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1986 Akers, Ruby 1-?-86; Sherman, TX - age 75
Topic Started: Jul 26 2010, 07:28 AM (322 Views)
tatertot
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http://www.heralddemocrat.com/hd/News/7-26-2010-Ruby-Akers

Updated Sunday, July 25, 2010 7:34 PM
Cold Case: Ruby Akers
BY MARY JANE FARMER
HERALD DEMOCRAT

"The years are hard to live with not knowing what happened when anyone's loved one just disappears," retired Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Charles Carey said when talking about the 1986 disappearance of Ruby Akers. "You can't give up, we just want to find out what happened to her." Sometimes, even after 20 or 30 years, a person can come forward with just the right information that could close the case.

Ruby Akers was 75 years old when she disappeared. She was reported to have walked away from the Sherman Nursing Center in the middle of a cold, but sunny January day, wearing only a green and red shirt with matching green pants. The sweater she constantly wore, even indoors at the home, was folded and left on her bed, and her eyeglasses and dentures were in their places on the nightstand.

Family, friends, law enforcement and even perfect strangers searched for her for days and weeks, to no avail. In effect, the investigation turned cold less than a month later.

Sherman police had considerable help from law enforcement at the city, county and state levels, according to Carey and to Mrs. Akers grandson, Daniel Akers, who still seeks an answer in spite of the passage of time. Bob Akers, Mrs. Akers' son and Daniel Akers' father, died never knowing what happened, and he was never able to bury his mother, and he never found away to fill that void, Daniel Akers said.

Daniel Akers talked about that last day and the hours that preceded his grandmother's disappearance.

"We had gone down to eat with her, lunch, and then had a funeral to go to in Bells. We went to the funeral and then went back to the house. My dad's shipping clerk was sitting on our front porch. He walked to the car and said, "Bob, your mom is missing."

Akers added that his grandmother had moments of confusion, but was not diagnosed "full-blown with Alzheimer's disease. She was starting to get confused, but still very functional. She loved to walk, but was slowing down some."

Daniel Akers said Mrs. Akers was in the home only temporarily. She had fallen at her house and dislocated a shoulder.

"A Sherman Democrat paper carrier driving by saw her on the steps and helped her into the house. He called us. We went over there and found her lying on the side of the bed, her arm and shoulder bleeding," Akers said. After she was helped medically, the family wanted her to be somewhere with continual care until the injury healed and she could get back to her home. She was there about two months.

In the meantime, he said, she had cut a finger and that wound required a few stitches. That particular Sunday, she was due to get those stitches out, and was eager to get that done.

He said the family was told that after they left for the funeral, she had walked to the nurse's station and asked the nurse when she would get those stitches out. The nurse replied that she had to go take care of another resident, but as soon as that was finished, she would take care of Mrs. Akers' stitches. It was 10 minutes later, around 3 p.m., that the nurse returned, only to find no sign of her charge, except to note that she had apparently returned to her room, removed her sweater, eyeglasses and dentures, then left the building.

Newspaper reports from that time said that Sherman Police Chief J.D. Pickens had every member of the Sherman Police Department out searching, including himself and reserves. In the beginning, the articles said, they concentrated the search around Baker Park. Carey said that he had the DPS helicopter come to the area and it searched the nearby creek bed, which he described as having steep embankments and heavy foliage. As he flew overhead, he remembers, he saw many people walking on the banks and searching. Others drove the area, searching, and the earlier reports said they searched all the heavily wooded areas, streets and alleys throughout Sherman, expanding the perimeter as time passed.

Salvation Army volunteers served searchers sandwiches and refreshments, as did a friend who lived nearby, Billie Kvestad. There were a few tips that came in, people who thought they may have seen her at a local grocery store or elsewhere, and all of those were checked out.

Daniel Akers said staff at the home were instructed not to speak with the family, but that the family received a few anonymous calls indicating she had accidentally been given an overdose of thorazine, and had died at the home. The callers told the family, Akers said, that her body was discarded.

Police never confirmed that, according to all information released at the time.

"We drove, night and day, after the authorities stopped the foot searches," Akers said, and added that many of those law enforcement officers who had helped on the job continued, including Grayson County deputies, DPS troopers, and off-duty Sherman police and firefighters.

Carey was one of those who kept up the search. He said he brought the DPS helicopter back several times.

"A lot of people knew my grandmother, both from the washeteria she ran for years and because she liked to walk. She would walk to downtown Sherman and stop at Knight's Furniture and at Braum's, saying hello to friends," Akers said.

Raymond Dale Hodge remembers going to the washeteria, where he got his hand caught in an old wringer-type washing machine. Mrs. Akers got it out for him, he told Daniel Akers this past Friday.

"If she showed her face in public after her disappearance, or if someone saw her walking, they would have known her," Akers added.

Carey said he and former Grayson County Sheriff Jack Driscoll, who was involved in the search, talked about Mrs. Akers last week, that she has never left their minds, and both men, along with family, want to know what happened.

"Dad was depressed enough about that (putting his mother in the home), and when this (her disappearance) came up, it became torture. It's a mind-blowing thing. That emptiness is there, someone you are used to seeing every single day of your life, is gone, instantly. Even to this day, there's no tombstone, no grave to go visit. There are so many things that don't add up, but no way to investigate," Akers lamented.

Carey, a 39-year Texas Highway Patrol veteran stressed, "Keep your mind open. Anything you remember could still be a help. You never know." He added that it was not unusual for so many people to help with searches. "Some are still looking. Danny's been a good friend, and it would be nice if they could find out what happened."

Anyone with information, no matter how minute it might seem, is urged to call Sherman police at 903-892-7290.
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