The Strange Disappearance and Death of David Glenn Lewis
David Glenn Lewis was born on December 11th, 1953, in Borger, Texas. David married a woman named Karen Garret in 1982 and the couple had their only child togetherâa daughter named Laurenâa year later.
On Thursday, January 28th, 1993, David left work at the Buckner, Lara & Swindell law practice, stating that he wasnât feeling well. However, his credit card revealed a charge made at a gas station later that afternoon. David also reportedly taught his class that night, which ended at 10 p.m.
The following day, Karen and Lauren left to spend the weekend shopping in Dallas. Although they didnât see David before leaving, they didnât find that especially concerning. They already knew he wanted to stay home that weekend, because his favorite football teamâthe Dallas Cowboysâwould be playing in the Super Bowl and David was eager to watch the game.
It was during this weekend that Davidâs behavior took a turn for the strange. First, he was spotted by a friend from church frantically rushing through a Southwest Airlines terminal. David didnât appear to have any luggage with him.
On Sunday, Davidâs red Ford Explorer was seen parked outside of the Potter County courthouse and a deputy sheriff witnessed a man matching Davidâs description photographing the vehicle. David returned home at some point, evidently, because the neighbors reported seeing his vehicle parked in the driveway that weekend.
However, when Karen and Lauren arrived home on Sunday, they found Davidâs wedding ring and watch on the counter and a load of laundry in the dryer. The lights and television were on and the VCR was still recording the football game. There were also two turkey sandwiches in the refrigerator, presumably prepared by David. The thing that was notably absent from the home, however, was David himself.
Nevertheless, Karen assumed that he had simply gone to watch the game at a friendâs house and that heâd be back soon. But when she learned the following day that David had missed two appointmentsâvery out of character for himâshe became worried and notified the police that he was missing.
Early in the investigation into David Glenn Lewisâs disappearance, police learned that someone using his name had purchased two plane tickets before he went missing. The first ticket was bought on January 31st and was from Dallas to Amarillo. The second ticket was purchased the next day and this one would take him from Los Angeles to Dallas. No one could explain what might have compelled David to buy these tickets, and since U.S. airports didnât require a person to show their ID before boarding a plane in 1993, it couldnât be verified that he was really the person who purchased the tickets.
Another unexplained detail that came out during the investigation was that $5,000 had been deposited into the Lewis family's bank account on January 30th. Unfortunately, it couldn't be determined who made the deposit. Davidâs Ford Explorer was soon discovered parked by the courthouse. His keys were under the floor mat and his driverâs license, credit cards, and checkbook were all found inside as well.
Later, a cab driver came forward to say that he had picked up a man strongly resembling David on February 1st and drove him to the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The man in question appeared nervous and paid in cash from a wad of hundred-dollar bills he had with him. There were no further sightings of David reported in the Amarillo area after this.
Davidâs family didnât believe that he had left voluntarily; they believed he was abducted. Karen said that he had received death threats in the past while working as a judge and that heâd begun to receive death threats once again just before he vanished.
At the time he went missing, David had been a defendant in a conflict-of-interest lawsuit that had been brought against him and several other attorneys, as well as a former client.
Ultimately, the authorities believed that David left Amarillo of his own free will and couldnât find any evidence of foul play. They eventually closed his case in 2002.
However, on the night of February 1st, 1993, motorists witnessed a man walking down the middle of State Route 24 in Moxee, Washington, east of Yakima. The man was wearing military fatigues and boots. He didnât appear to have anything else with him. A concerned driver turned around and attempted to warn the other motorists that someone was walking on the road. Sadly, they were too late to help this man, because, by the time they got back, he was lying dead by the side of the road, the victim of an apparent hit-and-run accident. The autopsy report concluded that he had died of injuries consistent with having been struck by a vehicle. Additionally, there were no drugs or alcohol in his system. The deceased, who had no ID, would be classified as a âJohn Doeâ and remained unidentified for 11 years.
Washington State Patrol detective in Yakima, Washington, Pat Ditter, read the series of reports and started to look into a number of local missing persons cases, as well as John and Jane Doe cases, hoping to solve at least some of them. He noted that David looked very much like the John Doe in question, but a notable difference was that David wore glasses and the John Doe hadnât been wearing any when he was found.
However, they still had the clothing heâd been wearing at the time of the accident and Ditter discovered a pair of glasses in one of the pockets. These glasses looked identical to the distinctive pair that David himself wore. Ditter was now convinced that they were the same person. A DNA test in 2004 would confirm that he was correct: the Moxee John Doe was in fact, David Glenn Lewis.
But how and why did he end up over 1,600 miles away from his home in Amarillo, Texas? Why was David, said to have very poor eyesight, not wearing his glasses that night? Why was he walking down the middle of a road at all? Many aspects of this case remain a mystery.
Itâs also unclear why he was wearing military fatigues, as Karen was adamant that he didnât own anything like that.
