Nineteen-year-old Melissa Witt was abducted and murdered in December 1994 while on her way to surprise her mother at an Arkansas bowling alley. Almost 30 years later, her killer remains at large.
Investigators discovered blood and evidence of a struggle in the parking lot of Fort Smith Bowling World and inside Witt’s abandoned car. Her keys were found left behind at the scene.
“She was running low on money and was going to have her mother buy her a hamburger,” JC Rider, a retired Fort Smith Police Department detective who led the investigation, recalled in a 2021 interview with THV11. “The trail led from the back of her car to where the suspect’s car was parked,” Rider explained.
Six weeks later, Witt’s naked body was found by trappers 50 miles away on a logging trail in the Ozark National Forest. She had been strangled and robbed of her shoes, clothing, jewelry, and even her Mickey Mouse watch.
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Witt’s tragic story and the investigation that followed are the focus of the new Hulu docuseries At Witt’s End – The Hunt for a Killer, which premiered on Tuesday. The series includes never-before-seen interviews and footage from the case.
“She was an ambassador to her college, tasked with recruiting students because the school wanted more like her,” said Charlene Shirk, a former KFSM-CBS reporter who covered the case, in the documentary. “She worked after school, had big dreams for her life, and had a close relationship with her parents. She did everything we’re told to do as young people — get a good education, work hard, and be a good kid.”
Three decades later, authorities from the Fort Smith, Crawford County, Sebastian County, and Van Buren police departments, alongside the FBI, continue their efforts to bring Witt’s killer to justice.
The series also delves into the investigation of a local serial killer who terrorized a small-town Arkansas community before and after Witt’s disappearance, as detailed in a Hulu press release.
