Alisa M Atwell in the California Birth Index, 1905-1995
Name: Alisa M Atwell
Birth Date: 8 Jan 1967
Gender: Female
Mother's Maiden Name: Earhart
Birth County: Los Angeles
____________________________
Kentucky, Marriage Index, 1973-1999
Name: Lisa M Atwell
Gender: Female
Race: White
Age: 17
Estimated birth year: 1967
Marriage Date: 6 Oct 1984
Residence County: Trigg
Residence County after Married: Trigg
State: Kentucky
Spouse: Bobby R Wallace
Spouse Age: 24
Spouse Race: White
Spouse Residence County: Trigg
Spouse Marital Status: Never married
Volume Number: 063
Certificate Number: 31269
Marriage License County: Trigg
Volume Year: 1984
_____________________________________________
Lisa Wallace in the Indiana, U.S., Death Certificates, 1899-2011
Name: Lisa Wallace
[Lisa Atwell]
Gender: Female
Race: Caucasian (White)
Age: 25
Marital status: Divorced
Birth Date: 8 Jan 1967
Birth Place: Los Angles, Calif
Death Date: 18 May 1992
Death Place: Near Cambridge, Wayne, Indiana, USA
Father: John Atwell
Mother: Dorothy Atwell
_____________________________________________
LISA M. WALLACE 05/19/1992
Unsolved Cold Case Homicide
Case Number 41-12565
Age: 25 Lisa M. Wallace_1Lisa M. Wallace_2
Sex: Female
Race: Caucasian
Case Date: 05/19/1992
County: Wayne
Location of Offense: Stop One Truck Stop, SR 1 & I 70
Circumstances: On 05/19/1992 a deceased female body was located at the rear of the Stop One Truck located at SR 1 & I 70. The investigation identified the victim as Lisa M. Wallace of Cadiz, Kentucky. It was also learned that Lisa had been temporarily residing at a motel on east Washington Street in Indianapolis and that she was frequenting truck stops along I 70 east of Indianapolis.
Anyone with information concerning this case, please contact:
Indiana State Police
District Investigative Commander
9022 South SR 67
Pendleton, IN 46064
1-765-778-2121 or 1-800-527-4752
_______________________________________________
The Cadiz Record front page story posted 10 Jun 1992 reads as follows:
BODY OF TRIGG CO. WOMAN IS FOUND ON INDIANA'S I-70
----
A Trigg County woman is dead, a victim of an apparent homicide, according to Indiana State Police.
Lisa Marie Atwell, 25, of Cadiz, was found by a truck driver behind the Stop-One Truck Stop at State Road 1 and Interstate 70 north of Cambridge City, Ind. She was found dead at 12:20 pm on May 19.
An autopsy preformed by Wayne County Coroner Paul Patterson established the cause of death as manual strangulation. It was also determined that she had been dead for approximately 12-36 hours.
Foul play is expected, but no suspects have been identified, said 1st Sgt. Robert Burkhead of the Indiana State Police at Connorsville. Her death is still under investigation by Indiana State Police.
Atwell, who was also known by the last name Wallace, was identified through fingerprints taken by the Indiana State Police and through identification by her family.
Atwell's complete obituary appears on page A-5.
______________________________________________
Cadiz Record Obit posted 10 Jun 1992 reads as follows:
Graveside services for Lisa Marie Atwell, 25, Cadiz, were held Tuesday, June 9, 1992, at 3 pm at Trigg Memory Acres, with Carolss Bush officiating. Goodwin Funeral Home was in charge of the arrangements.
Ms. Atwell's body was found May 19, 1992, in Cambridge City, Ind. Indiana State Police are still investigating her death.
A native of Los Angeles, Cal., she was born January 8, 1967. She was the daughter of Dorothy Earhart and the late John Atwell. She was a member of the Pentecostal faith.
Survivors include one daughter, Stephanie Wallace, Trigg County; her mother, Dorothy Earhart, Trigg County; four brothers, John Atwell, Ricky Atwell, James Atwell, and Russell Sperry all of Trigg County; four sisters, Sandra Annette Thomas, Deborah Morris and Danielle Earhart, all of Trigg County and Tonia Atwell of Toledo, Ohio.
