A Marriage Ends In Murder

It was a Sunday morning in November 1983 when the fighting at the Childers' home in Fort Meyers, Fla. began.  Neighbors say that the screaming had gone on throughout the night until suddenly, it abruptly stopped. 

Witnesses told police they heard Debra Childers and her husband, Ed, arguing, and Debra at one point even screamed at her husband, "You're going to kill me."  Police say neighbors also heard the Childers' young son exclaim, "Daddy, please, please don't kill mommy!"

It was Debra's friend and neighbor, Jackie Kinney, who alerted authorities when she heard the commotion.  She even witnessed 5-year-old Ed Childers running from the house in tears.  When Childers and his son left the home with a man, James Bryer, living in a trailer on their property, Kinney bravely went into the home and saw the grisly, terrifying scene.  Blood stained the walls, the carpets, and appliances -- it was everywhere, but there was no sign of Debra. 

Over the course of the next few hours, police say Childers loaded up his pickup truck with personal belongings and fled with young Ed and James Bryer in tow.  Authorities arrived at the Childers home and saw the horrifying scene.  They searched the house for days before ultimately discovering the remains of Debra Childers floating in an outside septic tank.

When cops reached out to Childers' family members, they spoke with his daughter who hadn't seen her father in years.  However, when she called Childers' brother in Jacksonville, Fla., what she didn't know is that her fugitive father was hiding out there.  While police were notified, it would prove too late: Childers was on the run again.  The only thing he left behind was his 6-year-old son, Ed.  For the next decade, Ed Childers would remain at large. 

AMW Tipsters Turn The Tide

AMW profiled the Ed Childers case seven times and eventually it paid off: an anonymous tipster called the hotline on April 16, 1994 and that tip along with a few others helped catch John "Ed" Childers. 

In 1994, those closest to Childers for the past seven years didn't know him as an accused killer on the run from the law, they knew him simply as married man George Cook. Childers had married again, to a woman named Barbara Hay, and the couple lived in Marion, Ark. 

Soon enough, Childers skipped to Jacksonville, Fla. after AMW profiled his case once again.  In Florida, he began dating and living with a new woman, Mary Moore. She said Childers had been living with her for three weeks.  It was during this time in Jacksonville that AMW tipsters began to report on Childers' new location. 

When Childers was nabbed in Florida, he mentioned to police that AMW was one of his favorite shows and that he never missed an episode: especially those when he was profiled. 

AMW Capture #300

AMW Tipsters Bring Childers To Justice

After more than a decade on the run, John "Ed" Childers' luck finally ran out after his story ran for the seventh time on America's Most Wanted.  On April 16, 1994, AMW profiled home video from Childers' new wife, Bonnie Hay.  Hay and Childers, known to her as George Cook, married in 1987.  But when Childers split town after AMW aired his story, Bonnie realized something was up.  AMW reached out to Hay, who pleaded on-air with her fugitive husband to turn himself in. 

When Childers left the Marion, Ark. home he shared with Bonnie, he ended up in Jacksonville, Fla. living with a new girlfriend, Mary Moore.  Despite being a self-proclaimed avid AMW viewer, Childers missed the April 16 broadcast of his own story because he and Moore were out dancing.  However, AMW tipsters didn't miss Childers living in their community and called our hotline with his new location.

It didn't take long for Jacksonville authorities to capture the accused killer outside Moore's home.  During the arrest Childers admitted to cops that they got the right guy.  Cops say Childers even told the arresting officers that he could run from the police and the FBI he "couldn't escape that show."