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The 1984 disappearance and murder of Lauren McCarty
Advances in DNA helped detectives prove what their instincts knew all along.
On December 17, 1984, Lauren Marie McCarty, 21, left work at the Texas Municipal Training Center to run an errand at the post office and grab lunch. When the young secretary didn’t return, a coworker called the police.
There was a sense of urgency𑁋earlier that month, on December 10, 1984, Sharon McCully, 25, disappeared after dropping her husband off at work and heading out for Christmas shopping.
No one could ignore two white women vanishing into thin air while running errands within a week of each other.
Police started their investigation by piecing together Lauren’s last known movements.
Police believed she had made it to the post office in Downtown Austin. After that, investigators followed two clues placing her miles away in South Austin.
1) Employees at Westgate bowling lanes saw a woman, alone, that matched Lauren’s description the day she disappeared.
2) Her checkbook was found on Westgate Boulevard, a street lined with mostly single-family homes.