_______________________________________________
PENNYRILE
Monday-Tuesday, Feb. 6-7, 2012 | Editor: Eli Pace | 270-887-3235 | [email protected]
Cadiz woman finds comfort after losing son, sister
BY JO ANN KNOUT
FOR THE NEW ERA
CADIZ, Ky — A tire blew out at Woodruff Bridge and a teenage father drowned in four feet of water.
"How could he drown in four feet of water? He was 6 feet, 2 (and one half) inches tall," said his mother, Debbie Morris, a former school bus driver for TriggCounty schools.
Her son, Charles Shawn Morris, 17, died Nov. 5, 1992, when his car went over the embankment and he was knocked out. It was late at night on a lonely road and no one found him until the next day.
School officials took Debbie aside after she completed her bus route and told her. She refused to believe it. "Charles had just left my house the night before to go home," she recalls. "He ran into a nephew who wanted a ride home and they fooled around a little while so it was late when he headed home by himself." His wife, Dana, also 17, and daughter, Amber, 6 months, were waiting at home.
Six months later, Debbie's sister, Lisa Atwell Wallace, 25, was found murdered in Indiana. "Lisa had gone to Indiana to visit a boyfriend," Debbie recalls. "She had promised to call mom every night while she was gone. She had never missed calling mom on her birthday. When she didn't call mom on her birthday and didn't call and didn't call … we knew something was wrong."
Debbie and the family started calling hospitals in Indianapolis, then morgues. One morgue representative
said an unidentified body had been found on Interstate 75 in Connersville at a truck stop. "A detective came here with photos," Debbie said. "He asked about marks or tattoos. Lisa had a tattoo no one else knew about but me. She had a boy's name covered with flowers. It was at the side of her tummy." The tattoo helped identify Lisa and soon all the brothers and sisters we loaded up and headed to Indiana to bring Lisa home. They visited the place she died, then to the mortuary and then the cemetery where Lisa was already buried as Jane Doe.
Lisa's daughter, Stephanie Hall, didn't understand. "It is and has been hard growing up without a mother," Hall said. "No one knows how it is until you experience it. I have accepted now that my mom is in a better place. But what is the hardest is that they have never caught who did it."
People grieve and people recover in different ways. In the time after Charles' death, and with the Lisa's death fresh in her mind, Debbie, along with family and friends, could be found passing out petitions door to door and soliciting for news coverage from all local papers about the need for guardrails at Woodruff Bridge on route 274.
As they worked to build rails for the bridge another teenager was killed — around the same time Lisa was
murdered. The rails were finally installed about five years later, Debbie said. Building the rails to save other lives has brought some closure to the loss of Charles for Debbie and her husband, whose name is also Charles.
"Not a day goes by he doesn't cross my mind," Debbie admits. "As far as going on, it was Amber, his daughter, that got me through. She was just like him. Her smile and his big brown eyes. I can still see him in
her."
Debbie said Amber, who is now 19, graduated from high school recently and now has her own baby girl, Alani Mays. "Amber has so much of his ways," Debbie added. "His quick temper and as loving and caring as he was, especially with Alani. I could just see him holding (Alani) and smile."
JO ANN KNOUT is a freelance writer from Cadiz. She will be writing a series on those who have suffered and have persevered. Reach her editor at 270-887-3235 or [email protected].
Name: Alisa M Atwell
Birth Date: 8 Jan 1967
Gender: Female
Mother's Maiden Name: Earhart
Birth County: Los Angeles
____________________________
Kentucky, Marriage Index, 1973-1999
Name: Lisa M Atwell
Gender: Female
Race: White
Age: 17
Estimated birth year: 1967
Marriage Date: 6 Oct 1984
Residence County: Trigg
Residence County after Married: Trigg
State: Kentucky
Spouse: Bobby R Wallace
Spouse Age: 24
Spouse Race: White
Spouse Residence County: Trigg
Spouse Marital Status: Never married
Volume Number: 063
Certificate Number: 31269
Marriage License County: Trigg
Volume Year: 1984
_____________________________________________
Lisa Wallace in the Indiana, U.S., Death Certificates, 1899-2011
Name: Lisa Wallace
[Lisa Atwell]
Gender: Female
Race: Caucasian (White)
Age: 25
Marital status: Divorced
Birth Date: 8 Jan 1967
Birth Place: Los Angles, Calif
Death Date: 18 May 1992
Death Place: Near Cambridge, Wayne, Indiana, USA
Father: John Atwell
Mother: Dorothy Atwell
_____________________________________________
LISA M. WALLACE 05/19/1992
Unsolved Cold Case Homicide
Case Number 41-12565
Age: 25 Lisa M. Wallace_1Lisa M. Wallace_2
Sex: Female
Race: Caucasian
Case Date: 05/19/1992
County: Wayne
Location of Offense: Stop One Truck Stop, SR 1 & I 70
Circumstances: On 05/19/1992 a deceased female body was located at the rear of the Stop One Truck located at SR 1 & I 70. The investigation identified the victim as Lisa M. Wallace of Cadiz, Kentucky. It was also learned that Lisa had been temporarily residing at a motel on east Washington Street in Indianapolis and that she was frequenting truck stops along I 70 east of Indianapolis.
