Paula Burnette Missing Person Case

Jan 01, 2010

Apr 15, 2024

Paula

Burnette

50

21

61 inches

110 lbs

White / Caucasian

Female

In the early morning hours of September 17, 1996, 21-year-old Paula Michelle Burnette was last seen in her hometown of Harrison, Tennessee. At the time of her disappearance, Paula was a mother to a four-year-old son from a previous marriage and a two-year-old daughter with her estranged husband, Donald Ray Burnette. Their marriage was marked by a history of violence, and the day before she went missing, Paula had contacted the police to have Donald removed from their home. Fearing for her safety, she had asked her father to stay with her overnight, worried that Donald would return and cause her harm. The following day, Donald called Paula's father, telling him to pick up the children because Paula needed a "vacation" and was upset about potential warrants for writing bad checks. However, these warrants were not issued until over a month after she had already vanished. When four days passed with no word from Paula, her concerned father reported her missing on September 21, 1996. The investigation into Paula's disappearance began to uncover unsettling clues. In October 1996, her driver's license was discovered by a mailbox on a gravel road in the 9500 block of Harrison Bay Road. This road led to the deserted Savannah Valley Water Treatment Plant. Although search dogs reportedly reacted strongly at the plant, extensive searches of the area yielded no signs of Paula. The following April, in 1997, more of her belongings surfaced when her purse and address book washed up in the backyard of a residence in a nearby community after a period of heavy rain and flooding. These discoveries painted a grim picture of her fate, suggesting that she had met with foul play. Further complicating the case was the criminal activity of her estranged husband, Donald Burnette, in the months following her disappearance. In November 1996, Donald and an accomplice, James Travis White, were involved in a brazen crime where they took a bank manager and her family hostage. They forced the manager to rob her own bank of $187,000. Both men were apprehended in December of that year, and Donald was later sentenced to 39 years in prison for his role in the kidnapping and robbery. Despite the suspicions surrounding him and the disturbing circumstances of Paula's disappearance, her case officially remains unsolved. The sequence of events, from the domestic turmoil preceding her disappearance to the discovery of her personal items and her husband's subsequent violent crimes, strongly indicates that she was a victim of foul play. The case remains open, a long-standing mystery for law enforcement and a source of unending grief for her family who are still seeking answers and closure.

Sep 17, 1996

Harrison

Tennessee

Hamilton County

No

8067

Hamilton County Sheriff's Office

Chattanooga

Tennessee

Hamilton County

37402

600 Market Street G10, Tennessee

4232097000

County

Law Enforcement

http://www.hcsheriff.gov/

96-25306

1996-09-21

Hamilton County Sheriff's Office

Brown

Blue

Blue

No

07/05/2026