Faye Eva Whatley

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Bastrop County Sheriffs Office (TX)

Missing From:

Bastrop, Texas

Summary:

Faye Eva Whatley, age 68, disappeared with her husband John in January 1976 from their home near Bastrop, Texas. When family reported them missing after they failed to appear at their granddaughter's wedding, law enforcement found their house deserted with a bullet hole through a window and the bedroom door missing. The couple has never been found, and the case remains unsolved.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

Faye and her husband John were scheduled to attend their granddaughter's wedding rehearsal in Houston on January 30, 1976, and the wedding itself on January 31. When they failed to appear, family members asked police to conduct a wellness check. On January 31 at 10:30 p.m., a Bastrop County sheriff's deputy went to their residence at Hill's Prairie, approximately six miles south of Bastrop, and found the house deserted. The deputy discovered a bullet hole through the windowpane and shade of the front of the house. The bullet was later determined to be .22 caliber and had been fired from inside the house, not outside, at waist-level height. Besides the bullet hole, there were no signs of a struggle and no bloodstains. Notably, the Whatleys' minister stated they seldom if ever pulled their shades down, making the closed shade unusual. Both of the couple's vehicles were parked in the garage. Hunters reported seeing a blue or green van or pickup truck traveling at high speed toward the Whatley residence at approximately 9:45 p.m. on January 27. The vehicle returned in the opposite direction about an hour later but was never identified. Although the last confirmed sighting of the couple occurred on January 26, authorities believed they disappeared either late on January 27 or early on January 28, based on mail found in the house (January 27 newspaper open inside, January 28 issue still in the mailbox).

Additional Details:

An extensive search of the local area turned up no sign of the Whatleys. The mahogany bedroom door, which had been removed from its hinges, was discovered approximately one year after the couple's disappearance in the loft of a barn that had been previously searched multiple times. A latch John had installed to keep the door from slamming had been forcibly damaged, and there were scratch marks on the front door of the residence that could have been made as the bedroom door was carried through. One theory suggests the door was used as a stretcher to remove the couple or their bodies from the house. John Whatley was a self-made millionaire who had operated a small dairy in what is now Austin, Texas starting in the 1920s. He later sold the dairy and invested in land which he resold for $500,000 cash. His assets at the time of disappearance totaled somewhere between $2 and $7 million. John and Faye owned Mercedes-Benz cars but were not conspicuously wealthy and kept to themselves. John had moved to the Bastrop area about twenty years prior to his disappearance, and he and Faye married in 1972. They had few close friends and no known enemies. John's only son, Barney Whatley, was questioned by investigators but then hired an attorney and declined to take a polygraph test. Faye had an adult daughter and an adult son who had been killed in a plane crash. In 1984, serial killer Henry Lee Lucas confessed to the murders of John and Faye Whatley and claimed to have disposed of their bodies. However, there was no evidence to corroborate his confession, and the couple were never found. Lucas had a well-documented history of confessing to crimes he did not commit, making his confession in this case highly suspect. It remains unclear whether Lucas is still officially considered a suspect. The case has never been solved, and no trace of either Faye or John Whatley has ever been recovered.

Case Last Updated:

Sep 04, 2026