Betty Sue Foster
Born: Saturday, March 19, 1966
Died: Monday, December 12, 1983
Age: 17
Race: White
Gender: Female
Where: Inside a chain link fence at 78th Street (Hillsborough County Utilities Dept. Progress Village Sewage Treatment Plant) between Riverview Drive and Madison Ave., Tampa, FL
Case Number: 1983-231117
Description: The body of Betty Sue Foster was found in the weeds beside a chain link fence at the Progress Village sewage treatment plant. She had been shot in the chest.
Betty Sue Foster - Unsolved Homicide | HCSO, Tampa FL
Whatever ill befell Betty when she died, detectives think it may have happened on Dec. 11, after the Progress Village Sewage Treatment Plant had closed. The spot where her body was found, a dense thicket with signs declaring "No Dumping," was accessible through a 2-foot gap in a chained, padlocked gate.
What's known is this: Two nights earlier, Betty had an argument with Guy Watts, her boyfriend. When it escalated, Watts told Betty he was going to send her back to Oklahoma. She became quiet. Then, she left. She told friends that she needed to cool down. She never returned.
"What's interesting is I have a gap in my timeline," Messer said. "We believe she was alive for at least 24 hours doing something."
Watts, an obvious potential suspect, was ruled out. He had a solid alibi for the time Betty was missing. And despite their argument, he was not known for violent tendencies.
- Excerpt from Thirty years later, a family hopes for a break in Hillsborough murder
