Heather Teague was a 23-year-old Kentucky woman abducted at gunpoint from Newburgh Beach along the Ohio River on August 26, 1995. The Heather Teague case has never been solved: her body has never been found, the only named suspect killed himself before investigators could question him, and more than 30 years later the investigation remains open. A 2025 exhumation of the suspect’s remains for DNA testing and a federal lawsuit filed by Teague’s mother have brought renewed attention, but no public answers.
What Happened on Newburgh Beach
On the afternoon of August 26, 1995, a man watching the Kentucky shoreline through a telescope from the Indiana side of the Ohio River reported seeing a woman attacked on Newburgh Beach in Henderson County. The witness, Tim Walthall, told authorities he saw a man with dark hair and a bushy beard grab a sunbathing woman at gunpoint and drag her into the woods. He described the attacker as roughly six feet tall and 210 to 230 pounds.1Tri-State Homepage. 911 Recordings Released in Heather Teague Case The woman was Heather Teague. She was never seen again.
Marty Dill, the Only Named Suspect
Investigators quickly focused on Marvin Ray “Marty” Dill, a 30-year-old man with a criminal record who lived in a trailer in Poole, Kentucky. Dill owned a red Ford Bronco matching a vehicle captured on camera near Newburgh Beach that day, and older photographs of him resembled the eyewitness description.2Evansville Courier & Press. Police Exhume Body of Suspect in Heather Teague Disappearance He remains the only official suspect ever named.
The identification has been contested from the beginning. Dill had been released from the Webster County jail about two months before the abduction, and jail records showed him with a shaved head and short stubble, nothing like the wild hair and bushy beard Walthall described.3Evansville Courier & Press. What a Previously Unheard Recording in the Heather Teague Case Says His attorney, William Polk, told Kentucky State Police five days after the disappearance that Dill did not fit. “He’s shorter. He’s lighter. He does not have a bushy beard. He does not have bushy hair. His beard is very short. And his hair, I’m told, is now very short,” Polk said in a recorded conversation with investigators on August 31, 1995.4Evansville Courier & Press. Heather Teague Case Is Full of Strange, Complicated Leads
Walthall worked with a sketch artist the Monday after the Saturday abduction and later identified Dill as the man he saw. In a 2004 interview, he stood by that identification, saying there were “certain things that I saw that lead me to believe it was the individual Mr. Dill.”514 News. Only Witness to Heather Teague Disappearance Speaks About Person of Interest Heather Teague’s mother, Sarah Teague, has alleged the sketch was actually drawn from Dill’s old driver’s license photo rather than from Walthall’s account, pointing to the visual similarity between the two images.3Evansville Courier & Press. What a Previously Unheard Recording in the Heather Teague Case Says Discrepancies have also surfaced in the 911 recordings. Walthall claimed to have first called the Warrick County Sheriff’s Office, but no record of that call was ever found. Attorney Chip Adams, who reviewed the recordings for the Teague family, noted differences between versions heard in 2008 and 2016, including a reference to “mosquito netting or an actual wig” that was absent from the version KSP later released.1Tri-State Homepage. 911 Recordings Released in Heather Teague Case
The Raid That Ended the Only Lead
After being named in the investigation, Dill cut off contact with his family and barricaded himself inside his trailer, reportedly armed with a butcher knife and a .22-caliber gun. Polk warned KSP that Dill was a danger to himself and urged investigators to approach during daylight. He offered to knock on the door himself to help bring Dill out peacefully.3Evansville Courier & Press. What a Previously Unheard Recording in the Heather Teague Case Says
KSP went in at night anyway. In the early hours of September 1, 1995, officers moved on the Poole trailer to execute a search warrant. By roughly 3:15 a.m., Dill was dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.2Evansville Courier & Press. Police Exhume Body of Suspect in Heather Teague Disappearance He was never charged and never questioned about Heather Teague.