Anyone with information concerning this case, please contact:
Indiana State Police
District Investigative Commander
9022 South SR 67
Pendleton, IN 46064
1-765-778-2121 or 1-800-527-4752
_______________________________________________
The Cadiz Record front page story posted 10 Jun 1992 reads as follows:
BODY OF TRIGG CO. WOMAN IS FOUND ON INDIANA'S I-70
----
A Trigg County woman is dead, a victim of an apparent homicide, according to Indiana State Police.
Lisa Marie Atwell, 25, of Cadiz, was found by a truck driver behind the Stop-One Truck Stop at State Road 1 and Interstate 70 north of Cambridge City, Ind. She was found dead at 12:20 pm on May 19.
An autopsy preformed by Wayne County Coroner Paul Patterson established the cause of death as manual strangulation. It was also determined that she had been dead for approximately 12-36 hours.
Foul play is expected, but no suspects have been identified, said 1st Sgt. Robert Burkhead of the Indiana State Police at Connorsville. Her death is still under investigation by Indiana State Police.
Atwell, who was also known by the last name Wallace, was identified through fingerprints taken by the Indiana State Police and through identification by her family.
Atwell's complete obituary appears on page A-5.
______________________________________________
Cadiz Record Obit posted 10 Jun 1992 reads as follows:
Graveside services for Lisa Marie Atwell, 25, Cadiz, were held Tuesday, June 9, 1992, at 3 pm at Trigg Memory Acres, with Carolss Bush officiating. Goodwin Funeral Home was in charge of the arrangements.
Ms. Atwell's body was found May 19, 1992, in Cambridge City, Ind. Indiana State Police are still investigating her death.
A native of Los Angeles, Cal., she was born January 8, 1967. She was the daughter of Dorothy Earhart and the late John Atwell. She was a member of the Pentecostal faith.
Survivors include one daughter, Stephanie Wallace, Trigg County; her mother, Dorothy Earhart, Trigg County; four brothers, John Atwell, Ricky Atwell, James Atwell, and Russell Sperry all of Trigg County; four sisters, Sandra Annette Thomas, Deborah Morris and Danielle Earhart, all of Trigg County and Tonia Atwell of Toledo, Ohio.
_______________________________________________
PENNYRILE
Monday-Tuesday, Feb. 6-7, 2012 | Editor: Eli Pace | 270-887-3235 | [email protected]
Cadiz woman finds comfort after losing son, sister
BY JO ANN KNOUT
FOR THE NEW ERA
CADIZ, Ky — A tire blew out at Woodruff Bridge and a teenage father drowned in four feet of water.
"How could he drown in four feet of water? He was 6 feet, 2 (and one half) inches tall," said his mother, Debbie Morris, a former school bus driver for TriggCounty schools.
Her son, Charles Shawn Morris, 17, died Nov. 5, 1992, when his car went over the embankment and he was knocked out. It was late at night on a lonely road and no one found him until the next day.
School officials took Debbie aside after she completed her bus route and told her. She refused to believe it. "Charles had just left my house the night before to go home," she recalls. "He ran into a nephew who wanted a ride home and they fooled around a little while so it was late when he headed home by himself." His wife, Dana, also 17, and daughter, Amber, 6 months, were waiting at home.
