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Debbie Randall

Zone 7 Legends: Detective Morris Nix and the Solved Cold Case of Debbie Lynn Randall
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On January 13, 1972, 9-year-old Debbie Lynn Randall was abducted and murdered after leaving a laundromat in Marietta, Georgia.

Debbie was a typical little girl who loved cheerleading, baby dolls, Barbie dolls, and playing with her friends. One of her favorite things to do was meet friends at the Suds n Duds laundromat, close to her home on First Street, and trade Barbie outfits with friends.

It’s the place where her family did their weekly laundry, including a 7 p.m. visit on January 13, 1972. Her stepfather, Robert Hooker, was with her but left early. Thirty minutes later, Debbie walked out of the laundromat, and with a bottle of detergent in her hand, walked toward her home. She never made it.

There were “some clues” available near her body, but after clearing family members and investigating every person of interest possible, including serial killers, rapists, and other felons, detectives were still coming up short. During the 1970s and up until the mid-1990s, DNA testing wasn’t available.

From psychics giving wrong information to false confessions, Cobb detectives exhausted most options until recently, when familial DNA testing became available.

In this episode of “Zone 7,” Crime Scene Investigator Sheryl McCollum talks with Detective Morris Nix about solving the cold case murder of 9-year-old Debbie Randall. They discuss the crime, investigation, DNA technology, and finally bringing justice after five decades.

About the ‘Zone 7’ Host

Sheryl “Mac” McCollum is an Emmy Award-winning CSI, a writer for CrimeOnline, a forensic and crime scene expert for “Crime Stories with Nancy Grace,” and a CSI for a metro-area Atlanta Police Department. She is the co-author of the textbook, “Cold Case: Pathways to Justice.”

McCollum is also the founder and director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, a collaboration between universities and colleges that brings researchers, practitioners, students, and the criminal justice community. They come together to advance techniques in solving cold cases and assist families and law enforcement with solvability factors for unsolved homicides, missing persons, and kidnapping cases.

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[Feature Photo: Handout via the Randall family]