In Loving Memory of Debbie Key

In 1997 our friend Debbie Key was taken from a Carrboro, North Carolina parking lot and never seen again.

Friends of Debbie Key have started a website, http://debbiekey.org.

From the Chapel Hill News:

http://www.chapelhillnews.com/opinion/story/2818020p-9264929c.html

The tragic case of Deborah Leigh Key appeared to reach a dismal end last week, as the district attorney prepared to drop the last remaining charges against the man police say admitted killing her.

That would mean Andrew Dalzell is free and clear. Carrboro police said he told them he had killed her in 1997.

Dalzell had already shed the murder charge; that was dropped earlier this year after a judge ruled that the elaborate scheme Carrboro police used to coax his confession rendered it inadmissible. Key's friends and family hoped that some other unrelated charges -- theft and pornography counts -- might stick.

But on Thursday a judge ruled that the evidence in those charges was also tainted. He tossed the evidence, leaving D.A. Jim Woodall nothing with which to make a case.

Carrboro police had suspected Dalzell in Key's disappearance for years, but had been unable to come up with sufficient evidence to charge him. When an opportunity did present itself last year, it appears they drew up a Hail Mary play; it was a long shot, but it was probably the only shot.