Karl Myers

Karl Lee Myers (March 29, 1948 – December 28, 2012) was an American murderer, rapist, and suspected serial killer. Convicted and sentenced to death for two separate murders in Oklahoma, committed in 1993 and 1996 respectively, he was also acquitted of a 1978 killing in Kansas and remained a suspect in several other murders. Myers remained on death row for the remainder of his life, dying behind bars in 2012 without being executed.

Early life and crimes Karl Lee Myers was born on March 29, 1948, in Picher, Oklahoma. Reportedly suffering from organic brain damage since birth, he was struck by a car in 1953, leading to the formation of a blood clot that caused him to suffer from severe headaches and nervousness for the rest of his life. Myers' mother, described as a possessive woman who made all the major decisions for him, frequently brought various boyfriends to the house who then emotionally and physically abused the young boy in drunken stupors. In later interviews, Myers' sister would claim that he was functionally illiterate and struggled with learning, due to which he was bullied by his peers and even his teachers – according to her, one teacher even called her "the retard's sister". Myers was eventually extradited, stood trial and was successfully convicted, resulting in a 20-year sentence for rape.

Rowden case On August 1, 1977, Myers was at a bar in Picher with several other people when he came across 23-year-old Ellen Deann Rowden. It is unclear what exactly transpired, but Rowden was never seen alive again – her skeletal remains were discovered near Treece, Kansas in April 1978. Her cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma to the head.

In 1978, Myers contacted the authorities and implicated two people in the murder – Rowden's brother-in-law, Leslie, and a friend named Imogene Butterbaugh. He claimed that on the night of her disappearance, the pair had killed Rowden and then slept on a chat pile near her body. After voluntarily undergoing psychological stress testing, Myers was transferred to Kansas to testify against Rowden and Butterbaugh, but as some considered him to be unreliable, copies of his testimony were sent to a professional laboratory for analysis. However, Myers was acquitted due to a lack of evidence and returned to Oklahoma to continue serving his sentence for rape, and as his allegations against Enders were also deemed unreliable, charges against him were dropped as well, leaving the Rowden case to go officially unsolved. A forensic autopsy determined that Williams had been extensively beaten and raped, and that her killer had shot her five times, with one of the bullets fired into the chest rupturing her aorta. Her murder quickly garnered attention from the media, as it was yet another in an unrelated series of murders of motorists that had plagued the area since the 1970s.

Williams' murder went unsolved until three years later when it was linked to Myers after his arrest for an unrelated killing. On March 14, 1996, the body of 29-year-old Cindy Michelle Marzano was found in the Verdigris River, showing signs of sexual assault and strangulation. Myers was identified as the prime suspect within a day of the murder, as multiple witnesses had seen him pick Marzano up from her workplace at a delicatessen in Broken Arrow.

Trials and imprisonment From the beginning, it was decided that Myers should stand separate trials for the two murders, beginning with the murder of Marzano. Prosecutors used his own statements against him, pointing out that he initially denied even knowing Marzano when arrested by officers, but later on told a former sheriff that he had had sex with her on numerous occasions. Due to the overwhelming amount of evidence against him, the jury deliberated for only two and a half hours before returning a guilty verdict. In March 1998, he was officially sentenced to death.

Myers' second trial began on January 25, 2000. Throughout the proceedings, prosecutors focused primarily on the DNA evidence, as their other evidence was mostly circumstantial. In response, Myers' attorneys argued that their client was mentally ill due to his low IQ and organic brain damage, thus rendering him ineligible for execution. In the end, the jury found Myers guilty on all charges and concluded that should be given a second death sentence for Williams' murder. The following month, Myers was one of nearly half a dozen inmates who were granted new hearings by the Court of Criminal Appeals, with his trial being scheduled for 2004.

Subsequently, the jury at said trial dismissed his claims of mental illness, with the judges denied his request for post-conviction relief. A follow-up appeal was also rejected by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, which upheld the lower court's verdict.

Death and aftermath On December 28, 2012, guards found an unresponsive Myers inside the medical sector of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary and notified medical personnel. A short time afterwards, he was pronounced dead of suspected natural causes.

Suspected murders As of March 2025, no further murders or other violent crimes have been conclusively linked to Myers. At one point, he was accused of perpetrating the Oklahoma Girl Scout murders by cellmate John Russell, who made a movie about the case, but this accusation has been largely regarded as without merit. Myers has been eliminated as a suspect and the murders are now believed to have likely been the work of Gene Leroy Hart, but they officially remain unsolved. Some have also speculated he might be responsible for the murders of several women in Joplin and Rolla, Missouri, but local authorities have claimed that they have no evidence implicating Myers in any cases in their jurisdiction.

Below is a list of known murders and disappearances Myers has been accused of and never officially ruled out as a suspect: Type of crime Date Location Victim Notes Murder October 17, 1974 Quapaw, Oklahoma Tina Duffell Body found submerged in a mining pond. Myers lived in the area at the time. Murder 1977 (exact date unknown) Treece, Kansas Julia Miller 14-year-old who vanished at an undetermined date from Picher and whose bones were found in the same area as Rowden. Investigators have stated that Myers is their "No. 1 Suspect". Murder August 1, 1977 Treece, Kansas Ellen Deann Rowden Myers was charged, but acquitted in this case. Investigators from both Kansas and Oklahoma have stated that they still believe he was responsible. Murder August 1978 Baxter Springs, Kansas Charles E. "Chink" Enders Skeletal remains found in a caved-in mine shaft. Myers claimed he was an eyewitness to the murder, but could not be charged as he was granted immunity from prosecution. Disappearance August 19, 1993 Pittsburg, Kansas Ginger Hudson Last seen leaving her residence, but never returned.