Marylyn Theriault:1982, Sayre, Oklahoma

   


  Marylyn Teresa Theriault was born on July 16th, 1960 in Nashua, New Hampshire. There was actually another woman with the same name. I wasn’t able to find out if they were related. 


  I wasn’t able to find out very much about her early life and her family. I don't know how she ended up traveling. We do know that Marylyn was last seen alive at a truck stop in Amarillo, Texas on Friday August 6th, 1982. 




  On Saturday August 7th, 1982, Marylyn Theriault was found under a bridge on Interstate 40 and just south of Sayre, Oklahoma. That bridge crosses over the Red River. I wasn't able to determine if she was in the water or on the land there. 

It’s a very scenic and memorable spot along the Interstate. Sayre is in Western Oklahoma. It’s just about a two hour drive from Amarillo, Texas. 




  Marylyn was found without any clothing. She had been sexually assaulted. Duct tape had been used to bind her and asphyxiate her. She had also been strangled. 


   Her case very quickly went cold. She was a woman with no identification found along the roadway. In those days there was very little that they could have done to determine who killed Marylyn. 1982 was three years before the very first case was successfully prosecuted using DNA in the United Kingdom. Other cases followed and now DNA testing is very commonly used. 


  To me, this looks like a murder that Jerry Leon Johns might have committed. He was a serial killer trucker from Flat Rock, Michigan. That’s a small town outside Detroit. 


  In March of 1985, he almost killed a woman in Knoxville, TN. He followed her from a late night restaurant where she was having a meal with friends she had met at the dance club where she worked. He claimed to be an undercover narcotics officer as he followed her to her car. He physically overpowered her and abducted her. He sexually assaulted, beat and strangled her. But, she survived and was able to describe her attacker to police. Jerry Leon Johns was in prison from then until he died. But, while he was sitting in a cell, police investigators were looking into his other possible crimes. 


  In 2018, three years after Jerry Leon Johns passed away, police linked him to the December 1984 murder of Tina Marie McKenney Farmer. She was found off the side of I-75 near Jellico, Tennessee. Her family said that she had accepted a ride from a trucker who had promised to take her south so she could find work. 


   That spot along the interstate is a very inconvenient and difficult place to stop. One one side there is the rocky side of the mountain. On the other side, the southbound side, is a steep wooded cliffside. On January 1st, 1985, Tina was found there but she was not alone. Another set of remains had been there since 1978. 

   

   Tracy Sue Walker was identified as the other victim. She was only a young teen when she was last seen in Lafayette, Indiana in 1978. 


   That spot is very scenic and very memorable. When I drove through there in 2021 I realized that I had traveled that same road as a little kid on a family vacation.  The view is very memorable. 


   He became known as the Red Headed Killer as some of the victims it was believed that he had killed had red hair. I don’t think he limited himself to victims with red hair. 


  In my research in the last couple of years, I began seeing a great many female victims found by the side of the interstates in very memorable and scenic spots. Most of those spots are very inconvenient places to stop. That might have been a plus for Johns. It was less likely that another truck or car would stop to see if he needed help. (I have a list if you are an investigator and would like it. I have submitted tips with law enforcement in those places. I also have a YouTube playlist that includes each case.) 


  There’s a few variations of how he obtained victims. He stalked some at late night restaurants. He offered rides. He pretended to be a police officer and simply abducted them. 


  I haven’t found Marylyn’s final resting place. It is possible that she was buried in Oklahoma. She was only 22. How did she end up out there traveling the road? Was she headed back east to go home? 


  She had a whole lifetime ahead of her. She was only 22 and still figuring out what she wanted out of life. She should have been here to live that life. 


  Rest in peace, Marylyn. 


  If you have information about the death of Marylyn Theriault, please contact the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation at 800- 522-8017 or email:

 tips@osbi.ok.gov


  


   


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