Cheryl Louise Murray, a 43-year-old Caucasian woman, was last seen in Peoria, Illinois, on April 1, 1994. Standing between 5'1" and 5'2" and weighing approximately 100 to 115 pounds, she had blonde hair and blue eyes. Notably, her right middle finger was amputated at the first knuckle. Murray may have used the alias Cheryl Louise Smith.
Murray was one of several women who disappeared from the Peoria area during the mid-1990s under suspicious circumstances. Other missing women included Stephanie Gibson, Loretta Tinkham, and Stacey Morrison. Another woman, Sheryl Murwin, vanished in 1994; her skull was discovered in 2001 and identified in 2003.
Authorities suspected that these disappearances were connected to Arlie Ray Davis, a former Peoria resident. Davis was convicted of the 1995 murder of Laurie Gwinn and was sentenced to death. Prostitutes in the Peoria area reported that Davis had a history of strangling and beating them in the early 1990s. Investigators noted that he suffered from sexual dysfunction and harbored feelings of inferiority toward women.
Despite suspicions, Davis consistently maintained his innocence regarding the disappearances of Murray and the other women. He died of natural causes on October 13, 2002, while on death row, five days before a scheduled hearing to determine if he should remain on death row. To date, the cases of Murray and the other missing women remain unsolved, and their families continue to seek answers.