Six months later, Debbie's sister, Lisa Atwell Wallace, 25, was found murdered in Indiana. "Lisa had gone to Indiana to visit a boyfriend," Debbie recalls. "She had promised to call mom every night while she was gone. She had never missed calling mom on her birthday. When she didn't call mom on her birthday and didn't call and didn't call … we knew something was wrong."
Debbie and the family started calling hospitals in Indianapolis, then morgues. One morgue representative
said an unidentified body had been found on Interstate 75 in Connersville at a truck stop. "A detective came here with photos," Debbie said. "He asked about marks or tattoos. Lisa had a tattoo no one else knew about but me. She had a boy's name covered with flowers. It was at the side of her tummy." The tattoo helped identify Lisa and soon all the brothers and sisters we loaded up and headed to Indiana to bring Lisa home. They visited the place she died, then to the mortuary and then the cemetery where Lisa was already buried as Jane Doe.
Lisa's daughter, Stephanie Hall, didn't understand. "It is and has been hard growing up without a mother," Hall said. "No one knows how it is until you experience it. I have accepted now that my mom is in a better place. But what is the hardest is that they have never caught who did it."
People grieve and people recover in different ways. In the time after Charles' death, and with the Lisa's death fresh in her mind, Debbie, along with family and friends, could be found passing out petitions door to door and soliciting for news coverage from all local papers about the need for guardrails at Woodruff Bridge on route 274.
As they worked to build rails for the bridge another teenager was killed — around the same time Lisa was
murdered. The rails were finally installed about five years later, Debbie said. Building the rails to save other lives has brought some closure to the loss of Charles for Debbie and her husband, whose name is also Charles.
"Not a day goes by he doesn't cross my mind," Debbie admits. "As far as going on, it was Amber, his daughter, that got me through. She was just like him. Her smile and his big brown eyes. I can still see him in
her."
Debbie said Amber, who is now 19, graduated from high school recently and now has her own baby girl, Alani Mays. "Amber has so much of his ways," Debbie added. "His quick temper and as loving and caring as he was, especially with Alani. I could just see him holding (Alani) and smile."
JO ANN KNOUT is a freelance writer from Cadiz. She will be writing a series on those who have suffered and have persevered. Reach her editor at 270-887-3235 or [email protected].
Alisa M Atwell in the California Birth Index, 1905-1995
Name: Alisa M Atwell
Birth Date: 8 Jan 1967
Gender: Female
Mother's Maiden Name: Earhart
Birth County: Los Angeles
____________________________
Kentucky, Marriage Index, 1973-1999
Name: Lisa M Atwell
Gender: Female
Race: White
Age: 17
Estimated birth year: 1967
Marriage Date: 6 Oct 1984
Residence County: Trigg
Residence County after Married: Trigg
State: Kentucky
Spouse: Bobby R Wallace
Spouse Age: 24
Spouse Race: White
Spouse Residence County: Trigg
Spouse Marital Status: Never married
Volume Number: 063
Certificate Number: 31269
Marriage License County: Trigg
Volume Year: 1984
_____________________________________________
Lisa Wallace in the Indiana, U.S., Death Certificates, 1899-2011
Name: Lisa Wallace
[Lisa Atwell]
Gender: Female
Race: Caucasian (White)
Age: 25
Marital status: Divorced
Birth Date: 8 Jan 1967
Birth Place: Los Angles, Calif
Death Date: 18 May 1992
Death Place: Near Cambridge, Wayne, Indiana, USA
Father: John Atwell
Mother: Dorothy Atwell
_____________________________________________
LISA M. WALLACE 05/19/1992
Unsolved Cold Case Homicide
Case Number 41-12565
Age: 25 Lisa M. Wallace_1Lisa M. Wallace_2
Sex: Female
Race: Caucasian
Case Date: 05/19/1992
County: Wayne
Location of Offense: Stop One Truck Stop, SR 1 & I 70
Circumstances: On 05/19/1992 a deceased female body was located at the rear of the Stop One Truck located at SR 1 & I 70. The investigation identified the victim as Lisa M. Wallace of Cadiz, Kentucky. It was also learned that Lisa had been temporarily residing at a motel on east Washington Street in Indianapolis and that she was frequenting truck stops along I 70 east of Indianapolis.
