October 3. 1996
AUSTIN, Texas, (Reuter) -- Texas police have opened an investigation into
the disappearance of famed American atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair, but
have few leads, her son said on Thursday.
William Murray, a Christian advocate who has been estranged from his mother
for more than a decade, said he filed a missing persons report with police
on Sept. 24.
O'Hair has not been heard from since leaving Austin in August 1995 after
telling associates she was headed to New York to picket the visit of Pope
John Paul II. A younger son, Jon Murray, 44, and a 31-year-old granddaughter,
Robin Murray-O'Hair, disappeared at the same time.
O'Hair gained national prominence when she won a landmark U.S. Supreme
Court case in 1963 outlawing school prayer. She later founded American
Atheists, a national organisation which fought to keep religion out of
government activities.
Murray said police told him earlier this week they had found his daughter
Robin's car, a 1985 Porsche, parked in a long-term parking lot at the Austin
airport.
"The car has been processed and there is nothing suspicious,"
Austin police spokesman Mike Burgess said, adding the car had been at the
airport for several months. "There is no indication of foul play."
If O'Hair is found and asks police not to disclose her whereabouts, Burgess
said police will quietly close the investigation. "It is not against
the law in Texas to be missing," Burgess said.
The day O'Hair disappeared, Murray said a typewritten note was left on
the door of the American Atheists' headquarters instructing the staff they
had been laid off. The family's dogs also were dropped off at a boarding
kennel with instructions they would be picked up later, he said.
But the atheist group continues to occupy a "million dollar office
complex" and a "quarter-million dollar home" that belonged
to his mother, Murray said.
Murray said he filed the missing persons report to end a "withering
fire" of media interest, particularly from tabloid newspapers. "I
am hoping the police ... can bring about some kind of closure," he
said.
Spike Tyson, a spokesman for the group, said Murray is less concerned about
finding his mother than getting hold of her assets. "Why is he doing
this now? Publicity. He needs money for his organisation," Tyson said.
"He hated his mother with a passion."
Murray heads an organisation called Government is Not God (GNG), a political
action committee based in Washington, D.C.