Word: austin
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Madalyn, then 76, along with Jon, 40, and Robin, 30, vanished from the house on Greystone Drive, reportedly with breakfast still cooking, and were never seen again. Tax returns filed by groups affiliated with American Atheists suggest that Jon took $629,500 of organization money with him. Although Austin police say they have thus far found no evidence of foul play in the family's disappearance, both O'Hair friends and foes have offered scenarios including kidnapping, murder and flight to New Zealand with the funds. After a decade of infamy and two more in a slide toward obscurity, Madalyn...
That is exactly what she did, even as she slipped from public view. Madalyn Murray O'Hair's organizational and financial heyday occurred in the mid-'80s. Having worn out her welcome with authorities in Maryland, where she filed her original suit, and then Hawaii, she arrived in Austin in 1965 and established the Society of Separationists, later adding Atheist Centre in America and several satellite groups. By the late '80s, there were eight. Each had a five- or six-person board, and each board was dominated by Madalyn, Jon and Robin (she was Bill's daughter...
Weeks passed, and then months. After a year, Robin's 1985 Porsche 944 was found in a parking lot at Austin's Robert Mueller Municipal Airport, apparently abandoned at the time of the disappearance. In May 1996, when Phil Donahue wanted Madalyn to attend his final broadcast, his executive producer hired a private detective to find her, to no avail. But what really fired the imagination of both the local and national press were the observations and surmises of David Travis. Travis, a Vietnam "foxhole atheist" who had lost his God while under enemy attack, had initially regarded the American...
...medical problems, Madalyn seemed healthy. Says Via: "They were in wonderful spirits; Madalyn is a wonderful humorist." The Murray-O'Hairs talked about searching the area for records of Madalyn's ancestors, and about possibly moving American Atheists to Richmond. Via snapped some Polaroids, and the trio returned to Austin. Then, on Aug. 28, says Travis, "I went to work and there was a letter taped to the door and it said, 'We've been called out on an emergency basis, and we'll call you when we get back.' And they haven't gotten back, and they haven...
Perhaps, but Bill Murray, who now runs a conservative, Christian-oriented PAC in Washington, is trying to make it his business. He filed a missing-persons report, and when he became dissatisfied with the Austin police's response, made a short-lived attempt to gain guardianship of his family's estates. Two weeks ago he appealed to Texas Governor George W. Bush to have the Texas Rangers take over the investigation. Murray's letter of request made some remarkable assertions--that someone is still cashing his mother's Social Security and Veterans Administration checks, and that someone is placing charges...