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Debra Larned - "Orange Socks"

In the late afternoon of October 31 1979, the body of a young woman was found in a culvert of I-35 just north of Georgetown TX. It was later determined she had been there for perhaps 12 hours. She was nude except for a pair of bright orange socks, and had no personal identifying belongings with her. She became known as Orange Socks.

The location where Orange Socks was found in 1979

The location where Orange Socks was found in 1979

Henry Lee Lucas

When information was released about the victim, the sheriff 250 miles north in Montague contacted Williamson County to say he had a suspect in custody for homicide in his jurisdiction and perhaps the suspect was involved in the Orange Socks case as well. Williamson County Sheriff Boutwell interviewed suspect Henry Lee Lucas in Montague, and Lucas confessed to the Orange Socks case. He was convicted of the homicide. Lucas eventually claimed to have committed hundreds of homicides. He died in prison in 2001. Investigators now believe he was not involved in this case.

Detectives compared the unknown victim’s fingerprints and dental records to cases all over the US and Canada over the years with no success. Karen Taylor did a sketch in 1990 and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children also did a sketch, but Orange Socks remained unidentified.

Matalie Murry's postmortem image

Early postmortem image by Karen T. Taylor

Early postmortem image by NCMEC

Early postmortem image by NCMEC

When forensic artist Natalie Murry joined the unit in 2019, she drew a new digital image of Orange Socks. Within 2 days of the release of the new image, Angie Larned contacted the Sheriff’s Office to advise she believed Orange Socks was her missing sister Debra. She met with the detectives and provided a DNA sample to compare to the sample that had already been taken from Orange Socks. DNA Doe Project was already working on building a family tree for the unknown victim.

Angie Larned gave investigators information about her maternal ancestors. Detectives coordinated with DNA Doe Project to build Angie’s family tree and compare it to the tree for the unknown victim. They were able to find several ancestors in common, leading them to believe they were on the right track and that Angie’s sister was indeed Orange Socks. When Angie’s DNA results came back, it confirmed she was the sister of the victim who had been known as Orange Socks for the past 40 years.

Natalie Murry's postmortem image

Natalie Murry's Postmortem image

Photo of Debra Larned

Photo of Debra Larned

Detectives are attempting to rebuild Debra’s last months in 1979 and find out who killed her. Debra was living in Abilene before she ran away. It’s unknown how she ended up in the Georgetown area. If you think you have any information about Debra, please contact the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit.

DNA Doe Project which can be found at https://dnadoeproject.org/

 
Old Headstone

Old Headstone
Rockdale Memorial Company was generous enough to replace the previous "Unidentified Woman" grave marker at the IOOF Cemetery with a beautiful new stone.

 
New Headstone

Old Headstone
Detectives Jason Cox and Natalie Murry from Williamson County Sheriff's Office, Pat Zapata and Paul Luckey from Rockdale Memorial Company, and Angie Larned with her daughter Tracy Morgan and granddaughter.

 
If you have information on one of our cases...

Please contact us at coldcasetips@wilco.org or 512-943-5204.