OK OK - Deborah Farmer, 26, Midwest City, 1 June 1981

[whorton]

tell me if I'm wrong, doesn't this woman's face look like Deborah's if her mouth were closed in that school photo? Her eyebrows look similar as well IMO. Anyone good with faces that can tell if this is close? Here is the Ancestry.com page I found this on. This is Marlow High School in 1971 - "Debbie Brown".
Also, I am not finding anything on a Deborah being married around 1972-81ish to anyone named Farmer, in OK. I would like to know the father of her son first, did they end up getting married? Did he see the child at all?

Thanks for your reply. One of the things that strikes me is if the official high school picture of Deborah is actually even her. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation site admits, they have little information about the case. Where did they get the photo?

Again, I an a bit bothered that none of the reports bother to even mention what town or city she was reported missing from. (my best guess is Midwest city as one of the reports state that she lived there)

The Deborah **** Farmer that is listed on Classmates.com, seems to list a maiden name, that is in the Midwest City '72 year book as a sophmore. That would likely mean she graduated in '74 and if born in '55, she would have been 19. Perhaps she was delayed in HS because she had become pregnant and dropped out to have the child, and then returned to get through HS.

I admit the the girl in the MWC yearbook (with the annotated name of Classmates.com) does not look like the HS photo, but again, do we even know the source of that? What was the source of the two known photos associated with the case listing? We don't know. Did she have any living family? Who reported her missing? What is the story on the two divergent dates reported for her disappearance? Did she actually disappear on the 27th or June 1st?

Unless either the original Missing persons report is missing or so poorly done as to offer no information, we may never know. There is so little to go on, the reports do not even list a maiden name or DOB. .

I tried to access the Ancestory.com page you reference, and even though I have a log in code there, was never able to get past the adverts. Can you share a bit more detail about the information on that page?

When I was looking into this early this morning I did not look into Debbie Brown as I was chasing the whole "Willis" and/or "Farmer" angle, but will look at it this evening. I did notice however, the associated supposed Senior picture did not appear in the '72 Marlow yearbook under any name. I did also notice that there was a younger classmate under the name of Willis in '72, maybe a younger brother?Again, who knows at this point.

I notice that photo looks more like a classic 60's high school Senior photo, as opposed to a 70's photo. I cannot really quantify that statement, but the blond version photo seems to have more of a 60's vibe. (Actually, I think I can, the Hairdo. The Dread Boffant style hairdo was a 60's thing. Almost no one has one in the early 70's.) Maybe I was just suffering from lack of sleep this morning, but who knows.

This should be renamed the infamous "Rabbit hole case." as about the only thing we know is almost nothing.

 

[whorton]

She looks very young; that photo looks to me like it could be her old high school picture from the early 70s.

Can we search court records to see whether she was divoced, whether the father of the children was paying alimony or had sought custody of the children, etc? I don't know what's online and what isn't.

In Oklahoma computerarized records go back to the mid to late 1980's and 90's. The biggest problem is alway going to be we know neither her maiden name nor her husbands name. For all we know they ran off to Arkansas to get married. And the name Deborah J. Farmer is certainly fairly common. I am going to the hisorical socitey to read some old Midwest city phone books to see what and how she was listed in 1981. Perhaps there is a listing under a mans name?

I honestly think that the picture is questionable as the "bubble flip" hairstyle was a product of the 60's, not so much the 80's. I also note below how I checked someone who claims to have been her son, and stated the picture was her HS senior photo from Marlow HS in '72. The problem? there is no such person listed in '72., '71, or even '70. He also did not remember or have a clue about her birthdate, other than "sometime in '55, I don't remember."

 

[whorton]

Alright Ladies and gentlemen, first possible real clue. I spoke with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Information officer yesterday, and there was nothing new he could offer however. . . Also, I was not able to go to the state historical society as the library there was closed yesterday.

In speaking with a Midwest City Police detective, I was given an address associated with her, that was NOT in Midwest city. . However, I will add as a former many year resident, I totally can understand why a casual observer may have thought that address WAS associated with Midwest city.

For those not familure. Midwest City is a large suburban city East of Oklahoma city and home to Timker Airforce base. It is also north of Draper lake.

 

[whorton]

Ha! Score #2 today.
But first. . .

Apologies for the typographical errors in my earlier posting. Midwest City is a suburban city and home to Tinker Air Force Base.

