Madalyn Murray O'Hair disappeared from her Austin, Texas home on September 29, 1995, along with her son Jon Garth Murray and granddaughter Robin Murray O'Hair.
On September 29, 1995, Madalyn Murray O'Hair, along with her son Jon Garth Murray and her adopted granddaughter Robin Murray O'Hair, vanished from her home in Austin, Texas. For years the disappearance was a mystery, with speculation that they had absconded with organizational funds.
It was later revealed that the trio had been kidnapped, murdered, and dismembered by David Roland Waters, a former employee of American Atheists with a criminal past, along with accomplices Gary Karr and Danny Fry. The motive was extortion of organizational funds; the perpetrators had coerced the family before killing them.
The case went unsolved for years until investigative journalism (notably by reporter John MacCormack of the San Antonio Express-News) and subsequent law enforcement investigation uncovered the truth. In 2001, remains believed to be those of O'Hair and her family were discovered on a ranch in Texas, and DNA testing later confirmed the identification. Waters, who had confessed to authorities, died in prison in 2003 while serving time on other charges.
This tragic and violent end to O'Hair's life underscored the personal risks she faced throughout her career as a controversial public figure, and it left American Atheists, the organization she founded, to continue without its founder. The case was later chronicled in the documentary The Most Hated Woman in America.