Deloris Mae McHenry (1932 - 1961)

Born 17 Feb 1932 in Alva, Woods, Oklahoma

Ancestors

Died 23 Aug 1961 at age 29 in Long Beach, California

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Biography

Deloris Mae (""Dee") McHenry was born on February 17, 1932, in Alva, Oklahoma. She was the daughter of Paul McHenry and Clara Lieurance. As a little girl, she migrated with her family from Oklahoma to California during the Dust Bowl in the 1930s.^[1] By 1941, her family was living in Long Beach, California.^[2]

She grew up to be a beautiful woman. By the early 1950s, she had become a professional figure skater, participating in national competitions and winning many awards.

But her personal life as an adult was troubled, and ended in tragedy.

She married Eugene Siddall on February 3, 1952, in Las Vegas,^[3] but this marriage ended in divorce in 1956.^[4] They had one child, a daughter who was still very young when they divorced. Dee then gave birth to two additional children, both sons, with other men whom she never married. She supported her three children as a single mother during the late 1950s working as a waitress in her father's cafe and in various bars and cocktail lounges.

In August 1961, at the age of 29, she had become pregnant again. Depressed and desperate, she sought an illegal abortion. On August 23, 1961, she left her three children with a babysitter and was never heard from again. Six weeks later, Long Beach police arrested Hugh MacLeod Pheaster, Conrad Neale Couch, and Thomas Cicarelli, whom they later charged with Dee's murder and with conspiring to operate an illegal abortion ring in the Long Beach area.^[5]

These three men were tried in early 1962. After a six week trial, Pheaster was convicted of multiple counts of committing illegal abortions, but he and the others were acquitted of the murder charge and the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the conspiracy charges, which were later dismissed.^[6] At trial, the defense relied heavily on the fact that no body had ever been found to cast doubt on whether Dee might still be alive, and had simply abandoned her three young children that night.

In August 1963, more than a year after he was acquitted of her murder, Hugh Pheaster -- who by then was a convicted bank robber as well as abortionist -- admitted that she had died while he was committing an illegal abortion upon her on the day she disappeared in 1961. He told authorities that he had dumped her body and her bloody clothing in a remote mountainous area above San Bernardino two years earlier. The search for her remains was not successful.^[7]

To this day, Dee's body has never been found and her missing person case officially remains open.^[8]

Sources

1. ↑ See profile of Paul McHenry.
2. ↑ Polk's Long Beach (California) City Directory 1941, (Long Beach, CA: R.L. Polk & Co., 1941), 411, Paul (Clara) McHenry; images, Ancestry.com, "U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995," (https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/2469/3248042/216566346 : accessed 23 Dec 2019), California, Long Beach, 1941, image 208.
3. ↑ Clark County Clerk's Office, "Record Search System," database, (https://clerk.clarkcountynv.gov/AcclaimWeb/Marriage/FindMyMarriageRecordSearch : accessed 25 Mar 2021), search terms: "Dolores McHenry"; marriage license, Dolores May McHenry & Eugene F. Siddall, 3 Feb 1952.
4. ↑ "Divorces Granted," Long Beach Independent [Long Beach, Cal.], Feb. 9, 1956, p. 45, col. 3; image, newspapers.com, (https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/73992226/ : accessed 17 Jul 2020).
5. ↑ "3 Held in Vanishing of Divorcee at Long Beach: Men Arrested in Investigation of Murder and Abortion in Women's Disappearance," Los Angeles Times, Oct. 6, 1961, p. 18, col. 1; image, newspapers.com, (Newspapers Clip: 31671227: accessed 17 Jul 2020).
6. ↑ "Clear 2 of Murder in Surgery Case," Independent [Long Beach, Cal.], Mar. 7, 1962, p. 1, col. 4; image, newspapers.com, (Newspapers Clip: 117888861  : accessed 17 Jul 2020).
7. ↑ "Abortionist Fails to Find Body: Searchers to Try Again," Independent [Long Beach, Cal.], Aug. 8, 1963, p. 21, col. 3; image, newspapers.com, (https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/17810956/ : accessed 17 Jul 2020).
8. ↑ "Missing Person / NamUs #MP64120 Doloris May Siddall," NamUs, (https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/64120 : accessed 17 Jul 2020).

See also:

• Madeline O'Brien, "Deloris Mae Siddall | The Illegal Surgery That Lead to Tragedy," Crimeatorium, (https://youtu.be/aBOKcFe9LJc : accessed 12 Feb 2023).