Her Children Came Home From School to Find Her Missing—And Blood on the Kitchen Floor
In 1991, Deborah Jean McKneely of Rockdale County, Georgia, was a 39-year-old devoted mother of two. Yet, on January 29, 1991, her two young sons returned home to a harrowing scene, and Deborah was nowhere to be found.
That Tuesday morning, Deborah’s sons, who were 11 and 13 years old, left their home, located in a rural region of Conyers, Georgia, and headed to school. Later that afternoon, their school bus dropped them off sometime between 4:30 p.m. and 4:45 p.m., but Deborah didn’t greet them as usual.
Instead, the boys discovered that their home’s back door had been kicked in, and a window pane in their garage was broken. Additionally, phone lines were cut, and there was blood found on the kitchen floor, as well as in the garage.
Since the phone lines had been severed, the boys were forced to contact the police from a neighbor’s residence.
“I didn’t know if it was my mom’s blood or maybe the person who tried to break in. All kinds of stuff was going through my mind. I was thinking, ‘Is she alright?'” Deborah’s 11-year-old son recalled.
Once an investigation was launched, though, authorities concluded the motive behind Deborah’s apparent abduction was not robbery. After all, her purse, jewelry, and watch had been left behind. Moreover, a diamond ring and a brand-new IBM computer were sitting in plain sight.
Then, the very next day, the police located Deborah’s car, a tan and black 1985 Chevrolet Blazer, parked at a Decatur, Georgia, housing project. The vehicle, which was 20 to 25 miles away from Deborah’s home, had been left unlocked.
Additionally, the perpetrators left $100 cash and the keys visible inside, leading authorities to believe they were trying to “bait” car thieves into stealing the car.
During the investigation, the police concluded that at least two people had to have been involved in the abduction. Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Scott Rhoades even called the crime “thoroughly planned and well-executed.”
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It also would’ve been extremely uncharacteristic of Deborah to simply leave. The mother of two, who’d worked as a teacher’s aide, had no history of wandering off and was known to be a practical and friendly woman.
“All indications are that foul play is involved. There’s nothing to indicate it is not,” stated Sgt. Chris Taylor.
The focus turned to Deborah’s estranged husband, Donald McKneely. One year prior to her disappearance, in November 1989, Deborah had actually called the police, alleging she’d been beaten with a wooden board by Donald, her husband of 20 years.
In the wake of this incident, she stayed at a battered women’s shelter and filed for divorce weeks afterward. Curiously, a little over one year later, Deborah went missing on January 29, 1991. That day, she and Donald were supposed to finalize their divorce and divide their assets. Deborah’s share was estimated to be worth approximately $700,000.
During their year of separation leading up to her disappearance, Deborah claimed that Donald had gone on a “campaign of terror,” too. Police and court records indicate she’d accused Donald of cutting her phone lines on at least two occasions.
Once, he even supposedly wore camouflage and snuck onto her property to cut the lines. So, Deborah allegedly told relatives and a neighbor that she was scared Donald would kill her.
However, he insists that he wasn’t involved in Deborah going missing. Donald supposedly provided the police with a blood sample and fingerprints, so he feels he should’ve been cleared.
“They [the police] have totally wrecked my life for no reason whatsoever. But the pain I feel does not compare to the torment my sons feel every time this comes back up,” he said in 1993.
As for Donald’s alibi, he was an engineer and stated he’d been at work all day, which could be corroborated by numerous coworkers. According to investigators, Donald’s colleagues provided conflicting statements.
He later blamed the investigation for getting him fired, but authorities argued it was Donald’s “refusals to cooperate with internal investigations by his companies” that caused him to lose his job.
Deborah’s sons first went to live with her family after she vanished, and then a tense custody battle resulted in Donald being granted full custody in May 1992.
By August 1994, he filed for Deborah to be legally declared dead. The court granted this in 2001, and he was given $69,000 of her financial assets.
The next year, 1995, Donald’s alleged mistress sued Prime Bank, her former employer, for wrongful termination and revealed how she’d been involved with Donald since prior to Deborah going missing. The police questioned her, but she said she had no information about Deborah’s disappearance.
Donald continued dating his mistress, who did admit to withdrawing money from his accounts during their relationship until she died in 2013.
2013 marked the year Deborah’s cold case was re-opened as well. The Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office swore in Ronnie Godwin, a new cold case investigator, who was set to focus on her case.
“[We want] to see if there is something that crime labs can now do with DNA that wasn’t available 17 or 21 years ago,” Godwin detailed.
When Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office Captain Chris Taylor was asked who he believed murdered Deborah, he responded, “Who do I think did it? I have a good idea. I am pretty sure it is a domestic-related incident.”
Nonetheless, Deborah’s presumed murder has remained unsolved for 34 years. Her body has never been located, and her family still wants answers.
“It never leaves your mind. You think about this all the time. It never goes away; it never will,” her brother, Stan Quarles, shared in 2013.
Deborah was five foot six, weighed 155 pounds, and had blonde hair and brown eyes at the time she vanished. She would be 73 years old today.
Anyone with information regarding Deborah’s case is urged to contact the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office at (770) 918-6700.
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