leave and she said, I saw Debbie go out the door and she said, and I was going ready to leave,

and she said, I saw Debbie go out the door, and she said, and I was going to go home with her. And again, my older sister said, you're not going anywhere. You've got to help me fold clothes. And she believes, and I have come to believe, that very possibly Debbie knew her abductor. I think Debbie started across the street.

I think that he probably called out to her. She turned around, walked back, and that's when she was abducted. Cobb County pulled out all the stops. They did everything. People were assigned to the case. The wooded areas and vacant residences near Marietta Place were searched by civil defense workers and police. Dixie Alert, which is a group of ham radio operators, offered to handle any contact with a kidnapper. Concerned Citizens Committee met. They created an effort called Operation Debbie. Offers of assistance flooded

in. Helicopters from Dobbins Air Force Base were used in the search. I mean, it goes on and on and on trying to find Debbie. And then around five o'clock in the afternoon on a Saturday, January 29, her body was found by a group of Southern Tech students, as Detective Nix has just told us. Her body was found about 150 feet north of Powers Ferry Road near Windy Hill, which is in Marietta. There was evidence and there were clues near her body. But as of today, still no resolution. So tell me about this DNA profile, Detective Nix. Yeah, when we got this, we thought our chances were slim and none. And when we looked at it, we knew that Marietta still had the evidence. So we got Marietta to pull the evidence for us, and we sent it to the lab, and we got a profile. And we know from this profile that she was only assaulted by one individual.

Now, she may have been abducted by more than one, but she was assaulted by one. And it just shot a whole new breath of fresh air into this case. Now, I thought when we initially got the profile, I really thought we would get a hit on CODIS, which is the national database. We did not. But we also know that prior to the 90s, there was no CODIS. Nobody was entered into CODIS. So I think this is a very doable case.

It's obviously a long shot. But I do think that we have a chance. And as long as we have a chance, we're going to keep working on it. And actually, I want to talk about just a second about our cold case unit. It was started by Vic Reynolds, talked to me two years ago. And all the cases we work, we work as a unit. We work as a team. So for every little bit I've done, they've done more than I have. And I'm very proud to be associated with this group.

They're just very, very dedicated, hardworking individuals. But we do have a chance in this case, and we're not going to let go of it. And any time we get a case, we work it hard. Now, Nancy, you know there are three things that drive a cold case, time, money, and publicity. Those are the three things that drive a cold case, and you have to have all three. And talking about that shirt for Debbie, I have told people, and I really feel this way, that that was probably Marietta's finest moment. In the midst of all the tragedy and absolute heartbreak, fear, people were scared and people were angry. But at that moment, Cobb County, the city of Marietta, really came together.

And I think we should all be proud of what they tried to do. Detective, are you using familial DNA to find the relatives of the killer? Is that something that you're able to do in Cobb County? We had a federal grant which gave us the money, and we use a lab in Utah. But our grant has since expired, and we're hoping to get it renewed. And if we do, then we can continue our testing. We've got two or three cases, actually, that I think we're very close on. And a couple of them I think we're real close. And you're able to use the kind of DNA that would identify if one of their relatives perhaps had been arrested at some point and submitted DNA.

Yes. We have eliminated the family through DNA testing. Everybody was cooperative. We've eliminated the obvious people. I know it was rumored for years that possibly her stepfather, one of those who've been involved, but they were not. And they've all been cooperative and we've eliminated them through DNA. Detective, I got a question for you. Why has this case, why does this case stick with you? I mean, it's your personal mission to solve this case of Debbie Randall. Why? She deserves justice. And that's really, after all the rhetoric,

that's what it comes down to. This was a very innocent, normal little girl. And it just struck home once I saw her photographs and I talked to her family. Her mom is in very bad health. She's still living. And this is her one prayer, is that she will know, whether they're dead or alive, that she will know who did this. And you can't help but be touched. And whoever did this, you know, how do you describe these

people? You know, we've all heard the adjectives, but really, how do you describe these people? You know, we've all heard the adjectives, but really, how do you describe an individual that does this to a 75-pound little girl? Another issue, Detective Nix, is he did this and got away with it so far. You know he's done it again. There's no way that he didn't do it again. Either raped or killed. And I absolutely agree. And perhaps he left the state. Perhaps he was in the military and at Dobbins Air Base. We don't know.

We could all speculate. But we now have a DNA profile. And we're going to push every suspect that we can push, every person of interest, until we're satisfied one way or the other. And I think that's just what we have to do, and that's what we're going to do. Well, with me today is really a renowned detective in his jurisdiction, Detective Morris Nix. And we were talking about a nine-year-old little girl that was brutally assaulted and murdered. Her body left out in a wooded area.

Her parents, her mom, still looking for answers. This is a cold case. But I pray to God it heats up after today. Again, thank you to Blue Apron, who makes delicious, easy, and affordable meals possible. The ingredients delivered to your door. And when I say affordable, I mean it. And you can have that moment like I do, or I try to anyway, where we sit down at the end of the day around the table, and we thank God for our blessings, and we have a great meal, and we talk about the day. And you know what? I look forward to that moment all day long. It's my

favorite moment of the day when we're all together. And of course, you don't have to have an elaborate meal, but it's just one of those memories. Everybody's sitting down together as a family, and it's hard to do. The children have soccer, they have piano, they have this, I gotta work, a book deadline, Hallmark movie, working all the time. But that moment is the moment that makes it all worth it. It's when we're all together as a family. And I want to thank Blue Apron for making that possible for me and so many others and making it affordable. Go to blueapron.com slash nancygrace for another discount. I really want to thank Detective Morris Nix for being with us from Cobb County Cold Case.

It's a real pleasure and really an honor to talk to a seasoned veteran who has never given up the fight to solve cases, to seek justice, and in this case, solve the case of little Debbie, Debbie Randall. If you have information, please call 770-528-3032. Repeat, 770-528-3032, or go to crimeonline.com, where we have a tip number and an email-in tip address. Please help us. Alan, thank you for being with us as always, with me, as you are every day,

Detective Nick's onward and upward friend. Nancy Grace signing off from Crime Stories. Thank you, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.