Secondly, I went to the Historical Society today and did some checking. I now have a name associated with the address I was given, that matches Deborah's last name: Farmer.* Looking back, he lived at that address from '79 to '81. He was not listed at that address before '79 or after '81. So now the following quesitons present:

1. Is/was this her father, or husband?
2. Why the delay in reporting her missing?
-Was this due to police reluctance to accept a missing persons report on a 26 year old woman or:
-Was this because, whomever lived at the house did NOT report her as missing? if so, why?

I am attaching a photo of the area where she lived and you can kind of see why the address may have added to the confusion: This is an Aerial image from 1982. The street that runs left to right is S.E. 29th. Both images have been lined up for a comparison of 1982 and today. The Street to the Right is Douglas Blvd. To the Left is the main runway for Tinker AFB. What a crappy place to live! (The area was found to be heavily contaminated with Chemicals from Tinker) as a result, the homes in that NE most location -actually outside of Tinker at the time) were later all torn down. The house has not existed for many years at this point.

The site is part of a superfund clean up incidentally: See:

Tinker Air Force Base Superfund Site - Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality

About this Superfund Site Read Supporting Documents

www.deq.ok.gov

The street that she was reported missing from was SE 32 and the address was an even one, meaning it would have been on the South side of the street. (North is UP in the photographs) The problem is that everything in the photo North of SE 29th is Midwest City. . . South is NOT Midwest City. The West and South ends of Tinker are Oklahoma city. This small bit of property is likely Oklahoma County. . not Oklahoma city, not Midwest City. So the next logical agency to speak with about a missing persons report would be the Oklahoma County Sheriffs office.

I have also reasonably well disabused myself of the notion that Mr. Farmer was anything BUT her father. He was apparently born in 1933 and had also passed. .. within the last 10 years.

It appears however that "Codenamefarm," was not only incorrect, BUT one is left to speculate what his intent may have been. For instance his earlier posts, he claims to be the son, and that the photo is Deborah's Senior High photo, and she graduated from Marlow HS in '72. But I posted a link to Marlow's yearbooks. . she is not in '70, '71, '72, '73 or '74. . not her name associated with any club or organization, and certainly not the photo. Why would she have gone to alll the trouble to get a nice Sr. picture, but having it omitted from the yearbook(s). I am sure that photo came from somewhere, but where?

(Nor am I precluding that the Deborah **** Farmer listed in Classmates.com and graduated from Midwest City High in 1974 is or is NOT the missing Deborah Farmer, but the name listing is just a bit coincidental. Wouldn't you think?)

Additionally, I have scanned the papers for a obituary for Mr. Farmer and possibly found one, that is as incomplete as Deborah's missing person information. I continue to research. I need to find out for sure where the Deborah **** Farmer lived in '74 and who her parents are/were. Incidentally **** is not for JOAN, it is for the other name listed for Deborah **** Farmer that did graduate from MWC in '74. She looks nothing like the 60ish photo with the Bubble flip haircut, incidentally. So, where did the OSBI get that photo from? Family member likely, but as I noted when I spoke with the OSBI Public infomation officer, we need some serious disambiguation information on the missing person. For sure we need to know if her maiden name was **** or Farmer? What happened to the child she seemingly abandoned with a baby sitter? Does the OSBI know of any family members? and again, who reported her missing. . and we are not even considering her found vehicle a year later, and/or where it was found. As I told the agent, there are a lot of retired and otherwise not part of the workforce people here (on Websluths) with nothing but time to research these things and that is a case that is now 43 years in the rear view of time. (And if you want to see what real confusion and lack of info is, don't ever bother looking into the Lars Mittank dissapearance from Varna, Bulgaria in 2014 . . .But that is a whole nother wormhole.)

*I had initially checked city directories, and did not find the address as it was not in Oklahoma or Midwest City. And there is obviously no city directory for unincorporated areas. (the OKC listings in '81 show the city limits as a couple of miles shy of that far East of the city) Checking the old phone books I found a listing for that same address with the new associated name. As noted the listing was present in the May-79, May 80, and May 81 phonebooks for the Greater Oklahoma City area. But was not listed after the May of 81 listing or before the May of 79 listing.

 

[fsngruv]

Ha! Score #2 today.
But first. . .

Apologies for the typographical errors in my earlier posting. Midwest City is a suburban city and home to Tinker Air Force Base.

Secondly, I went to the Historical Society today and did some checking. I now have a name associated with the address I was given, that matches Deborah's last name: Farmer.* Looking back, he lived at that address from '79 to '81. He was not listed at that address before '79 or after '81. So now the following quesitons present:

1. Is/was this her father, or husband?
2. Why the delay in reporting her missing?
-Was this due to police reluctance to accept a missing persons report on a 26 year old woman or:
-Was this because, whomever lived at the house did NOT report her as missing? if so, why?

