30 Years Later, Murder of Nurse Found In Rural Fayetteville, NC Pond Is Still
Shrouded In Mystery
By Maurice Godwin
It was December 1985 in rural Fayetteville, North Carolina when the body of a
young healthy nurse named Debbie Wolfe was suspiciously found in a pond near the
small cabin where she lived with her two dogs, Mason and Morgan. Cumberland
County, population 350,000, is home to Fayetteville and one of the nation’s
largest military bases, Ft. Bragg - home of the 82nd Airborne.
Fayetteville has never been immune to bizarre and sensationalized murder cases.
In 2002 Special Operations solider Maj. David Shannon was shot to death while he
slept in his home near Ft. Bragg. His wife, Joan Shannon and her teenage
daughter were charged and eventually convicted of killing Maj. Shannon. The
couple was involved in the alternative lifestyle of swinging in the Fayetteville
community. Joan Shannon became involved over time with one of their swinging
partners and it is believed that she wanted out of their marriage. The Shannon
murder was featured on NBC Dateline - The
Mystery of the Murdered Major. Another Fayetteville murder that happened in
2002 and received national attention was the murder of Air Force pilot Marty
Theer. Mr. Theer’s wife, Michelle Theer was charged and convicted of
participating in the murder of her husband along with John Diamond whom Michelle
was having an affair. Diamond was a sniper-trained sergeant in the U.S. Army. He
was also convicted of killing Marty Theer. A true crime book on the Theer case
was published in 2006 titled The
Officer’s Wife. The bedroom community of Fayetteville with its transitional
population of military personnel has continually piqued those interested in
crime.
In the winter of 1985 crime in Fayetteville was no different than it is today.
Just as odd. Nine months prior when the body of Debbie Wolfe was discovered in a
pond on the outskirts of Fayetteville a mother and her two children were found
brutally murdered in their home on Summer Hill Road - near the entrance of Ft.
Bragg military base. Commonly referred to as the Eastburn murders the case
received national media attention with the eventual arrest of a solider name
Timothy Hennis, soon after the discovery of the bodies. Over the course of the
next 20 years Mr. Hennis would face three trials.
He was convicted in State court and sentence to death in 1986. The
original death sentence was overturned and in a subsequent trial in 1989 Hennis
was found not guilty. Retired from the Army in 2004 Hennis would face a
court-martial trial in 2010 after DNA linked him to Kathryn Eastburn. Mr. Hennis
continues to claim his innocence. A CBS mini-series titled Innocence Victims
about the murders aired in 1993.
Nested among tall Carolina pine trees about hundred yards from a main road was
the small unassuming cabin that Debbie Wolfe called home. It was a Wednesday
afternoon when, after completing her nursing shift at the Veterans’ Hospital on
Ramsey Street in Fayetteville, Debbie Wolfe presumably was headed home. It is
unclear whether Debbie made it or not but her family became concerned when she
did not show up for work the next morning at 8:00 am. On December 26, 1985
Debbie’s mother, Jenny Edwards phoned the cabin but there was no answer. Debbie
was always punctual Ms. Edwards would later say, so she called a family friend
named Kevin Gorton and both immediately drove over to the rural cabin.
Debbie always kept a tidy home and took good care of her dogs.
Wolfe Cabin (2010). ©Maurice Godwin
When Jenny Edwards and Kevin Gorton arrived at the cabin things just didn’t seem
right - out of place. Beer cans were lying in the yard, the dogs had not been
fed and Debbie’s nursing uniform was lying on the floor, in the kitchen. There
were other personal items scattered on the floor. Something was not right here,
they thought. Looking around the bedroom Kevin Gorton found Debbie’s purse
shoved under her bed. It was not in its usual location.
Deciding what to do next, Debbie’s mother thought to check her daughter’s
answering machine. Maybe there would be a message giving a clue where Debbie
was? What they heard was a stranger’s voice on the tape; the two then really
became concerned. The message had been left earlier that day. The voice was a
man calling from the Veteran’s hospital to see how Debbie was doing. The man’s
message indicted that Debbie had missed many days of work. This struck Jenny
Edwards as odd because she knew this was not true. At the time the message was
left Debbie had not missed days of work only a few hours at best.
Jenny and Kevin expanded their search for Debbie outside the cabin and to a
nearby pond. They did not find Debbie. Becoming even more concerned Jenny called
the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department. Responding to the call was Captain
Jack Watts of the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office. After arriving Capt. Watts
was under the assumption that Jenny and Kevin had already searched the pond, so
no official request was made that day for divers. The search that Mrs. Edwards
and Kevin had done was only cursory one; they were not equipped to search in the
water. Bloodhounds were brought to the cabin but couldn’t find anything.
