The 33 Year Mystery: Eva Marie Murphy

In this episode of Hunting 4 Answers: On Halloween night, 1988, 29-year-old mother of two Eva Marie Murphy walked out of a Miami boarding house and vanished into the night. Her family would spend the next 33 years searching for answers, haunted by the question of whether she was still alive or if something terrible had happened. When DNA technology finally brought the truth to light in 2021, it revealed one heartbreaking fact and left behind a web of unanswered questions that may never be solved. If you have any information about Eva Marie Murphy or the circumstances surrounding her disappearance and death, please contact the Miami-Dade Police Department at 305-715-3300 or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.

This is the story of Eva Marie Murphy. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hunting for Answers is a production of the Black Effect
Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. Welcome to Hunting for Answers, a
true crime podcast. I'm your host Hunter, and today we're
highlighting a case that happened On Halloween Night nineteen eighty eight,
a twenty nine year old mother of two walked out

(00:20):
of a Miami boarding house and vanished. Her family would
spend the next thirty three years wondering if she was
alive somewhere or if something terrible had happened. Her father
described the unbearable weight of not knowing, especially during the holidays.

(00:41):
In twenty twenty one, after more than three decades of searching,
advances in DNA technology finally gave her family answers. But
those answers came with new questions that may never be solved.
This is this Glory of Eva Marie Murphy. Eva was

(01:08):
twenty nine years old in the fall of nineteen eighty eight.
She stood about five feet four inches tall, weighed around
one hundred and sixty pounds, and had black hair and
brown eyes. Her hair was described as having an Afro
Indian texture, which she often wore in a short afro
or updo. Her ears were pierced, and she had a

(01:31):
small scar on her abdomen, scars on the soles of
her feet, and a small birthmark on one of her fingers.
It's unclear what Eva was wearing that night she disappeared,
but she was known for her casual style, usually blue jeans, sneakers,
and a gold chain with a cross pendant. Eva was

(01:55):
a mother of two young children who were being cared
for by their grandmother at the time. She sometimes went
by Eva Marie Rodgers and lived in a boarding house
and the ten thy two hundred block of Southwest one
hundred seventy sixth Street and the Peary neighborhood of Miami
Dade County. It's about fifteen miles southwest of downtown Miami.

(02:21):
October thirty first, nineteen eighty eight, Halloween night in Miami, Florida.
Families were out celebrating. The neighborhood looked like any other,
but for Eva Marie Murphy, that Halloween would be the
last night she was ever seen alive. Sometime that evening,

(02:42):
she left the boarding house she resided in. She didn't
seem to tell anyone where she was going or who
she planned to meet. She just left and After that,
she was never seen again. When Eva didn't return, her
family grew worried. They filed a missing person report with

(03:03):
the Miami Dade Police Department. Officers initiated the search, but
this was nineteen eighty eight, before cell phones, GPS, and
social media, and when an adult went missing back then,
with no obvious signs of foul play, police often assumed

(03:23):
they left voluntarily, so her case went cold. Years passed,
the nineteen nineties, the two thousands, then the twenty tens.
Eva's children grew up without her, and her family felt
that loss with every passing birthday, holiday and milestone. In

(03:45):
nineteen ninety one, three years after she vanished, her father,
Edmund Rogers, spoke to the Miami Herald, saying, if we
knew for sure that she was dead, we could maybe
accept it and move on. But this way, two years
without hide nor hair, it's hard. Especially around Christmas time.

(04:09):
Eva would always come over and we'd have a big
tree and the babies would be there while we wrapped presents.
While Eva's family waited for answers, another crisis grew in
Miami Dade County. According to reports, more than three hundred
unidentified remains sat in the County's Medical Examiner files, two

(04:32):
hundred thirty three of them were still active, with quote
a good shot of being solved. One of those cases
was a woman whose badly decomposed remains were found in
a field in Miami Dade County in April nineteen eighty nine.
She became another Jane Doe, a woman without her name

(04:54):
known and her story unknown as well. By two thousand nine, eineteen,
technology had shifted, DNA testing was stronger, and genealogical databases
had grown. Detective Suzanne Goudy of the Miami Dade Police
Department and Investigator Brittany McLaren of the Medical Examiner's office

(05:17):
began scanning old files matching missing persons reports with unidentified remains.
The Jane Doe from April nineteen eighty nine stood out
the timing, the location, the similar description. Could she be
Eva Marie Murphy. The team reached out to Eva's family

(05:40):
and asked for DNA. The family agreed after more than
three decades of waiting. In July twenty twenty one, thirty
three years after Eva disappeared, the match came in the
remains found in that field in nineteen eighty nine. Where
I identified as Eva Marie Murphy. Thirty three years. That's

(06:06):
how long her family waited until they got some sense
of closure. Yet the questions still remain. How did Eva
end up in that field? What happened after she left
the boarding house that night? Was this an accident or
something more sinister. The autopsy could not determine how she

(06:29):
passed away or whether foul play was involved. Her case
remains unsolved. Eva's case shows what persistence and technology can
really achieve, but it also reminds us of the cost
that it can come with years without answers, many families

(06:50):
left in limbo and lives forever changed. Eva Marie Murphy
left her home on Halloween night nineteen eighty eight and
was never seen again. Let her story serve as a
reminder to stay aware, stay vigilant, and look out for
yourself and one another. Our thoughts and prayers are with

(07:14):
the family and friends of Eva Marie Murphy. If you
have any information about Eva's untimely passing, please contact the
Miami Dade Police Department or Miami Dade Crime Stoppers. You
can find their contact information in the description box below.
As we close out this episode, remember to share Eva's story.

(07:37):
Someone somewhere knows what happened on that Halloween night in
nineteen eighty eight, and spreading awareness could help bring the
justice her family has waited over three decades for follow
Hunting for Answers to stay updated on Eva's case and
others like it, Subscribe on YouTube and follow us on

(07:57):
Instagram and TikTok for more true crime content in case updates,
Thank you so much for joining us on another episode
until next time. Hunting for Answers is a production of

(08:22):
the Black Effect Podcast Network. For more podcasts from the
Black Effect Podcast Network, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
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