A Murderer Walks Free
July 9
th, 1984 was the last time anyone saw 26-year-old Dorothy Jean (Butcher) Purcell, or as her friends knew her “Dottie”. She was last seen the Four Seasons Nursing Home at 3800 Englewood Lane in Odessa, where she worked as a licensed vocational nurse.
Screenshot of nursing home
She’s good natured, quite, and according to police interviews, well-liked by all her co-workers. One of her co-workers, Rita Evans, director of nursing at Four Seasons Nursing Center, reported that she was quite and did her work well. She tells reporters that she didn’t look like the picture that was put out as her “missing person” picture. “Her hair was lighter and her face was thinner when she worked here”, Rita said. Dorothy was quite enough that many of the nurses questioned didn’t really remember her but everyone who did was surprised to learn that she was missing. Dorothy’s mother, Jean Etheredge, had a hard time convincing authorities that h