After 8 Months, Atheist Leader Still Missing
by Juan Palomo,
Austin American Statesman 

Austin, Texas – it has been almost a month since Madeline Murray O’Hair left her Austin home – ostensibly to go to New York to pick up the pope’s appearances there, and then take a vacation.

The world’s most famous atheist never arrived in New York, and there have been no substantiated sightings of her since then, or of her son, John Garth Murray, 41, or her adopted granddaughter, 30 year old Robin Murray O’Hair.

They’re disappearances prompted many stories about their whereabouts, and why they left – ranging from speculation, that Mrs. O’Hare, a 77 year old diabetic, is dead to a belief they are on a mission for their cause.

Their departure hass left, friends and supporters, wondering why, Mrs. O’Hair-who “lived and breathe the business of atheism,” as one of her attorneys put it – would disappear.

American Atheists Inc., the organization founded by Mrs. O’Hair after she settled in Austin in 1965, has been in disarray for months. It’s leaders are trying to put the pieces back together while fending off reporters more interested in the family’s disappearance than the work of the group, which has about 50,000 members.

“It’s consuming all of our time,” said Ellen Johnson, president of the organization, from her home in Boonton, New Jersey. “It’s hampering our work.”

The threesome apparently left Austin with at least one of the two cars the family I don’t. Mr. Murray’s 1988 Mercedes-Benz 420 SEL was sold to a San Antonio resident last July. The buyer said he had no idea who Mr. Murray what is one responding to an ad. Mrs. Murray O’Hair, 1985 Porsche 944 has not been seen by neighbors since about the time of her disappearance. The license tag expired April 30, and no renewal has been recorded. 


Disappearances wear a shock to Arnold Via, one of the last people outside Mrs. O’Hair’s inner circle to see her. They spent a quiet day at his home in Virginia Shenandoah Valley a month earlier.

 “They definitely, absolutely had plans to picket the pope in New York on October 2,” he said. “Then bang, just like that, they disappear.”

Mr Via, who described Mrs. O’Hair as “like my second mother” said the three were very cheerful.

“They enjoyed the day with me”, he said. “We didn’t talk shop, just relaxed. As far as I was concerned, she was going to live forever.”

He said Mr. Murray discussed how he would return to Virginia to pick up several dozen boxes of atheist archival material for the centers library.

Mr Via believes the three were kidnapped, perhaps even killed, by one of Mrs. O’Hair’s enemies. He plans to ask the FBI to investigate as soon as he can determine whether he has legal standing as an officer of the organization.

What happened, Mrs. Johnson, now president of the organization is getting fed up.

“Not knowing what’s going on, is frustrating,” she said. “Everybody wants to know, and they point to you.”

She speculates the three “had to leave to do whatever they’re doing,” explaining that to have stayed here would’ve involved too many hassles for them.

Mrs. Johnson said that, based on conversations, with Mrs. O’Hair before she left town, she has “a very good idea ” what the three are doing.

For a hunch is correct, she added, “I want to keep my mouth shut because it doesn’t answer a lot of questions. Besides, why would I give it away? It would compromise their privacy.”

Some former associates speculate, Mr. Murray and Mrs. Murray O’Hair have disappeared – as a result of either Mrs. O’Hair’s death or a serious illness.

Former members are less charitable. Several say they believe the three took money from the organization, and went to New Zealand, home of the New Zealand Rationalist Association, which was once headed by an ally of Mrs. O’Hair’s.


Distributed by Cox News Service