Debra Ann Wilhite, a 19-year-old mother of two, disappeared on a rainy October night in 1974 from Evansville, Indiana. At the time, she resided in Gibson County with her husband, Jeffrey Wilhite, and their two young daughters. Debra had recently started a new job as a waitress at the Windmill Restaurant, located near Highways 41 and 57. On the evening of October 14, 1974, she worked her normal shift. Before leaving, she dropped her two daughters off at her mother's house. The last known sighting of Debra was as she was leaving the restaurant in her green 1966 Ford Galaxie. She was last seen wearing a blue knit sweater and bell-bottom blue jeans.
On the night of her disappearance, Debra was seen speaking with a man at the restaurant who had asked for a ride. Accounts differ on whether or not Debra knew the man. This individual was described as being middle-aged with a medium build and dark, medium-length hair. He claimed to have hitchhiked to Evansville on a cattle truck from Indianapolis to collect money and said he was staying at a local motel. Debra left the restaurant around the same time as this unidentified man, but it is unconfirmed if she agreed to give him a ride. Her husband, Jeffrey, had called her at work that night and arranged for her to pick him up from a bar in Evansville after her shift. When she never arrived, he contacted his mother-in-law to let her know he couldn't pick up their children. Debra's green 1966 Ford Galaxie, with the Indiana license plate 26B2953, also vanished and has never been found.
The investigation into Debra's disappearance was complicated from the start. Because she had a history of leaving for a few days at a time, she was not immediately reported as a missing person. Two days after she was last seen, her husband reported her car as stolen, believing she had taken it. Over the years, rumors and theories have circulated, including speculation that her car was driven into a local water-filled pit known as "The Duck Pond," which was later drained with no results. Tragically, Debra's family suffered further losses in the years following her disappearance. Her husband, Jeffrey, was killed in a vehicle accident two years later, and their oldest daughter, Amy Sue, passed away from leukemia in 1979 at the age of seven. Debra's younger daughter, Misty, was raised by her grandmother and has continued to search for answers in her mother's case. The case remains unsolved, a long-standing mystery marked by the absence of both Debra and her vehicle, leaving her surviving family with decades of unanswered questions.
Last Seen: Oct 14, 1974
