Secret Plea May End Mystery of Atheist Leader O’Hair’s Disappearance

The man accused of kidnapping and extorting money from atheist leader Madalyn Murray O’Hair and her family agreed to a plea deal Wednesday that may unlock the mystery of their disappearance.

David Roland Waters issued his plea during a closed hearing, and prosecutors and defense attorneys refused to provide details. The plea agreement was sealed by U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Gerald Carruth said Wednesday’s proceedings should bring “some closure to this case.” Waters’ attorney, Bill Gates, refused comment. Waters will be sentenced March 30.

The 53-year-old Waters had faced up to life in prison on federal charges of kidnapping and killing O’Hair and her family. He was to have gone on trial next week.

O’Hair, who was 77 and suffering from diabetes and heart disease when she disappeared, enjoyed calling herself the most hated woman in America. She was involved in successful court battles in the 1960s to ban prayer and Bible-reading in the nation’s public schools.

O’Hair, her son Jon Garth Murray and her granddaughter Robin Murray O’Hair all left their Austin home in August 1995. Unwashed breakfast dishes were on the table, O’Hair’s medication was still in the house and the family’s dogs were left behind.

They were later seen in San Antonio but dropped from sight along with about $500,000 in gold coins. Their bodies have never been found.

Prosecutors contend the victims were dismembered at a public storage shed, placed in 55-gallon drums and dumped in the sparsely populated Texas Hill Country on Waters’ directions. He worked as O’Hair’s office manager before being convicted of stealing $54,000. He is now serving 60 years in prison on weapons charges.

Last August, Sparks sentenced Gary Paul Karr, 52, a former jail mate of Waters in Illinois, to life in prison for extorting money from the O’Hair family.

Two defense witnesses testified they saw O’Hair alive in a San Antonio bar and in a restaurant in Romania in 1997, as much as two years after the family fell from view.

O’Hair’s disappearance wasn’t reported for a year until her estranged son, William Murray, told Austin police she was missing.

Theories ranged from foul play to O’Hair and her family absconding with the money from her organization, United Secularists of America.

Some suggested that O’Hair had gone away to die quietly so Christians wouldn’t pray over her. Prosecutors ridiculed the suggestion that an ailing, elderly woman would flee to Eastern Europe. Witnesses who testified to seeing O’Hair were mistaken, they said.

Another suspect, Danny Fry, was found beheaded in 1995 shortly after the family disappeared.

On Wednesday, several news media organizations and prosecutors objected to Sparks’ decision to close the plea hearing at the request of defense attorneys.

Sparks said his decision was “based on the recent disclosure and publication of sensitive information that could jeopardize the safety of persons both in and out of custody and based on the recent publication of certain facts that would hinder the investigation.”

Later Wednesday, Sparks granted a hearing on an Associated Press motion to unseal the transcript of the plea hearing, the plea agreement and all related documents. The hearing was set for Monday.

The threshold for closing a pretrial hearing is supposed to be “very high, as serious, for example, as national security or the information might put someone’s life in immediate danger,” said Jim Hemphill, the AP’s attorney.