What Happened to These Cold cases | Volume 7 | The Coldest Cases
Over 45 years ago two cases baffled police, but leads dried up and they were boxed and put away. But new evidence has come to light proving that even the coldest cases have a chance of being solved.
Marie Beulah Mueller, disappeared on March 5, 1972 from the wealthy suburb of Frontenac, Missouri. The 43-year-old red-head had blue eyes, distinctive long claw-like fingernails, and she carried mastectomy and appendectomy scars on her body.
She was in the middle of a bitter divorce from Dr. Donn W. Mueller, an osteopathic physician who she shared two young children with. They lived in a 7-bedroom, spacious estate sitting on over an acre of land.
He did not report her missing until 3 weeks later on March 30. He had gone to police on March 10, but said he did want to file a formal report, however when he returned on the 30th it was due to advice from his attorney. He did mention his wife may have “suicidal tendencies.”
As a hobbyist pilot Donn Mueller told police he had gone to Lambert airport to watch planes land and take off, and when he returned she was gone. They had an especially bad fight that night.
He said the children were home and her car was in the driveway, but jewelry, cash, a pistol and suitcase were missing. According to him she called the following day and asked, “Well, how do you like it?” Then hung up.
In May, 1971 Dr. Mueller published a notice in the local newspapers declaring: “I Donn W. Mueller of No. 2 Country Estates, City of Frontenac, State of Missouri, do hereby give notice that I will not be responsible for any debts contracted after his date by anyone except myself.”
Was this a ruse to coincide with his story she had left, or did he really fear she would rack up debts he would be responsible for?
Marie was not Donn Mueller’s first wife. He married Dolores Kern in 1952, but the marriage ended in divorce. He wed Marie Beulah Smith in 1962 when she was 34 years old. She was one of 13 siblings born to Berlin and Alice Smith.
To outward appearance the couple prospered, but behind closed doors it seemed the relationship was in trouble. They continued to live in the same house even though they were divorcing.
After the disappearance of his wife, Donn Mueller moved to Arizona with his two children Donn Jr. and Donna. Marie was declared legally dead in 1982-83, and Dr. Mueller died in 1993 at the age of 68, he was engaged to be married at that time. He was a Korean War veteran and member of the Osteopathic Medical Association and a Mason.
Though technically considered a missing person, it was not a far stretch to consider foul play might have been part of Marie Mueller’s disappearance, and there was suspicion by the local police, however her case file sat unknown and untouched in storage at the Frontenac Police Department for over 45 years.
When she disappeared and years afterward no mention was made about Marie’s disappearance in the newspapers, however in 2023 Marie’s daughter Donna was interviewed on the podcast Missing Persons. She was seven years old when her mother vanished.
During the interview Donna described her mother had filed for divorce the year before, and the marriage was marked by bouts of intense fighting. She said a colleague of her father told police the doctor had commented that if he wanted to get rid of his wife he knew how to do it.
Marie’s hairdresser and friend said that Marie had commented she was afraid of her husband.
Seven months after Marie disappeared her brother Herb brought patient records belonging to Dr. Mueller to the Frontenac police. He told them Marie had given the records to him with instructions they should be given to the authorities if anything happened to her. The exact contents remain unknown but police reports include an interview with a former nurse at Mueller’s medical practice, who said the doctor carried out “fraudulent transactions as a routine part of his practice.”
Those reports indicate police opened two criminal cases against Mueller, and St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Offices declined to pursue the cases.
The Muellers’ neighbors were corporate CEO’s and financiers. The police department was discreet in order to keep these residents happy. Could this coupled with Dr. Mueller being seen as an upstanding citizen and above suspicion, have something to do with keeping the status of this case as just a missing person?
In December 2025, the house where the Muellers once lived went up for sale, and had a pending contract. The former owner had lived there for 30 years. FBI and St. Louis County M.E. brought a cadaver dog who indicated an area of interest, where Mueller had planted a tree right after his wife disappeared. He contracted an arborist to do the work, but when the man arrived the hole for it was already made. Neighbors recalled the doctor had one sprinkler for this tree, and none other in the yard.
The tree was removed, and a deeper excavation was made but nothing was found. In February 2026, a second dig was conducted with the same result.
Did Donn Mueller kill his wife, bury her in the yard, and then move the body somewhere else? Did he perhaps hire someone to kidnap and kill her or did she truly leave her life and her children behind?
