25-04-2025
A church mission, a motel room, and a murder: Who killed Myra Kay Osborn?
ODESSA, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- On the morning of April 7, 1983, the quiet halls of an Odessa motel were interrupted by police lights and crime scene tape.
The call came in just before sunrise, prompting officers to arrive at 2021 East 2nd Street, an inn once known as the Rodeway Motel.
Inside one of the rooms, 23-year-old Myra Kay Osborn was found dead. She had traveled to Odessa from Midland to do volunteer work with her church, the Midland Golf Course Road Church of Christ, and had been staying at the motel overnight. She never made it back home.
Her husband, Danny Howell, was the one who found her around 4 a.m., according to police reports at the time. Her life was cut short by what investigators later ruled as death by strangulation. 'She had abrasions on her upper neck and died by strangulation,' Rogers said.
Credit: Google Maps, shows Rodeway Motel, now known as Odessa Motor Inn, located on 2021 E 2nd St
That's what Susan Rogers, CEO of Odessa Crime Stoppers, said when asked about Myra's case. 'She was here doing work for a church and was staying at the hotel…her husband found her dead in there.'
Myra was known as someone deeply rooted in faith. She was in Odessa temporarily, working with a local church organization. She checked into the Roadway Motel at 2021 East 2nd Street, likely expecting a restful night before returning to her mission.
According to police reports, there was no sign of forced entry. Nothing obvious was missing from the room. 'Cases like this stay with you,' Rogers said. 'She had a family. She had three children. They've gone through life not knowing who did this, or why.'
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Myra wasn't just a church worker or a name in a cold case file. She was a wife and a mother of three. 'She had three children at the time of her death,' Rogers noted. 'They've gone through life not knowing who did this, or why.'
Her case is still open. Still under review. And still important. Odessa Crime Stoppers is renewing the call for anyone who may have known Myra back then, or who may have heard something over the years, to come forward.
'Even if it's just a memory from back then, something you heard in passing or a person you remember being at that motel, it could help,' Rogers said.
Cold cases are often cracked by the smallest details or by tips from people who were afraid to speak up at the time but feel differently now. Rogers emphasizes that all tips submitted through Crime Stoppers are anonymous.
If you have information about the death of Myra Kay Osborn, call Odessa Crime Stoppers at 432-333-TIPS or leave a tip anonymously at You can also use the P3 Tips app.
Tips can remain anonymous. And a cash reward is available if your tip leads to an arrest.
'She didn't deserve this,' Rogers said. 'Her family deserves to know who took her life.'
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