Anyone with information concerning this case, please contact:
Indiana State Police
District Investigative Commander
9022 South SR 67
Pendleton, IN 46064
1-765-778-2121 or 1-800-527-4752
_______________________________________________
The Cadiz Record front page story posted 10 Jun 1992 reads as follows:
BODY OF TRIGG CO. WOMAN IS FOUND ON INDIANA'S I-70
----
A Trigg County woman is dead, a victim of an apparent homicide, according to Indiana State Police.
Lisa Marie Atwell, 25, of Cadiz, was found by a truck driver behind the Stop-One Truck Stop at State Road 1 and Interstate 70 north of Cambridge City, Ind. She was found dead at 12:20 pm on May 19.
An autopsy preformed by Wayne County Coroner Paul Patterson established the cause of death as manual strangulation. It was also determined that she had been dead for approximately 12-36 hours.
Foul play is expected, but no suspects have been identified, said 1st Sgt. Robert Burkhead of the Indiana State Police at Connorsville. Her death is still under investigation by Indiana State Police.
Atwell, who was also known by the last name Wallace, was identified through fingerprints taken by the Indiana State Police and through identification by her family.
Atwell's complete obituary appears on page A-5.
______________________________________________
Cadiz Record Obit posted 10 Jun 1992 reads as follows:
Graveside services for Lisa Marie Atwell, 25, Cadiz, were held Tuesday, June 9, 1992, at 3 pm at Trigg Memory Acres, with Carolss Bush officiating. Goodwin Funeral Home was in charge of the arrangements.
Ms. Atwell's body was found May 19, 1992, in Cambridge City, Ind. Indiana State Police are still investigating her death.
A native of Los Angeles, Cal., she was born January 8, 1967. She was the daughter of Dorothy Earhart and the late John Atwell. She was a member of the Pentecostal faith.
Survivors include one daughter, Stephanie Wallace, Trigg County; her mother, Dorothy Earhart, Trigg County; four brothers, John Atwell, Ricky Atwell, James Atwell, and Russell Sperry all of Trigg County; four sisters, Sandra Annette Thomas, Deborah Morris and Danielle Earhart, all of Trigg County and Tonia Atwell of Toledo, Ohio.
_______________________________________________
PENNYRILE
Monday-Tuesday, Feb. 6-7, 2012 | Editor: Eli Pace | 270-887-3235 | [email protected]
Cadiz woman finds comfort after losing son, sister
BY JO ANN KNOUT
FOR THE NEW ERA
CADIZ, Ky — A tire blew out at Woodruff Bridge and a teenage father drowned in four feet of water.
"How could he drown in four feet of water? He was 6 feet, 2 (and one half) inches tall," said his mother, Debbie Morris, a former school bus driver for TriggCounty schools.
Her son, Charles Shawn Morris, 17, died Nov. 5, 1992, when his car went over the embankment and he was knocked out. It was late at night on a lonely road and no one found him until the next day.
School officials took Debbie aside after she completed her bus route and told her. She refused to believe it. "Charles had just left my house the night before to go home," she recalls. "He ran into a nephew who wanted a ride home and they fooled around a little while so it was late when he headed home by himself." His wife, Dana, also 17, and daughter, Amber, 6 months, were waiting at home.
Six months later, Debbie's sister, Lisa Atwell Wallace, 25, was found murdered in Indiana. "Lisa had gone to Indiana to visit a boyfriend," Debbie recalls. "She had promised to call mom every night while she was gone. She had never missed calling mom on her birthday. When she didn't call mom on her birthday and didn't call and didn't call … we knew something was wrong."
Debbie and the family started calling hospitals in Indianapolis, then morgues. One morgue representative
said an unidentified body had been found on Interstate 75 in Connersville at a truck stop. "A detective came here with photos," Debbie said. "He asked about marks or tattoos. Lisa had a tattoo no one else knew about but me. She had a boy's name covered with flowers. It was at the side of her tummy." The tattoo helped identify Lisa and soon all the brothers and sisters we loaded up and headed to Indiana to bring Lisa home. They visited the place she died, then to the mortuary and then the cemetery where Lisa was already buried as Jane Doe.
Lisa's daughter, Stephanie Hall, didn't understand. "It is and has been hard growing up without a mother," Hall said. "No one knows how it is until you experience it. I have accepted now that my mom is in a better place. But what is the hardest is that they have never caught who did it."