No Jane Does with similar characteristics, especially the scars on her chest and two on her abdomen have been found.
There’s never been any mention whether police spoke to Mueller’s first wife Dolores Kern as to his personality and the cause of the divorce.
Once he left to Arizona, there was no further mention of Dr. Mueller in the newspaper tied to his medical practice, if indeed he continued to practice medicine. There is no known picture of him either, or where he studied medicine. Since he took his secrets to the grave, unless Marie Mueller is ever found there will never be a clear answer as to what happened on the night of March 5, 1972
Mary Theresa Simpson was born in 1951 in Elmira, New York, daughter of Ellsworth Simpson and Rose (Bauman) Simpson. She had two brothers, Tom and George, and a sister Linda.
At about 3 p.m. on March 15, 1964 the day she vanished, Mary Theresa Simpson had left the apartment on North Main Street where she lived with her father. She told him she planned to visit a cousin, but she instead went to see her mother, Rose Simpson, who was separated from her father and lived on Dewitt Avenue. After about an hour, she left and went to her grandfather’s house on Cieri Street and played with her cousins.
Mary was accompanied by her aunt and two cousins until they reached the corner of Market and Harriet Streets. There they parted and she was instructed to go straight home which was about a mile walk. They were the last to see Mary Theresa alive.
Her father reported her missing at 10:30 p.m.
Fifteen policemen were specifically assigned to search for the girl. They went to vacant buildings, abandoned homes, junk yards, excavations and used car lots in many parts of the city.
On Mar. 19, 1964, a man who was hiking with his two sons a quarter-mile east of Combs Hill Road discovered the frozen, fully clothed body of the missing girl. It was a wooded section of Southport and someone left her under twigs, branches, leaves, dirt and four heavy stones — the largest weighing more than 100 pounds. Only part of her hand and a sneaker were visible; her mouth had been stuffed with dirt and twigs.
In the aftermath of discovering the dead girl, the authorities tried to find her killer, but the leads petered out, and the case grew cold.
In 2003, DNA found from semen on her skirt was entered into a national DNA database, but there were no matches. Eleven years later it was resubmitted, but still nothing.
In 2022, advanced DNA testing was completed and uploaded into two public DNA databases. There was finally a match to someone who submitted their DNA into the system. The evidence led police to Mary’s killer. His name was Alfred Raymond Murray, Jr. a truck driver, who was born, raised and lived his entire life in Elmira. It was his son who had given a sample.
In November, 2025, Murray’s remains were exhumed, and DNA taken directly from him confirmed he had killed Mary Theresa. He was 33 years old when he abducted, raped and killed a 12-year-old girl.
Murray grew up in Elmira, and lived at 904 Walnut Street. In 1949, when he was 17 years old he was arrested on an attempted rape charge. He and a 14 year old boy molested two, 7-year-old sisters. Perhaps due to their age, they were not sentenced to any jail time.
The following year he was accused of 3rd degree burglary, petit larceny and unauthorized use of an automobile. He and an 15-year-old accomplice stole a vehicle, broke into a building to steal car keys and a registration plate. They took a joyride in the car and then abandoned it. Since he was now an adult, there was no leniency from the courts.
In June, 1954 he was arrested on AWOL charge. He had left his post in Detroit Michigan two weeks before. He was arrested along with Joseph D. Clate, 19, after they broke into the Swing Shop restaurant. They gained access through a second story window. After this he was turned over to the military to face the AWOL charge.
It’s unknown if Clate was his companion in earlier crimes, since he also grew up in Elmira.
After his return to the military, Murray faded from mention in the newspapers. During the following years he became the killer of Mary Theresa Simpson, a secret he no doubt kept from his wife Rose Mary Norris who was 19 years his junior. She was only a year younger than Mary Theresa, and they might have even known each other. Murray had three children, and one of his sons died in 1979 at the age of 7 due to an illness.
Murray was raised in Elvira, and lived there the rest of his life with his family. He worked at a gas station and also as a truck driver. He died in 2004 at age of 72 from natural causes.
With the evidence provided by the DNA match and the exhumation, the case of Mary Theresa Simpson was finally closed.
But the questions begs to be asked: Was Alfred Murray responsible for other deaths, perhaps victims that were never discovered?