In the autumn of 1984, sixteen-year-old Marcella "Marci" Bachmann, a Caucasian female, found herself in Missoula, Montana, after running away from her home in Vancouver, Washington. She was a drifter, using the alias "Robin," and had been taken in by a man named Wayne Nance after being left in the area by a trucker. Nance worked as a bouncer at a local bar, and the two began dating. In September, the couple announced their intention to leave town and start a new life elsewhere.
However, Marcella would never leave Missoula.
On September 28, 1984, Marcella Bachmann disappeared. When acquaintances asked Nance about her whereabouts, he gave varying accounts, claiming she had run off with a trucker or that he had put her on a bus. The truth was far more sinister. On Christmas Eve of that year, a wildlife photographer discovered her body in a shallow grave in the woods of Missoula. The state of decomposition suggested she had been deceased for about three months, placing her time of death around the time she was last seen. An autopsy revealed she had been shot three times in the head. For years, her identity remained unknown, and she was referred to as "Debbie Deer Creek," named after the location where she was found.
The investigation into her death eventually pointed towards Wayne Nance, who was known to local law enforcement. Strong evidence connected him to Marcella's murder, including hair similar to hers found in his home and a photograph of the two of them together. Nance, dubbed the "Missoula Mauler," was a serial killer suspected in several other murders in the area. However, he was never formally charged or convicted for any of these crimes.
Before he could be brought to justice for the murder of Marcella Bachmann and others, Wayne Nance's reign of terror came to a violent end. In September 1986, during a home invasion, one of his intended victims managed to fight back and fatally shoot him. It was only after his death that the full extent of his horrific crimes began to surface, solidifying his role as the primary suspect in Marcella's death. It wasn't until 2006, through the use of DNA profiling, that "Debbie Deer Creek" was officially identified as Marcella Bachmann, finally bringing a name to the young girl who had met such a tragic end.
