More than 51 years after 9-year-old Debbie Lynn Randall disappeared from a Marietta laundromat, her killer was finally identified last month. On Thursday, a local girls’ center built in the wake of her abduction and murder made sure her memory will live on.
The “Debbie Lynn Randall Memorial Butterfly Garden” was dedicated outside the Girls Inc. building on Manget Street, just a few blocks from where Debbie was last seen alive in January 1972.
It was a gruesome case that stunned the entire community, according to the detectives who worked it. But in the years that followed, the nonprofit Cobb-Marietta Girls Club was created to provide a safe space for the city’s young women.
Credit: Family photo
Credit: Family photo
Its founder, Joyce Dunaway-Parker, said she was deeply affected by the child’s brutal rape and killing, and started the club to protect others like her. The local girls club eventually merged with the larger Girls Inc.
“Truly something horrible and ugly happened to Debbie, but it woke us up,” Dunaway-Parker said. “Girls in this community had no place to gather to hang with their friends except for that laundromat where Debbie was stolen.”
Debbie’s body was found in the woods during a massive search 16 days after her abduction. Though the case went cold for decades, investigators never gave up hope of finding the killer. Last month, the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office announced the case had been solved, thanks in part to advances in DNA technology.
Investigators said evidence from 1972 helped identify William B. Rose as Debbie’s killer. But the Mableton man killed himself in 1974 and can’t be held accountable. He had never been on their radar.
“It was terrible,” said Rupert Raines, an 86-year-old Marietta resident who was working as a patrol officer the day Debbie went missing. “Stuff like that just didn’t happen here. It shocked the community, but it brought everybody together.”
His sentiment was echoed by retired detective Morris Nix, who was assigned to Debbie’s cold case during his time with the Kennesaw Police Department.
“I remember the day this happened, and it overwhelmed this community,” Nix said. “Marietta is somewhat a city with two sides of the track. But on that day, it brought everybody together.”
At the time of her murder, Debbie was a third-grader at Pine Forest Elementary School. More than five decades later, girls from what is now the Marietta Center for Advanced Academics helped paint the stones that line her memorial garden.
For Melvin Randall, finding his little sister’s killer was the news his family had longed for. Both of his parents died in recent years without knowing who killed their daughter. As Debbie’s older brother and protector, Randall said he always felt partly responsible for what happened.
But he was moved to tears during Thursday’s ceremony, and told the crowd that he knew his parents and Debbie were there in spirit. Randall then joined local officials and retired law enforcement as they released scores of butterflies into his sister’s memorial garden.
“Y’all brought a big man like myself to my knees today,” Randall said. “I’ll always remember this for the rest of my life.”