People grieve and people recover in different ways. In the time after Charles' death, and with the Lisa's death fresh in her mind, Debbie, along with family and friends, could be found passing out petitions door to door and soliciting for news coverage from all local papers about the need for guardrails at Woodruff Bridge on route 274.
As they worked to build rails for the bridge another teenager was killed — around the same time Lisa was
murdered. The rails were finally installed about five years later, Debbie said. Building the rails to save other lives has brought some closure to the loss of Charles for Debbie and her husband, whose name is also Charles.
"Not a day goes by he doesn't cross my mind," Debbie admits. "As far as going on, it was Amber, his daughter, that got me through. She was just like him. Her smile and his big brown eyes. I can still see him in
her."
Debbie said Amber, who is now 19, graduated from high school recently and now has her own baby girl, Alani Mays. "Amber has so much of his ways," Debbie added. "His quick temper and as loving and caring as he was, especially with Alani. I could just see him holding (Alani) and smile."
JO ANN KNOUT is a freelance writer from Cadiz. She will be writing a series on those who have suffered and have persevered. Reach her editor at 270-887-3235 or [email protected].
Name: Alisa M Atwell
Birth Date: 8 Jan 1967
Gender: Female
Mother's Maiden Name: Earhart
Birth County: Los Angeles
____________________________
Kentucky, Marriage Index, 1973-1999
Name: Lisa M Atwell
Gender: Female
Race: White
Age: 17
Estimated birth year: 1967
Marriage Date: 6 Oct 1984
Residence County: Trigg
Residence County after Married: Trigg
State: Kentucky
Spouse: Bobby R Wallace
Spouse Age: 24
Spouse Race: White
Spouse Residence County: Trigg
Spouse Marital Status: Never married
Volume Number: 063
Certificate Number: 31269
Marriage License County: Trigg
Volume Year: 1984
_____________________________________________
Lisa Wallace in the Indiana, U.S., Death Certificates, 1899-2011
Name: Lisa Wallace
[Lisa Atwell]
Gender: Female
Race: Caucasian (White)
Age: 25
Marital status: Divorced
Birth Date: 8 Jan 1967
Birth Place: Los Angles, Calif
Death Date: 18 May 1992
Death Place: Near Cambridge, Wayne, Indiana, USA
Father: John Atwell
Mother: Dorothy Atwell
_____________________________________________
LISA M. WALLACE 05/19/1992
Unsolved Cold Case Homicide
Case Number 41-12565
Age: 25 Lisa M. Wallace_1Lisa M. Wallace_2
Sex: Female
Race: Caucasian
Case Date: 05/19/1992
County: Wayne
Location of Offense: Stop One Truck Stop, SR 1 & I 70
Circumstances: On 05/19/1992 a deceased female body was located at the rear of the Stop One Truck located at SR 1 & I 70. The investigation identified the victim as Lisa M. Wallace of Cadiz, Kentucky. It was also learned that Lisa had been temporarily residing at a motel on east Washington Street in Indianapolis and that she was frequenting truck stops along I 70 east of Indianapolis.
Anyone with information concerning this case, please contact:
Indiana State Police
District Investigative Commander
9022 South SR 67
Pendleton, IN 46064
1-765-778-2121 or 1-800-527-4752
_______________________________________________
The Cadiz Record front page story posted 10 Jun 1992 reads as follows:
BODY OF TRIGG CO. WOMAN IS FOUND ON INDIANA'S I-70
----
A Trigg County woman is dead, a victim of an apparent homicide, according to Indiana State Police.
Lisa Marie Atwell, 25, of Cadiz, was found by a truck driver behind the Stop-One Truck Stop at State Road 1 and Interstate 70 north of Cambridge City, Ind. She was found dead at 12:20 pm on May 19.
An autopsy preformed by Wayne County Coroner Paul Patterson established the cause of death as manual strangulation. It was also determined that she had been dead for approximately 12-36 hours.
Foul play is expected, but no suspects have been identified, said 1st Sgt. Robert Burkhead of the Indiana State Police at Connorsville. Her death is still under investigation by Indiana State Police.
Atwell, who was also known by the last name Wallace, was identified through fingerprints taken by the Indiana State Police and through identification by her family.
Atwell's complete obituary appears on page A-5.