I am attaching a photo of the area where she lived and you can kind of see why the address may have added to the confusion: This is an Aerial image from 1982. The street that runs left to right is S.E. 29th. Both images have been lined up for a comparison of 1982 and today. The Street to the Right is Douglas Blvd. To the Left is the main runway for Tinker AFB. What a crappy place to live! (The area was found to be heavily contaminated with Chemicals from Tinker) as a result, the homes in that NE most location -actually outside of Tinker at the time) were later all torn down. The house has not existed for many years at this point.

The street that she was reported missing from was SE 32 and the address was an even one, meaning it would have been on the South side of the street. (North is UP in the photographs) The problem is that everything in the photo North of SE 29th is Midwest City. . . South is NOT Midwest City. The West and South ends of Tinker are Oklahoma city. This small bit of property is likely Oklahoma County. . not Oklahoma city, not Midwest City. So the next logical agency to speak with about a missing persons report would be the Oklahoma County Sheriffs office.

I have also reasonably well disabused myself of the notion that Mr. Farmer was anything BUT her father. He was apparently born in 1933 and had also passed. .. within the last 10 years.

It appears however that "Codenamefarm," was not only incorrect, BUT one is left to speculate what his intent may have been. For instance his earlier posts, he claims to be the son, and that the photo is Deborah's Senior High photo, and she graduated from Marlow HS in '72. But I posted a link to Marlow's yearbooks. . she is not in '70, '71, '72, '73 or '74. . not her name associated with any club or organization, and certainly not the photo. Why would she have gone to alll the trouble to get a nice Sr. picture, but having it omitted from the yearbook(s). I am sure that photo came from somewhere, but where?

(Nor am I precluding that the Deborah **** Farmer listed in Classmates.com and graduated from Midwest City High in 1974 is or is NOT the missing Deborah Farmer, but the name listing is just a bit coincidental. Wouldn't you think?)

Additionally, I have scanned the papers for a obituary for Mr. Farmer and possibly found one, that is as incomplete as Deborah's missing person information. I continue to research.

*I had initially checked city directories, and did not find the address as it was not in Oklahoma or Midwest City. And there is obviously no city directory for unincorporated areas. (the OKC listings in '81 show the city limits as a couple of miles shy of that far East of the city) Checking the old phone books I found a listing for that same address with the new associated name. As noted the listing was present in the May-79, May 80, and May 81 phonebooks for the Greater Oklahoma City area. But was not listed after the May of 81 listing or before the May of 79 listing.

Great job!!!!!! Do you think Mr Farmer was an airman? Perhaps that might suggest why there are no other ok connections, though, in my anecdotal story, I actually lived on a small afb and many locals were actually stationed there. Also, many locals marry military members and stick around while the spouse travels for the military.
I understand your discernment with the proclaimed "son", while I agree, what would be their motivation for lying, except for attention? Attention they never really went back to and received. The other issue, with the "son" info, I have seen it repeated in other social media, namely Facebook, and as it might be false it definitely throws a wrench in research. I also saw on a missing person report repost that she was a mother of five? Is that true??
I'm not sure what the situation was for the children, maybe they were told their mother abandoned them and didn't love them? Perhaps it was a tough subject to bring up and the children didn't have any access to their maternal grandparents to be able to freely ask questions like, what was mom's birthday? They had to been too young to really remember. It's definitely odd no one is actually looking for her, and terribly sad.
My hope is you find more out about her, you are definitely on the right track.
The other thing about her not appearing in the year book but having a senior picture... Maybe she was absent due to illness? She seems to have a lot of health issues, maybe she was pregnant her senior year and left early. Most senior pictures are taken during the summer before senior year?? It definitely is odd that her photo doesn't appear in a local year book!! Even the years before!!
Also, her car was discovered a year after her disappearance.... WHERE?!?!?!?!

 

[whorton]

I want to add a bit more about how the address was likely confusing. Oklahoma city is one of the larger cities (by Area) in the nation. It is currently at 621 square miles. The attached map (courtesy of OKC*) shows how OKC has largely encompassed the area. Tinker AFB was originally a Douglas DC-3/C-47 manufacturing plant set up during WWII. At that time, OKC was much smaller.

