Debra Durrance Pritchett was 25 and a mother of four when she was last seen on January 31, 1998, in Mobile County, Alabama. She left a message saying her nursing classes were canceled and had plans to meet a friend at Austin’s Party Palace that evening, but she never arrived and was never heard from again. Family and friends say it would have been out of character for her to leave voluntarily, especially with an infant who had recently undergone heart surgery.

Suspicion early on centered on her husband, Clarence Pritchett. Clarence had previously shot Debra’s ex-husband in September 1996; that victim survived and Clarence later pleaded guilty to attempted murder in that separate case. Clarence reported Debra missing and, despite long-standing suspicion, has not been charged in her disappearance. Investigators later described the initial inquiry as lacking.

The case remained classified as endangered missing until new technology prompted the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office to reopen the investigation in August 2023 and to conduct an excavation at the Wilmer residence on Auble Moody Road where Debra was last known to be. Debra is described as a Caucasian female, 5 feet 6 inches, about 130 pounds, with brown hair, hazel eyes and a dolphin tattoo on her right ankle. Any readers who knew Debra or have information about that night are asked to come forward.