______________________________________________
Cadiz Record Obit posted 10 Jun 1992 reads as follows:
Graveside services for Lisa Marie Atwell, 25, Cadiz, were held Tuesday, June 9, 1992, at 3 pm at Trigg Memory Acres, with Carolss Bush officiating. Goodwin Funeral Home was in charge of the arrangements.
Ms. Atwell's body was found May 19, 1992, in Cambridge City, Ind. Indiana State Police are still investigating her death.
A native of Los Angeles, Cal., she was born January 8, 1967. She was the daughter of Dorothy Earhart and the late John Atwell. She was a member of the Pentecostal faith.
Survivors include one daughter, Stephanie Wallace, Trigg County; her mother, Dorothy Earhart, Trigg County; four brothers, John Atwell, Ricky Atwell, James Atwell, and Russell Sperry all of Trigg County; four sisters, Sandra Annette Thomas, Deborah Morris and Danielle Earhart, all of Trigg County and Tonia Atwell of Toledo, Ohio.
_______________________________________________
PENNYRILE
Monday-Tuesday, Feb. 6-7, 2012 | Editor: Eli Pace | 270-887-3235 | [email protected]
Cadiz woman finds comfort after losing son, sister
BY JO ANN KNOUT
FOR THE NEW ERA
CADIZ, Ky — A tire blew out at Woodruff Bridge and a teenage father drowned in four feet of water.
"How could he drown in four feet of water? He was 6 feet, 2 (and one half) inches tall," said his mother, Debbie Morris, a former school bus driver for TriggCounty schools.
Her son, Charles Shawn Morris, 17, died Nov. 5, 1992, when his car went over the embankment and he was knocked out. It was late at night on a lonely road and no one found him until the next day.
School officials took Debbie aside after she completed her bus route and told her. She refused to believe it. "Charles had just left my house the night before to go home," she recalls. "He ran into a nephew who wanted a ride home and they fooled around a little while so it was late when he headed home by himself." His wife, Dana, also 17, and daughter, Amber, 6 months, were waiting at home.
Six months later, Debbie's sister, Lisa Atwell Wallace, 25, was found murdered in Indiana. "Lisa had gone to Indiana to visit a boyfriend," Debbie recalls. "She had promised to call mom every night while she was gone. She had never missed calling mom on her birthday. When she didn't call mom on her birthday and didn't call and didn't call … we knew something was wrong."
Debbie and the family started calling hospitals in Indianapolis, then morgues. One morgue representative
said an unidentified body had been found on Interstate 75 in Connersville at a truck stop. "A detective came here with photos," Debbie said. "He asked about marks or tattoos. Lisa had a tattoo no one else knew about but me. She had a boy's name covered with flowers. It was at the side of her tummy." The tattoo helped identify Lisa and soon all the brothers and sisters we loaded up and headed to Indiana to bring Lisa home. They visited the place she died, then to the mortuary and then the cemetery where Lisa was already buried as Jane Doe.
Lisa's daughter, Stephanie Hall, didn't understand. "It is and has been hard growing up without a mother," Hall said. "No one knows how it is until you experience it. I have accepted now that my mom is in a better place. But what is the hardest is that they have never caught who did it."
People grieve and people recover in different ways. In the time after Charles' death, and with the Lisa's death fresh in her mind, Debbie, along with family and friends, could be found passing out petitions door to door and soliciting for news coverage from all local papers about the need for guardrails at Woodruff Bridge on route 274.
As they worked to build rails for the bridge another teenager was killed — around the same time Lisa was
murdered. The rails were finally installed about five years later, Debbie said. Building the rails to save other lives has brought some closure to the loss of Charles for Debbie and her husband, whose name is also Charles.
"Not a day goes by he doesn't cross my mind," Debbie admits. "As far as going on, it was Amber, his daughter, that got me through. She was just like him. Her smile and his big brown eyes. I can still see him in
her."
Debbie said Amber, who is now 19, graduated from high school recently and now has her own baby girl, Alani Mays. "Amber has so much of his ways," Debbie added. "His quick temper and as loving and caring as he was, especially with Alani. I could just see him holding (Alani) and smile."
JO ANN KNOUT is a freelance writer from Cadiz. She will be writing a series on those who have suffered and have persevered. Reach her editor at 270-887-3235 or [email protected].
Family Members
Siblings
Half Siblings
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
