The Dissapearance​ of Heather Teague

Heather Danyelle Teague was born on April 25th, 1972, to mother Sarah Teague, and grew up in the state of Kentucky. She was 5’2 with long brown hair, green eyes and weighed 90-100lbs and was known to have a circular red birthmark on her right buttock. At an early age, she was diagnosed with a few medical conditions, one being visibly flat fleet (known as fallen arches) as well as scoliosis, causing curvature of her spine.

Heather Teague

Heather went missing on 26thAugust, 1995 at age 23, whilst she was sunbathing at Newburgh Beach in Henderson County, Kentucky.

A witness, Tim Walthall, claimed to have been observing the beach through a telescope from across the Ohio river at approximately 12:45pm when a man approached her. According to this witness, this man grabbed her hair and dragged her into the woods at gunpoint. The alleged attacker was described by the witness as being Caucasian, around 6’0 tall with brown hair and a bushy brown beard, and weighing around 210-230lbs. The witness also detailed that he was wearing jeans but no shirt, but was oddly wearing a wig and a mosquito net.

Newburgh Beach, the location where Heather Teague was kidnapped

Walthall reported his sighting to the police immediately as he saw it happen, but due to the fact he was in Indiana whilst he was witnessing a crime taking place across the Ohio river in Kentucky, he had to plead with the Indiana state police dispatcher to give him a phone number so he could alert Kentucky police. This meant it was 26 minutes before police arrived and Heather and her abductor were long gone. Authorities searched the beach later that day and some parts of heather’s red, plaid bathing suit were discovered near the alleged abduction site.

A local farmer was videotaping an unrelated incident in the area that day and spotted Heather’s car, and a red Ford Bronco, which was just down the road, on camera. However, it was unclear whether the red Bronco was confirmed to be the same one related to Heather’s abduction.

The red and white Ford Bronco

There are two suspects in her abduction, Marvin Ray “Marty” Dill, a resident of Henderson County, Kentucky. He was pulled over during a routine traffic stop following Heather’s disappearance. He was driving a red and white Ford Bronco at the time. After searching his car, authorities found a pair of guns, a pair of knives, a roll of duct tape, rubber gloves, rape and hair matching that of the description of Heather’s. There was also bloodstains found on the inside tailgate. The composite sketch made of Heather’s abductor as described by the witness also showed strongly resemblances to Dill. In August of 1995, authorities had received multiple tips connecting Dill to Heather’s disappearance and decided to question him at this own. After their arrival, Dill reportedly told his wife to vacate their residence once he was alerted that the police had arrived, and after she had left, he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head before police could enter the property. A grand jury hearing was conducted to investigate Dill’s involvement, but his wife pleaded the fifth and refused to share any details about her husband or his potential involvement.

Marvin Ray Dill

Another possible suspect in this case is Christopher J. Below, a native of Henderson, Kentucky. Below. He pled guilty to attempted involuntary manslaughter in connection with the 1991 death of Kathern Fetzer and is serving a prison sentence of 11-18years for the crime. He is also believed to have been involved in the disappearance of 3 other girls. It is believed he attacked other women who physically resembled Fetzer, which could provide an explanation as to why he could have attacked Heather. They both had long dark hair and were around 5’0, weighing roughly 100 pounds. He was in the general area at the time of Heather’s kidnapping, and left the state of Kentucky shortly after she disappeared and on the same day that Dill had committed suicide. A phone call was also made by Teague on the night before her disappearance, from a pay phone outside a bar in Henderson that Below frequently visited.

Christopher J Below, pictured here being sentenced

It is believed that both Dill, Heather and Below had shared acquaintances, and could have possibly known each other. Walthall is also alleged to have described the distinctive way the attacker held his hands, describing them as ‘turned in’. This was said to be a significant trait of Chris Below. In 2000, Chris’ half-sister Mellissa Moschner also described how her half-brother liked the “area of the lock and dam” on the river on the Kentucky side, the place that was the background for Heather Teague’s abduction. She described him, saying “he would go off on his own like he was looking for something, and would become quiet and reclusive whenever he talked about the beach”

Investigators believe that they have circumstantial evidence which ties Below to the kidnapping. There is also the potential that both men worked together; with one grabbing heather whilst another drove a getaway car.

