A Respected Attorney with Deep Community Ties
David Glenn Lewis was born in 1953 in Borger, Texas. By all accounts, he led an exemplary life. After graduating from high school in 1972, David attended Texas Tech University as an Honors student, earning a degree in political science before continuing to Texas Tech Law School. In 1979, he graduated with a doctorate in jurisprudence and established himself as an attorney in Amarillo, Texas.
His professional achievements were matched by his personal life. David married his wife Karen in 1981, and they welcomed their daughter a few years later. Beyond his family and legal practice, David was deeply embedded in his community—serving as a Sunday School teacher, sitting on the director's board for the Dumas Community Education Advisory Council, and acting as a district chairman for the Boy Scouts of America.
Colleagues, friends, and family described David as a dedicated family man with a strong commitment to charitable work. He maintained close relationships with his parents, Hershel and Esther Lewis, and his brother. There were no obvious signs of discord in his personal or professional life that might foreshadow the events to come.
A Weekend Alone Turns to Mystery
The sequence of events that would ultimately lead to David's death began innocuously enough. During Super Bowl weekend of 1993, Karen Lewis and the couple's nine-year-old daughter planned a shopping trip to Dallas, about 400 miles southeast of their Amarillo home. They departed on January 28, leaving David home alone.
What happened during the next few days remains largely unknown. Records indicate that David was seen alive on January 30, though details about who saw him and where have never been publicly disclosed.
When Karen and her daughter returned home on January 31—Super Bowl Sunday—they were surprised to find David absent from the house. There were no signs of struggle or forced entry. Instead, they discovered several perplexing details: the tape recorder had been left recording the Super Bowl game and continued running even after the game ended; two freshly made sandwiches sat in the refrigerator; and David's wedding ring and watch had been carefully placed on the kitchen counter.
Initially, Karen assumed David had gone to watch the game with friends and would return shortly. But as hours passed with no word from her husband, concern began to mount.
The Investigation Begins
By February 1, with David still missing, Karen reported his disappearance to the Amarillo Police Department. The next day, investigators located David's red Ford Explorer parked outside the Potter County Courts Building downtown—a curious location that offered no immediate answers.
Inside the vehicle, police found David's house and car keys tucked under a floor mat. His checkbook, credit cards, and driver's license were in their usual spots within the car. Combined with the wedding ring and watch left at home, it appeared that none of David's personal effects were missing—a detail that puzzled investigators.
As the investigation progressed, a troubling piece of information emerged: some time before his disappearance, David had confided in his wife that he believed his life was in danger. Strangely, he refused to elaborate on the nature of these threats or why he felt at risk.
David's family suggested the perceived danger might be connected to his work as an attorney—perhaps a disgruntled client seeking revenge. Adding weight to this theory was the fact that David was scheduled to give a deposition the following week in Dallas for a conflict-of-interest case involving his former law firm and a wealthy client. According to David's father, his son had expressed determination to "tell the truth, whoever it hurts," refusing to cover up any wrongdoing by his former colleagues.
Yet despite these potentially significant leads, the investigation stalled. No evidence of foul play emerged, and David's whereabouts remained unknown.
A John Doe in Washington State
While the search for David continued in Texas, a tragic scene unfolded nearly 1,600 miles away in Yakima County, Washington. On the evening of February 1—the same day Karen reported her husband missing—motorists on Route 24 near Moxee spotted an individual either lying or walking along the road around 10:30 PM. When drivers turned around to warn others of the hazard, they returned to find the person had been struck and killed.
Police determined the victim was a middle-aged man dressed in military-style clothing and work boots. Toxicology tests revealed no alcohol or commonly tested drugs in his system. Investigators believed he had been killed in a hit-and-run accident, with witnesses reporting a Chevrolet Camaro seen leaving the scene around the time of the collision.
With no identification on the body, the man became simply another John Doe in the system, his connection to the missing Texas attorney completely unknown to Washington authorities.
Plane Tickets and Perplexing Clues
Back in Amarillo, investigators eventually discovered perhaps the most enigmatic piece of evidence in David's case: two plane tickets purchased in his name. The first, bought on January 31, was for a flight from Dallas to Amarillo—ironically, the same journey his wife and daughter had made by car that day. The second ticket, purchased on February 1, was for a flight from Los Angeles International Airport to Dallas.
The purpose behind these tickets remains unclear. Did David purchase them himself? Were they ever used? How would David have traveled from Amarillo to Dallas without his car? And what connection, if any, did he have to Los Angeles?
With no answers forthcoming and no apparent evidence of foul play, the criminal investigation into David's disappearance was closed after eleven months. In 2002, police told local press that the plane tickets led them to believe David had left home voluntarily.
And there the case might have remained, with David's family left forever wondering about his fate, if not for the dedicated work of a Washington State patrol detective nearly a decade later.
A Detective's Determination
In 2003, Detective Pat Ditter came across a newspaper series titled "Without A Trace" that detailed flaws in missing persons investigations, particularly issues with the National Crime Information Center's computer system. Inspired to address potential gaps in unidentified persons cases, Ditter began searching online for missing persons who might match unidentified bodies in Washington.
Within a week, Ditter had compiled a list of potential matches for various John and Jane Does. Among these was David Glenn Lewis, whose photo on the Doe Network bore a striking resemblance to one of Yakima County's unidentified victims. The detective initially hesitated because the John Doe hadn't been wearing glasses, but further investigation revealed that glasses had indeed been found at the scene, wrapped inside the military-style clothing the victim had been wearing.
