A 24 year old woman is discovered wrapped in a sheet in a car trunk On June 25, 1985, the body of Catherine "Catrina" Mowrey, age 24, was discovered in Dallas, Texas. Her remains were found in the trunk of a car parked near the Casa III apartments, following a call from an employee who noticed a suspicious odor coming from the vehicle. When authorities arrived, they found her body wrapped in a stained bedsheet. Initially, the police believed her death might have been due to a drug overdose, but the medical examiner found no drugs in her system, and her cause of death was ruled as "undetermined" after an autopsy. This led to confusion in the early stages of the investigation, as police wavered between classifying it as a suicide, an overdose, or something more sinister.
Catrina's death remains one of Dallas's unsolved cold cases. At first, police theorized that her body had been placed in the trunk by someone who panicked, though they did identify a person of interest at the time.
Unfortunately, the investigation seemed to stall, with no arrests made, and some inconsistencies were never addressed. Her family, particularly her sister Deborah and niece Catrina, have continually pressed for answers over the years, but the case has yet to be resolved. Deborah tragically took her own life in 2020 after years of dealing with the trauma of her sister's death and the subsequent lack of progress in the investigation.
Catrina Mowrey's family has faced numerous challenges in their pursuit of justice, including poor record-keeping by the police that left investigators struggling to even locate her case file at times. Despite the setbacks, her niece continues to advocate for her, seeking renewed attention to the case, and has started a petition to urge Dallas authorities to reopen the investigation. The family's determination underscores their hope that justice may still be served for Catrina, who lost her life under such tragic and mysterious circumstances. The case is still open, and anyone with information is urged to contact the Dallas Police Department's Cold Case Division.
Sources indicate that her family remains hopeful for a breakthrough and continues to seek community support for the investigation, hoping that renewed attention might yield the answers they have sought for nearly four decades.
