A Family Is Petitioning For Answers After A Cold Case Murder Over 30 Years Ago Continues To Result In Tragedy
In 1979, Catherine “Catrina” Mowrey decided to start fresh. She and her sister, Jo Ann, left their hometown in Kansas and moved to Dallas, Texas, to begin their next chapter.
But, on June 25, 1985, Catherine’s life was tragically taken from her. The Dallas Police Department received a report from an apartment complex employee describing a suspicious odor coming from a car parked nearby.
And upon investigating, authorities discovered twenty-four-year-old Catherine deceased in the vehicle’s trunk.
She was found wrapped in a bed sheet, and, upon first glance, police believed that she had taken her own life.
In fact, prior to launching an investigation and obtaining proper toxicology reports, authorities shared this hunch with the press– and even described their theory that the event was a drug overdose.
After obtaining toxicology reports, though, Catherine was found to have no drugs in her system.
Autopsy reports also revealed that the twenty-four-year-old had passed away two days prior to discovery.
Nonetheless, Catherine’s cause of death has remained “undetermined,” and lackluster police investigation has pushed the Mowrey family to take the case into their own hands.
Change.org; pictured above is Catherine
If true crime defines your free time, this is for you: join Chip Chick’s True Crime Tribe.
Catherine’s maternal niece and namesake, Catrina Marshall, has begun to publicly speak out. She since cited the unresponsiveness of the Dallas PD and her family’s suffering in a Change.org petition.
“After numerous attempts to contact, communicate, request information, give information, and investigate this case on my own with minimal to no response, I am now forced to make this matter public,” Catrina began.
She also described how the lack of answers and closure continues to tragically impact the Mowrey family.
In 1993, her aunt Jo Ann was murdered in Dallas in an unrelated case. And most recently, Catrina’s mother– Deborah– took her own life in 2020.
“This [Catherine’s cold case] has now– over the last thirty-plus years– resulted in three sisters who are all dead transpiring from this incident, including my own mother,” Catrina continued.
The petition currently has five hundred and eighty-two signatures and is directed toward the Texas State House, the Dallas County District Attorney, the Dallas County Cold Case Unit, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
To learn more about Catherine’s case and contribute your signature in hopes of getting the Mowrey family answers, you can visit the petition linked here.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
She Banned Her Nephew From Her Wedding After He Cut Up Her Wedding Dress
This 7-Year-Old California Boy Rescued A Toddler From The Bottom Of His Apartment Complex’s Pool
More About:True Crime