Increasingly confident in the potential match, Ditter contacted Amarillo police and sent them items for DNA analysis: one of the boots the victim had worn and a preserved tissue sample. David's mother Esther provided a DNA sample for comparison.
In October 2004—eleven years after David went missing—DNA analysis confirmed what Detective Ditter had suspected: the unidentified hit-and-run victim in Washington was David Glenn Lewis.
Questions Without Answers
While David's body had finally been identified, the circumstances surrounding his journey from Amarillo to Washington remain shrouded in mystery. Law enforcement theorized that David had left home of his own accord, while Detective Ditter believed his death was an accident rather than suicide. But these conclusions do little to explain the many perplexing aspects of the case.
Why would a successful attorney and devoted family man suddenly travel 1,600 miles to a state where he had no known connections? What prompted him to leave behind his personal belongings, including his wedding ring? Why was he dressed in military-style clothing when found in Washington? And perhaps most troublingly, what danger had David perceived before his disappearance—was it real or imagined, and was it connected to his death?
The plane tickets add another layer of mystery. If David intended to return to Texas from Washington via Los Angeles, why was he walking along a rural road miles from Yakima Airport? And if someone else purchased the tickets in his name, what was their motive?
A 1993 article discovered by an internet sleuth added even more questions: $5,000 had reportedly been deposited into David's account on January 30, and there were possible airport sightings of him around this time. But these fragments of information only serve to deepen the mystery rather than resolve it.
A Family Left Wondering
For David's family, the identification of his body brought a measure of closure but left many painful questions unanswered. While police concluded David had left voluntarily, his family remained convinced that his assertions about being in danger, combined with his character as a loving family man and the nature of his work as an attorney, pointed toward kidnapping or foul play.
The discovery that David died in a hit-and-run so far from home did nothing to clarify whether he was running from something, fleeing to something, or caught in circumstances beyond his control. Was the driver of the Chevrolet Camaro seen leaving the scene just an unfortunate motorist who panicked after an accident, or was there something more sinister at play?
Timeline of a Mystery
The chronology of David's final days only highlights the strangeness of his case:
January 28, 1993
- David's wife and daughter leave Amarillo for a weekend shopping trip to Dallas.
January 30, 1993
- David is seen alive for the last time in Amarillo (details not publicly disclosed).
- $5,000 is reportedly deposited into David's account.
January 31, 1993
- A plane ticket from Dallas to Amarillo is purchased in David's name.
- Karen and her daughter return home to find David missing, with the tape recorder running, fresh sandwiches in the refrigerator, and his personal items carefully placed on the counter.
February 1, 1993
- Karen reports David missing to Amarillo police.
- A second plane ticket is purchased in David's name, this one from Los Angeles to Dallas.
- At approximately 10:30 PM, a man matching David's description is struck and killed on Route 24 near Moxee, Washington.
February 2, 1993
- David's Ford Explorer is found parked at the Potter County Courts Building with his personal effects inside.
October 2004
- DNA analysis confirms that the unidentified hit-and-run victim in Washington is David Glenn Lewis.
Theories and Speculation
In the absence of definitive answers, several theories have been proposed to explain David's final journey:
Voluntary Departure: Perhaps David, under stress from work or personal issues, decided to start a new life elsewhere. This would explain the deliberate placement of his wedding ring and watch, but not why he would abandon his beloved family or end up dead on a Washington highway.
Foul Play: David's warning to his wife about being in danger, combined with his upcoming deposition in a potentially contentious case, suggests he may have been targeted. Could he have been kidnapped and transported to Washington, where he either escaped or was released before being killed in a genuine accident?
Mental Health Crisis: The unusual behavior—leaving personal items behind, traveling to a state with no known connections, walking along a highway at night—could indicate David was experiencing a psychological break or crisis that impaired his decision-making.
Witness Protection or Undercover Operation: Though seemingly far-fetched, some have wondered if David's legal work somehow led to involvement with law enforcement or witness protection. The military clothing, unexplained travel, and mysterious circumstances leave room for such speculation.
None of these theories fully accounts for all the peculiar elements of David's case, leaving it one of those rare mysteries where even the known facts raise more questions than they answer.
A Cold Case That Still Puzzles
Three decades after David Glenn Lewis disappeared from his Amarillo home and met his end on a Washington highway, his case continues to baffle investigators, amateur sleuths, and anyone who encounters this strange tale. The stark contrast between his established life as a respected attorney and family man in Texas and his final moments as an unidentified pedestrian in military clothing 1,600 miles away seems almost impossible to reconcile.
What we do know with certainty is that a man whose life seemed to be on a steady, positive trajectory somehow ended up far from home under mysterious circumstances. Whether David was fleeing from danger, experiencing a personal crisis, or involved in something more complex may never be fully understood.
For the family he left behind—his wife, daughter, parents, and brother—the identification of his body in 2004 brought an end to one phase of uncertainty but opened another. They know where David's journey ended but may never understand how or why it led him so far from the life he had built.
David Glenn Lewis's case stands as a reminder of how quickly and inexplicably lives can change course, and how even in an age of increasing surveillance and digital footprints, a person's final days can remain shrouded in mystery. It also highlights the dedication of detectives like Pat Ditter, whose curiosity and perseverance finally gave a name to the unidentified man on that Washington highway.
Perhaps someday, with new evidence or testimony, the full story of David's last journey will come to light. Until then, his case remains a haunting example of how the line between an ordinary life and an enduring mystery can be crossed in a single weekend.
Sources
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9724261/david-glenn-lewis
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/google-helps-solve-john-doe-case/
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2004/oct/09/search-engine-helps-police-identify-hit-and-run/