Sarah Teague’s 30-Year Fight
Heather’s mother has been the case’s most persistent advocate. Sarah Teague has filed numerous Open Records Act requests seeking investigative files, 911 recordings, and mugshots related to Dill, appealing to the Kentucky Attorney General at least six times between 2004 and 2016 when KSP denied them.6Kentucky Open Government. 16-ORD-246 In 2007, she had her daughter declared legally dead so she could access FBI investigative files.7Hancock Clarion. Teague Case Will Get Attention From National News Organization A 2017 lawsuit for KSP case files eventually produced the recording of Polk’s August 31, 1995, conversation with investigators, which was published by the Evansville Courier & Press in September 2023.3Evansville Courier & Press. What a Previously Unheard Recording in the Heather Teague Case Says
Her position has not changed. “We could have had Heather back on day four had KSP done their job,” she has said.814 News. 30 Years Later: The Disappearance of Heather Teague
In July 2024, Sarah Teague filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court in Owensboro against Kentucky State Police Post 16 and the FBI under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging both agencies mishandled the investigation and failed to follow credible leads that did not point to Dill.914 News. Mother of Missing Tri-State Woman Files Lawsuit Against KSP In April 2025, she sought to add individual state police and FBI employees as named defendants.1014 News. Heather Teague’s Mother Requests to Add Names to Lawsuit Against KSP, FBI
The suit was unsuccessful. On August 15, 2025, Judge David J. Hale of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky granted the defendants’ motions to dismiss and denied her motion to amend. She filed a notice of appeal, but in February 2026 the U.S. Court of Appeals granted a motion to voluntarily dismiss the appeal, ending the case.11PACER Monitor. Teague v. Kentucky State Police Post 16 et al
DNA, an Exhumation, and a Well Behind a Country Store
After decades of little visible movement, the investigation picked up in 2025. In February, KSP sent Heather Teague’s bathing suit bottoms to a Virginia laboratory for DNA testing.12Evansville Courier & Press. Evidence in Heather Teague Case to Get New Round of DNA Testing On August 25, 2025, KSP exhumed Dill’s body from Fairmont Cemetery in Henderson to collect his DNA. The body was reburied about two hours later.13WDRB. Suspect’s Body Exhumed for DNA in Disappearance of Kentucky Woman 30 Years Ago KSP Trooper Corey King confirmed the exhumation was for “DNA purposes” tied to the Teague investigation.14WNIN. Suspect’s Body Exhumed in Teague Probe Sarah Teague has said a special prosecutor had begun reviewing the case around the same period.1014 News. Heather Teague’s Mother Requests to Add Names to Lawsuit Against KSP, FBI
On September 1, 2025, search crews followed up on a 20-year-old tip alleging that clothing and possibly Teague’s remains had been burned and placed in a well behind Cagey’s General Store on Highway 811 in Reed, Kentucky, near Newburgh Beach. A cadaver dog trained to detect decomposing human remains alerted at the site.15Evansville Courier & Press. Dog Detected Scent of Human Remains During Search for Heather Teague Volunteers and excavators dug into the well and recovered bones, but an anthropologist in Evansville determined they were deer bones. Trooper King confirmed no human remains were found.1614 News. Investigators Searching Area Where Heather Teague Disappeared Decades Ago
Where the Case Stands Now
Has Heather Teague been found? No. Her remains have never been recovered. The DNA results from Dill’s exhumation have not been released. In May 2026, the Evansville Courier & Press requested those results from KSP; on June 1, 2026, the agency’s public records branch denied the request, citing Kentucky Revised Statute 17.175(4), which classifies DNA identification records as confidential and restricted to law enforcement purposes.17Evansville Courier & Press. Heather Teague Case: DNA Records Denied but a New Search Is Possible
The federal lawsuit is closed. The only named suspect has been dead for three decades. The investigation remains open, and more than 30 years after Heather Teague was dragged off a Kentucky riverbank on a summer afternoon, the central questions of what happened to her and who was responsible have not been publicly answered.