The white areas on the map are NON Oklahoma city areas. The small corner at the top Right of Tinker is where her house had been located. As noted above, it is now part of a superfund clean up site and these homes were demolished in the years since her disappearance. IIRC at that time (1981) that tiny square of land and most of the area due East was not part of OKC and if it was, there was confusion about it at the time.

I am not stating factually exactly what it was, but even the MWC detective that called me was a bit miffed that the information put out by the OSBI (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation) indicates her house was in Midwest city when everything south of 29th street was NOT Midwest City. The area was a bit more confused after Interstate 40 (seen in the photo in the last post -running East to West at the top) further confused the area as it was in the square mile bounded by 29th and what would have been 44th -the next mile throughfare South. However it was not completed due to Tinker AFB being right where the street would have gone. And Douglas to the East, and what would have been Midwest Blvd, had it been completed (North to South) but for Tinker. . .

Confused yet?

Additionally, Oklahoma city historically has been a bit loathe to respond to police calls on the far east side (especially small areas such as this one.) They are much better today, more than 40 years later!

* OKC boundries today: https://www.okc.gov/residents/do-i-live-in-oklahoma-city

Attached map Green is Oklahoma City. White is unincorporated or other cities. The area where we are talking about is Below the words MIDWEST CITY, and to the Right where I-40 (in Purple) starts the turn SSE. (and just north of Tinker AFB.)

 

[whorton]

Great job!!!!!! Do you think Mr Farmer was an airman? Perhaps that might suggest why there are no other ok connections, though, in my anecdotal story, I actually lived on a small afb and many locals were actually stationed there. Also, many locals marry military members and stick around while the spouse travels for the military.
I understand your discernment with the proclaimed "son", while I agree, what would be their motivation for lying, except for attention? Attention they never really went back to and received. The other issue, with the "son" info, I have seen it repeated in other social media, namely Facebook, and as it might be false it definitely throws a wrench in research. I also saw on a missing person report repost that she was a mother of five? Is that true??
I'm not sure what the situation was for the children, maybe they were told their mother abandoned them and didn't love them? Perhaps it was a tough subject to bring up and the children didn't have any access to their maternal grandparents to be able to freely ask questions like, what was mom's birthday? They had to been too young to really remember. It's definitely odd no one is actually looking for her, and terribly sad.
My hope is you find more out about her, you are definitely on the right track.
The other thing about her not appearing in the year book but having a senior picture... Maybe she was absent due to illness? She seems to have a lot of health issues, maybe she was pregnant her senior year and left early. Most senior pictures are taken during the summer before senior year?? It definitely is odd that her photo doesn't appear in a local year book!! Even the years before!!
Also, her car was discovered a year after her disappearance.... WHERE?!?!?!?!

Thanks for the kind words!

I am pretty sure I found some information that supports that Mr. Farmer was born in 1933. He could be the father of whomever she married, (assuming "Farmer" is a maiden name) As such perhaps she was living with the childs fathers parents -named Farmer. . .) or it could be that the listing on Classmates is fallacious as well. . but at least I was able to find a Debbie *** Farmer listed in the MWC Highschool yearbook in '74. . Or I could be totally off base.

I do know the address was something I did not have before AND it did check to an address in the MWC area in '81. I did take pictures of the listing and phone book covers to offer proof if needed. (And I say this because I am still struggling with CODENAMEFARM's statements that are also clearly fallacious. I had intended to double check the Marlow phone books (if the historical society has them) for several years to see if there was a family with the name Farmer (I know there was a young fellow a few years behind her that was named FARMER, but I have not clue if they are related or not at this point. If the name I have turns up in any MARLOW, OK phonebooks or City directory, then I am wrong. . but I am leaning towards not being wrong.

You asked about my thoughts on user CODENAMEFARM's statements. I have been considering that, and in looking those were his only postings here. IF you put that name into google, the results do not coorelate. I wonder if he is alluding to CODE NAME FARM, as there is some earlier questioning about the name. Coffee56 on 2 Apr 18, and six years later the case has garnered some posts, but no rush from any officials to clarify the matter. Coffee56 mentioned using Mylife and I had to use PEOPLEFINDERS to check the person on SE 32nd Streets name. (Which did include a middle initial in the listings) It was pretty easy as only one person by that name had lived in the OKC area. (Apr 2003 – Aug 2005 in Midwest City seems a good lead.. .) That one was there 3 years and born in '33. Certainly the right age for having a daughter about that age. (assuming she was born in '55)

By the way, the reason I am spilling this out in detail is, I need others to look at it and point out any logic problems or errors some of the fellow websluths may spot!

