If I were to tell someone from Wood County Texas to close their eyes and try to imagine what the tiny town of Hawkins, which sits at the intersections of Highway 80 and Farm Road 14 in the south east corner of the county, looked like in 1986 they would not have to use their imagination. Moving with a slow east Texas rhythm the town has not changed with time, but rather has found itself suspected within it.

The town sits as an Americana time capsule, arrested to the last time that they knew the innocence, hope, and freedom they once prided themselves on for within hearts of the residence sits a wound that has never healed. Time is only measured in two ways in Hawkins, TX before what happened to them in 1986 and after…or as they refer to it…before and after, “The kids”.

For this case I am bringing you into a town named Hawkins, in 1986, and to be honest the vibes of the town seem strikingly similar to another Hawkins you are all well acquitted with, time period and all…and there is one more similarity…high school students going missing. But in our case the disappearances are real and the effects of what happened to the children of Hawkins in 1986 have reverberated through the quiet roads ever since. So let’s step back in time…

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Sources:

https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/166/757/630178/

https://texasstandard.org/stories/upshur-county-courthouse-gilmer-tx-jerry-mcfadden-jail-cell/

https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F3/166/166.F3d.757.98-50485.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Walter_McFadden

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6653351/gena_lee-turner#view-photo=141666582

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6653379/suzanne_denise-harrison

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6653334/bryan_drew-boone/flower

https://www.newspapers.com/image/639801109/?match=1&terms=jerry%20mcfadden

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1314219208/?match=1&terms=jerry%20mcfadden

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1205660661/?match=1&terms=suzanne%20harrison

https://barnwellmountainra.com/

https://www.txexecutions.org/reports/191-Jerry-McFadden.htm

https://www.newspapers.com/image/649944728/?match=1&terms=gerald%20mcfadden

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1158959852/?match=1&terms=Anna%20Marie%20Hlavka

After a late night church service Dawnia Dacosta began the familiar half and hour ride home. She had done the drive so many times she could have done it with her eyes closed. But as she cruised down I95 she felt her car sputter then slow. She had run out of gas.

As she eased onto the shoulder, she may have thought of her mother and the lessons drilled in long before moments like this ever came. Be prepared. Stay alert. Know what to do. So Dawnia followed those rules. Windows up. Doors locked. Hazards flashing. From where she stood, she could see the glow of a Texaco sign just off the exit ramp, not far at all. As she clutched an empty gas can, she stepped into the night, convinced it would be a quick walk… she’d make it.

Sources:
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/fl-supreme-court/1720973.html
https://flcourts-media.flcourts.gov/content/download/347254/file/02-1590_AmdInit.pdf
https://library.law.fsu.edu/Digital-Collections/flsupct/dockets/sc02-1590/02-1590amdinit.pdf
https://www.iexitapp.com/exits/Florida/I-95/North/686
https://www.newspapers.com/image/229834760/?terms=dawnia%20dacosta&match=1
https://abc3340.com/news/nation-world/lucious-boyd-cold-case-jane-doe-eileen-truppner-dawnia-dacosta-murder-rape-resolved-indictment-convicted-murderer-rapist-death-row-broward-county-sheriff-detectives-florida-december-5-2023
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/1998/12/13/hundreds-celebrate-life-of-slain-nursing-student/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/638261922/?match=1&terms=Roderick%20Bullard
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/05/us/florida-murder-rape-cold-case-dna/index.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20090830185850/http://www.fadp.org/news/Sun-Sentinel-20040115.htm
https://cbs12.com/news/local/lucious-boyd-cold-case-jane-doe-eileen-truppner-dawnia-dacosta-murder-rape-resolved-indictment-convicted-murderer-rapist-death-row-broward-county-sheriff-detectives-florida-december-5-2023
https://www.newspapers.com/image/238640528/?match=1&terms=melissa%20floyd
https://pubapps.fdc.myflorida.com/OffenderSearch/detail.aspx?Page=Detail&DCNumber=699893&TypeSearch=AI
newspapers.com/article/the-palm-beach-post-gina-marie-moore/9867526/

The stillness of a warm September morning in the South was broken by something that didn’t belong: a bright red Jeep, abandoned and half-submerged in the murky edge of a quiet creek. Not far from it, drifting in the same dark water, was a young mother of two. What should have been a peaceful start to the day instead became the beginning of a mystery as clouded as the water itself.

For the detectives called to the scene, nothing about this case came easily. The deeper they looked, the more the details seemed to twist. Unanswered questions, unsettling circumstances, and relationships that were far more complicated than they first appeared. But as the truth slowly surfaced, it revealed something far more disturbing than anyone had been prepared to face.

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Sources:
https://www.newspapers.com/image/244437525/?match=1&terms=18%20years%20later%3A%20What%20to%20know%20about%20Lee%20Ann%20Mangrum%27s%20killing
https://www.newspapers.com/image/276089133/?match=1&terms=%20Lee%20Ann%20Mangrum
https://www.tncourts.gov/press/2013/03/27/supreme-court-affirms-convictions-upon-finding-no-prosecutorial-misconduct
https://law.justia.com/cases/tennessee/court-of-criminal-appeals/2011/m2009-01810-cca-r3-cd.html
Snapped Season 24, Episode 25