Not satisfied with the Cumberland County Sheriff’s investigative response Jenny
Edwards decided to hire her own dive team. In the freezing weather, on January
1, 1986; Kevin Gorton and his friend Gordon Childress entered the pond searching
for any sign of Debbie Wolfe. Both men were familiar with rescue work. Childress
looked for any evidence. Soon after the dive started, Childress found two sets
of foot impressions pressed into the thick mud along with what appeared to be
drag marks. Two minutes later after
entering the murky water Gordon Childress came across a body.
Debbie’s body was found about 30 feet from the bank in 5 ½ feet of water.
Recalling later, Childress said “The body was inside what looked like a burn
barrel; that’s a rusty, 55-gallon oil type drum with holes in it” (Unsolved
Mysteries, 1990)
Soon after the discovery of the body the sheriff department was dispatched to
the scene. The body was identified
as Debbie Wolfe.
The autopsy on Ms. Wolfe was performed by Dr. William Oliver on January 2, 1986.
Dr. Oliver worked for the North Carolina Medical Examiner’s Office.
Interestingly the manner of death was reported as underdetermined. The
medical examiner could not determine if the drowning was an accident or
homicide. Often in suspicious deaths investigators look to other factors to help
them conclude if a death was an accident or murder. Clues found both in the
cabin, outside and on Debbie’s body should have suggested to investigators that
they were dealing with a murder.
Findings from the autopsy should have also raised red flags about Debbie’s
death. First she had multiple abrasions on several of her fingers. These could
have been defensive wounds. It is reasonably to conclude that in typical
drowning situations the deceased eyes and mouth would be opened along with their
hands and arms in a clawed position as though they were fighting for their life.
However, Debbie’s eyes and mouth were closed and her body appeared as though she
was in a relaxed state.
Also, in a typical drowning case the deceased would have a white froth or foam
like substance in their airways and/or exuding from their mouth or nostrils
(Davis, 1986). No froth or foam substance was found on or in Ms. Wolfe’s mouth
or airway. The presence of either froth or foam is a vital phenomenon and often
indicates that the victim was alive at the time of submersion (Davis, 1986). Was
Debbie unconscious prior to entering the pond? The autopsy found only a half
teaspoon of water in Wolfe's upper bronchial area.
Investigators for the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office disagreed with the
murder theory. Detectives proposed their own theory (Unsolved Mysteries, 1990):
“Possibly, Mrs. Wolfe was playing with her two dogs and she fell in the pond, or
maybe she was trying to save one of her dogs that walked in the pond and became
frightened and disoriented in the water.”
County detectives proposed that Debbie may have succumbed to immersion syndrome.
Immersion syndrome (also referred to as “immersion foot” or “trench
foot”) is a nonfreezing peripheral cold injury caused by prolonged or repetitive
exposure to damp, cold temperatures (cool or cold water or mud) (Davis, 2005).
The extremity first becomes cold, numb, pale, edematous, and clammy. This is
followed by blistering.
However, autopsy findings did not find any symptoms related to immersion
syndrome plus Debbie’s feet and legs were covered.
Sheriff’s detectives also denied that Debbie’s body had been found in a barrel.
Rather they proposed a theory about the barrel (Unsolved Mysteries, 1990):
“What appeared to be a barrel to some of the divers could have been Debbie’s
jacket which may have ballooned out as she was lying at that angle in the bottom
of the pond.”
However, the two divers, Kevin Gorton and Gordon Childress, refuted the police
theory. There was a barrel Gorton contented (Unsolved Mysteries, 1990):
“You know, metal, rusted, 55-gallon type drum, that the body was in.”
Pond where Debbie Wolfe's body was found (Phone taken Dec. 1985) © Godwin
Mrs. Edwards then remembered that were was indeed a barrel sitting beside of
Debbie’s cabin where she kept firewood. Jenny walked over to the spot where the
barrel would normally be but it was gone. She could see the indentation in the
ground were the barrel’s weight had made.
Police failed to collect the barrel the day they responded to the scene. When
Debbie’s family returned to the cabin the next day the barrel was gone.
Vanished! Police denied that there was ever a barrel. However, Cumberland County
Sherriff’s Deputy, Don Smith, admitted that he saw a barrel.
Debbie’s family at this point just felt that certain things about Debbie’s death
just didn’t add up. Police were firm that this was an accident. Jenny Edwards’
suspicions about her daughter’s death were even more confirmed when two months
later she received from the medical examiner’s office the clothing that Debbie
was wearing.
Mrs. Edwards was then convinced her daughter was murdered.
She examined the clothing that her daughter had on when her body was pulled from
the pond. Something is very odd here, Jenny thought. These are not Debbie’s
clothes.
