In late August of 1971 11-year-old Johnnye Henderson should have been entering the sixth grade alongside her peers. One morning, however, her mother returned home from a short trip to the store to find Johnnye had vanished. The Odessa Police Juvenile Division didn’t seem too worried about the disappearance, since there were no signs of foul play and civilians who’d searched the large field behind her home said they hadn’t found her there. But when Major Crimes Detectives came on the case three days later, they found Johnnye’s body, which was in an advanced state of decomposition. Though a cause of death could not be determined, Johnnye Henderson’s death was clearly a homicide.

If you have any information about the 1971 murder of 11-year-old Johnnye Janelle Henderson, please call Odessa Crime Stoppers at (432) 333-8477 or submit a tip at the Odessa Crime Stoppers website: https://www.333tips.org/unsolved-crimes

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Source for this episode: The Odessa American.

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