Details of Disappearance
Murray was last seen in Peoria, Illinois on April 1, 1994. She has never been heard from again. Murray is one of several missing women from the Peoria area; others include Stephanie Gibson and Loretta Tinkham. Another woman named Sheryl Murwin vanished from Peoria in 1994; her skull was found in 2001 and identified in 2003. Arlie Ray Davis was convicted of the murder of another Illinois woman in the late 1990s. Prostitutes working in the Peoria area reported that Davis enjoyed strangling and beating them in the early 1990s. Investigators said that he suffered from a sexual dysfunction and felt inferior towards women.
Authorities do not know if the cases are related, but it is possible that the women came into contact with Davis. He died after suffering a heart attack in prison in October 2002. Davis consistently maintained his innocence in the disappearances. Several unidentified female bodies have been located in the Peoria area in recent years, but the victims are not believed to be related to the missing women's cases.