§
Brown corduroy pants were too big and long and unzipped
§
Bra-cup-size was three sizes too large and around-size it was two sizes too
large – Debbie was found wearing a size 38-C, Debbie wore a 34-B
§
The Nike shoes were three sizes too large and were men’s shoes. She was found
wearing men’s size 6 – Debbie wore a ladies size 7
§
When Debbie was found she had on a new regulation Army field jacket that did not
belong to Debbie or anyone associated with her. The jacket had no nametag and no
way to trace its original owner.
§
When found she was wearing a black t-shirt with Pittsburgh Steelers on the
front. Debbie’s family or her boyfriend could not identify the shirt claiming
they had no idea where it came from.
With many questions unanswered from the autopsy, unusual clothing found on the
victim and odd items found around her cabin Debbie Wolfe’s family felt certain
that foul play was involved.
Clues just kept adding up that pointed to murder but were ignored by county
detectives. A family friend, Franz Shoaf, who had gone to the cabin to feed
Debbie’s dogs found Debbie’s wool stocking cap, in mud at the opposite end of
the pond from the location where she was thought to have entered the water. The
family thought this was odd because there was a thin layer of ice on the pond
and it was unlikely that the cap could have floated to the other side of the
pond.
Mrs. Edwards also found it odd that when the NC State Bureau of Investigation
(SBI) returned the white Nike tennis shoes to her they had no mud on them. She
inquired to the SBI and they insisted that the shoes had not been washed or
clean; they were the same as they were when they were removed from Debbie’s
body. This is a fact which discounts the immersion-syndrome theory.
Debbie’s step-father went to the cabin on December 27, 2005 and he found a
white, short-sleeved nurse’s uniform lying on the kitchen floor. According to a
co-worker of Mrs. Wolfe’s at the VA hospital, this uniform was not the one
Debbie had worn at work a day earlier. The co-worker said that while the two
were having coffee at work on December 26 he accidentally spilled coffee on the
sleeve of her uniform. He later said that he was positive she was wearing a
uniform with long sleeves.
Mrs. Edwards thought long and hard about the events surrounding her daughter’s
death. She remembered the odd message left by the male stranger on Debbie’s
answering machine. The man had lied about the status of Debbie’s work
absenteeism.
Was the man on the machine the killer?
Detectives would later claim that they investigated several patients with mental
problems from the Veterans’ Hospital including the man who left the voice mail
message.
Soon after being interviewed by sheriff detectives the man who left the voice
mail left the State of North Carolina.
There is a saying in the realm of
criminal investigations that goes something like this: A dead body can speak
from the grave. It seems that Debbie Ann
Wolfe is doing just that.
Debbie’s mother the late Mrs.
Jenny Edwards worked tirelessly for over twenty years trying to solve her
daughter’s murder.
Newly discovered information by
Dr. Godwin, from
the case files, suggests that semen was present in the victim – was she raped
? DNA profiling was not available in 1985. A new private
investigation is ongoing by Dr. Maurice Godwin.
The murder remains unsolved.
References
Davis, J. H. (1986). Bodies Found in Water,
Am. J. Forensic Med. Pathology., 7,
291-297.
Davis, J. H. (2005). Drowning, Near Drowning and Immersion Syndrome,
J R Army Med Corps, 151: 250-255.
Fayetteville Observer, (1988, January 1). Drowning is still a mystery
Fayetteville Observer, (1990, October 25). An unsolved mystery
Cosgrove, J. (Producer). (December, 1990), Unsolved Mysteries (Episode #78). Los
Angeles, CA: Cosgrove-Meurer Productions, Inc.
Case files and medical examiner's reports were used as source for this article.
Brief Bio
Dr. Maurice Godwin is a former police officer in the State of North Carolina. He
was one of the first project coordinators for a National Institute of Justice
grant for implementing community policing in a rural area. Dr. Godwin is also
the author of numerous books and journal articles on psychological, serial
murder, and geographical profiling. He has worked as a consultant to police and
others in developing psychological and geographical profiles. He has lectured in
the United States and Europe on serial murder, cyber stalking, and criminal
investigative analysis. Dr. Godwin received his Associate's degree from
Vance-Granville Community College, a Bachelor's degree from Trevecca Nazarene
University, a Master’s Degree from Indiana State University, and his doctorate
in investigative psychology from The University of Liverpool in England. He is a
criminal investigative psychologist who has accurately profiled the Washington,
DC sniper case plus many more serial cases. He has appeared on numerous national
TV shows such as Hardball, Connie Chung, Fox News Live, MSNBC, CNN, and Geraldo
Rivera. His expertise and scientific research in areas of psychology, criminal
behavior, and criminology distinctly sets him apart from the vast number of
forensic, clinical, and psychological consultants who rely on intuitive based
opinions.
COPYRIGHT: (2016-17) All rights reserved. No part of this may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from Dr. Maurice Godwin.