AZ AZ- Marion Berry Ouma, 25, heiress to large fortune, fatally shot, body found down an encampment, MOHAVE COUNTY, 13 Dec '78, *New initiative*

[Betty P]

Yeah, really weird case.

Well-educated, worldly young woman from a very prominent family and there seems to be literally no information about the last 2 years of her life when she somehow went from being an English teacher in Africa to seemingly living on the fringes of society in Vegas.

Some reports list her as 25 and some as 31 but 31 makes much more sense if she was already teaching in Kenya in 1971 and had presumably obtained a post-secondary teaching degree before that.

Yes, the census records for 1950 that I found at Ancestry would have her age at 31. Not sure why the newspapers kept reporting it as 25.

 

[SophieRose]

Yes, the census records for 1950 that I found at Ancestry would have her age at 31. Not sure why the newspapers kept reporting it as 25.

Her gravesite.

Marion Berry Fox (1949-1979) - Find a Grave...

MOHAVE COUNTY, Ariz. — The Mohave County Sheriff's Office Special Investigation Unit is requesting the public's assistance in a cold case homicide investigation from 1979. The Mohave County Sheriff's Office Special Investigations Unit seeks the public's help solving the apparent homicide of...

www.findagrave.com

 

[Betty P]

She had a college degree in Physical Education. She taught it in school I Kenya. She was an active athlete playing many sports through high school and college. How did she end up in Las Vegas?

 

[Betty P]

Evicted and murdered right as her luck was about to change in a cruel twist of fate. I’m reminded of John List with the Tiffany skylight. I hope there’s a sliding doors universe where Marion became a passionate philanthropist and lived to a ripe old age.

Thanks so much for your input on the local neighborhood back then. There are quite a few cold cases here at WS - young women murdered in Las Vegas during the 70's, 80's and 90's. There must have been at least 1 or 2 serial killers there.

 

[SophieRose]

Brother is the one who would like to find what happened. He says she used to hitchhike in those days.

Arizona deputies ask for help in 1979 homicide near Hoover Dam

The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public’s help in finding who killed the granddaughter of the Yellow Pages founder, whose body was found near the Hoover Dam in 1979.

www.wlox.com

 

[Betty P]

Brother is the one who would like to find what happened. He says she used to hitchhike in those days.

Arizona deputies ask for help in 1979 homicide near Hoover Dam

The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public’s help in finding who killed the granddaughter of the Yellow Pages founder, whose body was found near the Hoover Dam in 1979.

www.wlox.com

Oh, that's so nice. The hitchhiking information helps. Perhaps she was hitchhiking and was picked up by someone who took her somewhere to murder her.

This is what she was wearing when found

"Ouma is described as a white female, 25 years old, approximately 5’5" and 106 lbs, with hazel eyes and brown hair that she often wore in a ponytail. At the time of her death, she was wearing green sweatpants and a dark blue short-sleeve blouse," detectives said.

It doesn't say anything about her wearing a jacket or overcoat. Is the weather still pretty warm in Las Vegas in early January? If she was hitching a ride, would she have been dressed in a short sleeve blouse and sweatpants?

Weather Underground says in the late 90's (earliest data) the daytime average temperature was 64 and 50 at night.

 

[lydiafaithfull]

She had a college degree in Physical Education. She taught it in school I Kenya. She was an active athlete playing many sports through high school and college. How did she end up in Las Vegas?

Choosing to stay in a city full of strangers instead of returning home for Christmas feels pretty telling. I don’t want to judge her family or home life, but something kept her away. What I can’t fathom is how Marion chose a path of working with kids and underserved communities, but no one showed up for her when she was evicted. This will sound harsh, but what did they think would happen? That she would pull herself up by her bootstraps with a little “tough love”? She was tossed out and danger found her. You don’t leave women to sleep on park benches.

 

[lydiafaithfull]

Thanks so much for your input on the local neighborhood back then. There are quite a few cold cases here at WS - young women murdered in Las Vegas during the 70's, 80's and 90's. There must have been at least 1 or 2 serial killers there.

Anytime, it’s a wild place. During Covid forensic genealogy uncovered two that came after Marion. Johnny Blake Peterson and Darren Roy Marchand. Both on opposite sides of the Strip when jurisdictions barely communicated their findings. Both men died young in the 90s, but there are more obviously.