Heather Danyelle Teague:1995, Newburgh Beach, Kentucky

   

  Tim Walthall rented a waterfront home in Newburgh, Indiana in August of 1995. He enjoyed the view of the river with barges and other boats passing. He also used a telescope to look across the River at the wooded areas of Kentucky. It’s a beautiful area and watching the river flow by is usually very peaceful.

   On August 26th, 1995 he saw a lone sunbather on that shore. It wasn’t really a proper beach but a spot that locals knew. Young people sometimes went to that bottomland to party at night. It is called Newburgh Beach because of its location across from Newburgh, Indiana. 

  August 26th 1995 was hot and sunny and a young woman had gone there alone to work on her tan. She was probably hoping for complete privacy, peace and quiet. 

   Tim Walthall using the telescope was violating her privacy but she was in public and in the end maybe it is good, in a way, that he did. If he hadn’t been looking that way then no one would have ever known what happened that day. 

   As Mr. Walthall peered through the telescope that day he saw a man come out of the woods and approach the young woman on the towel. The man grabbed her by her hair and began dragging her off the beach and into the woods. 

  She lost her bathing suit top and her towel as he dragged her violently away. All of this is happening like a silent film playing out as he watches helplessly through the telescope.

  Tim Walthall felt sickened and near panic as he called the police. He reported everything he saw and described the abductor and the victim. 

  The Evansville Police Department responded immediately and coordinated efforts with officers in Kentucky. They found the towel and other evidence. They did not find the young woman. 

  Word spread quickly as police questioned locals. Had anyone seen anything? Luckily for investigators, farmers in the area had been fed up with people partying on that isolated riverbank beach. They were tired of the trash, the fires and the trouble of it all. They had paid someone to videotape cars that were coming in and out of the area. The landowners/farmers quickly turned the tapes over to the police. 

   This narrowed the suspect pool down considerably. 

   Police zeroed in on one man. Marvin Ray Dill. The vehicle spotted on the tapes was not around anymore.  He was driving something different now. A search warrant was issued and the vehicle from the videotapes was located hidden in brush on the 28 acres that his family owned.

  Marvin Ray Dill committed suicide before officers could take him into custody at his trailer on September 1st 1995. 

  (Back in February 1995, Dill, who was a married man,  had been arrested in Evansville for allegedly trying to lure women and children into his vehicle and soliciting for sex. He had drugs, alcohol, duct tape, gloves and rope in his vehicle.)

  But who was the victim? Where was she? Was she still alive? 

   Heather Teague was 23. She was born April, 25th 1972. She grew up in Dixon, Kentucky. Heather was active at school and was a cheerleader at Webster County High School. She had dreams and goals. She had a loving family and many friends.

   Authorities and Heather’s family searched for her day after day. Tim Walthall, who witnessed the horrific abduction through the telescope, volunteered to help search. 

   Heather’s mother was desperate for answers. She called Marvin Ray Dill’s wife repeatedly begging her for information. I think any mother would do the same. Dill’s wife sued; claiming harassment. Dill’s wife did not win that lawsuit. 

  No amount of searches and pleading for information has ever resulted in bringing Heather home. 

   Heather Teague has never been found. She was most likely sexually assaulted and killed within minutes of being abducted there on the beach. It is unlikely that Marvin Ray Dill was able to take her very far away from the area considering how fast authorities were onto him after the abduction. 

   Her remains are still missing as I write this in 2025. 

   Hopefully someone will stumble upon them one day so that Heather can be laid to rest where her family can pay their respects. 

   Some other questions to ponder: What else did Marvin Ray Dill do before August 1995? Was Dill alone that day in August? 

  Heather’s family has never given up. They continue to push for more investigation and testing of evidence. 

If you have information relating to the abduction of Heather Teague please submit a tip:

https://www.kentuckystatepolice.ky.gov/tip