Back to CODENAMEFARM. . I can think of one more reason someone might deliberatly post incorrect information. . Especially given they only did it on ONE MISSING PERSON CASE. Ask yourself a hypothetical. . If I were a bad person and I had made a person disappear and I was curious and feeling guilty years later, how do I find out? Yeah, that could be pretty stressful. Hope I am wrong, but I am betting the internet has an address for the origins of that posting.

Regarding the senior picture. . .I considered that perhaps she was ill on picture day, but for three things:

1. Senior pictures are usually done by an independant photographer via an appointment. . No more of the come in, sit down and get a mug shot sort of pictures for younger kids.
2. Most yearbooks, especially smaller ones tend(ed) to either have silly little drawings the size of pictures that said something like "Picture not available" or "So sorry, playin hookey that day." OR alternatively, had a list at the end of the class of people in the class that had no picture. . Recall, Marlow. OK in 1970 was a town of a whopping 3,995 or so people. .
3. It just seems she went to a lot of trouble for that picture to have it conveniently omitted and her name not mentioned once in the whole time she was in HS in Marlow. . (assuming she was).

Too easy to go to a random picture on Classmates.com (even back in 2019 when he/she posted and pick a random school and a random person and [CONTROL] + [C] it. Think about it too.. . what if we have been looking at the wrong picture all this time? No Law Enforcement agency has bothered to provide data that clarifies who she is, or even where she was reported missing from. It took a detective telling me 43 years later. . so that info exists on some police report somewhere. It is not exactly the sort of secret information they keep from the public in murder cases. The reports are wrong that say she lived in MWC.

What else is reported that is incorrect or witheld for some reason?

And yeah, we still have the issue of the car. Did the police check to see if it had been stopped anywhere in the ensuing year? Who was driving? Why is WHERE it was found secret?
There is one other hint I've not checked on yet. A tidbit the OSBI Information officer told me. I will report on it when I have something to report, but I will chase it down.

Got nothing but time right now, and I'm one bored old guy!

 

[whorton]

tell me if I'm wrong, doesn't this woman's face look like Deborah's if her mouth were closed in that school photo? Her eyebrows look similar as well IMO. Anyone good with faces that can tell if this is close? Here is the Ancestry.com page I found this on. This is Marlow High School in 1971 - "Debbie Brown".
Also, I am not finding anything on a Deborah being married around 1972-81ish to anyone named Farmer, in OK. I would like to know the father of her son first, did they end up getting married? Did he see the child at all?

Well, let's see. . looking at the 1971 Marlow Year book there are two pictures of Debbie Brown, the one from the senior class on page 31 and then the one in the seniors section on p.89, attached:

Note name and year of Marlow High School in upper LEFT corner. . 1971 Marlow High school. And note the date and time I did the screen capture in the Lower RIGHT corner 21:46 CST 24 Sept. Clearly not the same girl in the OSBI picture circulating. . . note the name as well. . DEBBIE MAYERS BROWN. PErsonal opinion, She looks nothing like the 26 year old lady that disappeared from Midwest City in June of 1981. Incidentally this was from page 89 in the yearbook. Not to mention, this girl was in Basketball 5 years yearbook, powderpuff 2 years, lettermans club secretary. .

 

[whorton]

tell me if I'm wrong, doesn't this woman's face look like Deborah's if her mouth were closed in that school photo? Her eyebrows look similar as well IMO. Anyone good with faces that can tell if this is close? Here is the Ancestry.com page I found this on. This is Marlow High School in 1971 - "Debbie Brown".
Also, I am not finding anything on a Deborah being married around 1972-81ish to anyone named Farmer, in OK. I would like to know the father of her son first, did they end up getting married? Did he see the child at all?

Incidentally, here is the source of your photo: from page 31. I was totally unable to access the Ancestry page, even though I am a member. Would you mind posting a screen shot from that page?

Name seems to be wrong Debbie Myers Brown (Apparently she was married at this point) but the year could be right, But the senior pictures do not look simular to me at all. Anyone else?

I looked at a couple of years in each direction of '72 and with the information CODENAMEFARM offered, I just could not verify. Nor Duncan Ok, Lawton Ok, or Rush Springs HS either. (Nearest towns to Marlow) I am still contemplating why that person dropped off the site without a trace after just a few (5) posts. Just seems strange that someone would come by and offer info that was easy to check, and without more, impossible to verify. One does not want to let anyone on this site know they are mistaken, but does anyone have any other possible motives?