Crystal Sue Marler

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Crystal Sue Marler (28 Nov. 1982 - remains found 25 April 2009) was a 15-year-old resident of McCreary County, Kentucky who disappeared on 12 Oct. 1998 after her mother dropped her off at about 4:00 p.m. (EDT) near a friend's home in the vicinity of Strunk Ridge Road, Whitley City, Kentucky. Her remains and whereabouts remained undiscovered for over a decade.

Early Life and Family

Crystal Sue Marler was the daughter of Florence Abigail Marler of McCreary County, Kentucky, who passed away following an automobile accident on 8 June 2007 without ever having learned the whereabouts of her daughter. Crystal was a student at McCreary Central High School, located in Stearns, Kentucky at the time of her disappearance. She was the granddaughter of Sue Marler (living) and something of an adoptive granddaughter of Ms. Lorella Wood, the biological grandmother of Crystal's half-brother Matthew (both also living).

Crystal is described as having been bi-racial, or of, in this case, both Caucasian and African-American ancestry. She had black hair, brown eyes, and was reported to have had a mole on the back of her neck. She may have used the name Christie and was between 5 foot 4 inches and 5 foot 6 inches with her weight reported as ranging between 95 and 100 pounds at the time of her disappearance.

Disappearance

Crystal was last seen between 4 and 5:00 pm EDT on 12 Oct. 1998 when her mother dropped her off in the vicinity of Strunk Ridge Road in the Whitley City Area of McCreary County, Kentucky. She was classified as Endangered Missing until the discovery of her remains in 2009.

Discovery

During the early morning hours of 25 April 2009 a turkey hunter scouting in the area of Peel Dogwood Road in McCreary County, Kentucky discovered an exposed human skull on the forest floor. Local police arrived on the scene shortly before 8:30 am EDT and located a "scattered" set of remains a short distance from a forest service road in an area not infrequently used by hunters. While the remains were covered with "several years worth of leaf litter", they were determined to have not been buried but rather to have been left lying on the surface of the ground. The remains were tentatively identified as having belonged to a teenage female . Questions were initially raised as to whether the remains might belong to another missing McCreary County woman, Charity Genoe, as some of the teeth in the recovered skull contained fillings which the family of Marler did not remember her having. Local law enforcement claims to have received information in the past regarding the disposal of Marler's body in the Peel Dogwood Road area but state that multiple fruitless searches were conducted in the area with the aid of cadaver dogs

The remains located on Peel Dogwood Road in McCreary County, Kentucky were positively identified as having belonged to Crystal Sue Marler on or about June 2009. Investigators were able to match a DNA sample taken from the remains to the living half-brother of Marler.

Death

Upon identification of the remains of Crystal Sue Marler the status of her case was upgraded from endangered missing to victim of a homicide. The State Medical Examiner who processed the remains determined that Marler died as a result of blunt-force trauma and a gunshot wound to the head.

It is not specified whether death is expected to have occurred at the scene of the bodies recovery or whether the remains were likely transported there following the murder, but investigators indicate that additional unnamed evidence was recovered

At this time there does not appear to have been any arrests made in the case nor does it appear that any suspects have been publicly named. The presiding sheriff as of the 2014 election, Randy Watters, has stated that the case is still "active" but that there has been "no true progress" in the case over the years and that police have "not obtained any real, verifiable evidence in the case". Sheriff Watters has stated “We always hear certain names of people we should look into, but without any hard evidence to go on we just can’t get anywhere with it.”

Media

There was some discussion of drumming up new interest in the case through some type of film making around the point of the 20-year anniversary of the disappearance. According to Ms. Lorella Wood, a Lexington, Kentucky film maker contacted the family with an interest in visiting McCreary County to "conduct interviews" in relation to the disappearance and murder of Crystal Sue Marler. At this time, it does not appear that this type of media has been released.

External links

• www.example.com

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