In February of 2013, Heather’s mother (Sarah Teague) filed a suit against the local, state and federal authorities in connection to the disappearance of her daughter, claiming there was too much focus put on the wrong suspect and alleged that there was a possible cover-up.

In 2018, the police department were forced to pay nearly $24,000 for withholding 911 call records related to Heather’s disappearance. Sarah’s lawyer, Chip Adams, said that in March 2008 state police allowed him and Teague to listen to a digital copy of a 911 call related to the case. Then in February of 2016, an investigator on the case re-played the 911 call for them. The investigator in 2016 told them the reel-to-reel tape of the 2008 911 call had not been sent to the FBI until 2012, and was returned back in digital format in 2014. However, Adams said that it differed significantly from what was played in 2008, as the call involved in male dispatcher, compared to a female dispatcher heard on the call in 2008. The 2008 call was also believed to have included information from the witness that described the attacker as having a mosquito net and wearing a wig, whilst the 2016 call did not include this information. These differences prompted Sarah to fall an open records request in May 2016. Police have claimed that there is no record or reproduction of a 911 call played for Adams and Teague in 2008.

Sarah Teague has disputed state police assertions linking Dill to the disappearance of Heather, stating that multiple sources, including photographs, statements and Webster county jail records indicate Dill did not fit the description police have said was given by the 911 caller. Sarah argues that police did not draw a composite sketch of the alleged attacker until 4 days after Heather’s disappearance and claims the sketch is identical to Marty Dill’s 1994 driver’s license photo. She argues that the sketch was not created until the video of Marty Dill’s Bronco was shown to the police. At the time of the abduction, Marty Dill was actually bald and did not have a beard. He was also 4 inches shorter than described by Tim Walthall, and around 45lbs lighter.

The sketch drawn up by Police based on Tim Walthall's description of the attacker

Sarah also alleges Walthall waited 25 minutes before calling the police to report Heather’s disappearance, as stated in the 911 call. She is encouraging the witness to take a lie detector test in order to figure out how his is connected to Heather’s disappearance, as she believes it is not just as simple as him watching her abduction.

The family went on The Montel Williams Show to receive help from psychic Sylvia Browne that could hopefully give information into Heather’s abduction. She vaguely described an area where she believed Heather’s body would eventually be found, but this turned out to be untrue.

Heather was legally pronounced dead by her mother, in order for her to obtain the FBI files surrounding her daughter’s disappearance.

My thoughts:

So some things that don’t add up right in this case for me,

1. Marty Dill committing suicide. If you want to look shady af, committing suicide when you’re just about to be arrested for kidnapping is definitely the way to do it. No innocent man commits suicide when they realise police are on their property? It just doesn’t add up right, which suggests to me he had something to do with this case.

2. How is their ‘circumstantial evidence’ that proves Chris Below had some connection this case, but the police are not willing to release this information to the public? If there was for sure something that could condemn Below and give some closure to the case for the family, surely it would’ve been made public by now?

3. Who’s was the blood that was found on the tailgate of Dill’s car when searched by the police?

4. Why are these phone calls so bizarre? Why is there so much difference between the two calls, which are meant to be the same call, heard 8 years apart?

5. There is conflicting information so I didn’t want to include it in case it turns out to be invalid, but apparently Heather stopped resisting for a moment when the man approached her and grabbed her back, which led Tim Walthall to believe that she knew the attacker. He also reported that she lost her bikini top during the struggle.

Anyone who believes they may have information which could help to solve this case is encouraged to use the numbers below:

Kentucky State Police: 270-826-3312

Sarah Teague (Heather's mother): 270-824-8343