On a cold January evening in 1967, 17-year-old Karen S. Williams and her mother, Lois Williams, vanished from their apartment in Indianapolis, Indiana. They were last seen on January 25, 1967. It wasn't until two weeks later, on February 9, that they were reported missing by Lois's parents who lived out of state and had been unable to reach them. When concerned neighbors entered their apartment in the 7100 block of East 21st Street, they found an unsettling scene.
A lamp had been left on, and one of Karen's schoolbooks was open on a table, suggesting a sudden departure. Eerily, both Karen's and her mother's winter coats were still in the closet, despite the cold weather on the night they disappeared. All of their personal belongings remained in the home.
The investigation into their disappearance soon uncovered disturbing details. Lois’s 1957 Pontiac was found abandoned at a service station on East 10th Street, with mud on its tires. Inside the vehicle were suitcases containing insurance policies and letters. One of those letters, written by Lois to her parents just before she vanished, contained a harrowing account. She wrote that the owner of the gas station where she had taken her car for repairs had raped her. According to the letter, the man, Melvin Chelcie "Ted" Carr, had offered her $10,000 to remain silent and had even offered a larger sum for her hand in marriage. This immediately cast suspicion on Carr, who owned the service station at 21st Street and Shadeland Avenue where Lois was a customer. A witness reported seeing Lois and Carr leave together in his car on the evening she and Karen disappeared, with Carr returning a couple of hours later, alone and appearing angry.
For a decade, the case remained cold, with no sign of Karen or Lois. Then, in April 1977, a shocking discovery brought the case back into focus. Melvin "Ted" Carr was found deceased in his garage from carbon monoxide poisoning. In the trunk of his car were the bodies of three other people: a 17-year-old girl, a 24-year-old woman with whom Carr was having an affair, and her young son. Investigators determined that Carr had kidnapped and assaulted the two females before killing them with exhaust fumes, accidentally succumbing to the same fumes himself. This event solidified the belief that Carr was a serial predator and the prime suspect in the Williams' disappearances. Authorities excavated his property in search of the mother and daughter's remains but were unsuccessful. Despite the strong circumstantial evidence linking Carr, who had a long history of sex crimes, to their vanishing, the bodies of Karen and Lois Williams have never been found, and their case remains an unsolved mystery with foul play strongly suspected.Last Seen: Jan 25, 1967
