Missing From: Shreveport, Louisiana
Missing: July 19, 1996
Age at Disappearance: 26
Height: 5′ 7″
Weight: 120
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Distinguishing Characteristics: Scars, Marks, Tattoos: Caucasian Female. Double-pierced ears; Scar on left side of her neck.
Details of Disappearance: On July 19th 1996, O’Pry needed to run errands in her hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana. Eric Dale Mickelson, a friend of her boyfriend, agreed to drive O’Pry if she paid for his gasoline costs. Mickelson and O’Pry were riding in his white 1971 Chevrolet Fleetside pickup truck.
O’Pry’s boyfriend, Jerry “Todd” Dean, told investigators that Mickelson called him between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. on July 20, 1996, the day following O’Pry’s disappearance. Dean said that Mickelson told him he dropped O’Pry at the mall the previous evening. O’Pry lived with Dean and his friend, Wade Burnley, on Linwood Avenue at the time she was last seen. Dean did not inform O’Pry’s family that she never returned home until July 23, four days after she initially disappeared. O’Pry did not take any personal belongings with her when she vanished. She left behind her three-year-old daughter, something that her family said was completely uncharacteristic of her behavior. Mickelson refused to take a lie detector test, saying that he considers the devices unreliable. He was considered the prime suspect in O’Pry’s case, although for many years he maintained his innocence. He was subsequently charged with the unrelated murder of an elderly man. In 2007, while in prison awaiting trial on that charge, Mickelson confessed to O’Pry’s murder. He said he had strangled her and disposed of her body in a pond on his property on Woolworth Road, but later moved the remains to another location. Some months later, in August 2007, he was charged with second-degree murder in O’Pry’s case. Authorities stated they found unspecified evidence in the pond that corroborated his confession, but her body has not been located. Extensive searches have not yielded any clues as to O’Pry’s whereabouts. Foul play is suspected due to the circumstances involved in O’Pry’s disappearance.
Investigative Agency: Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office, (318) 929-7977 or (318) 675-2170
If you have any information related to this case, please contact CUE Center for Missing Persons at (910) 343-1131 or call the CUE Center 24-hour tip line at (910) 232-1687. All information submitted to CUE Center for Missing Persons is confidential.