The body of a missing Navy veteran was found inside an apartment where he is believed to have died three years ago.
What We Know:
- The remains of Ronald Wayne White were found on November 10, 2019, in the kitchen of his apartment in the DeSoto Town Center complex in DeSoto, Texas. While investigating units in the building that did not appear to be using any water, maintenance workers breached the door of White’s third-floor unit and discovered his remains.
- White had only just moved into the apartment and lived there for a matter of weeks before his death, which police estimated occurred at the end of October or beginning of November 2016. The apartment complex was never listed as an address for White, who had sold a home in the Dallas area prior to his death. His family was unaware that he had moved there.
- White’s mother, Doris Stevens, says she last heard from her son around November 2016. Stevens said that her son, then 51, was a defense contractor who traveled frequently for his job, and he had bought a house in the Philippines and planned to move there after voting in the 2016 presidential election. She typically spoke with her son once or twice a month, and as months passed without a word from him, she grew concerned.
- When she had still not heard from her son by April 2017 she contacted the Glenn Heights and Dallas police departments, based on his last known address, to file a missing person report. She stated “They asked how old my son was and I told them and they said, ‘You can’t make a missing person report for a grown-up.'” She then spent the next three years searching for her son. She considered hiring a private investigator but was unable to afford one.
- DeSoto police Detective Pete Schulte said in a statement “When we walked in all of the windows were closed, locked, sealed tight, you couldn’t even smell anything in the hallway. He didn’t establish any relationships with any neighbors, so it was a perfect combination of circumstances that allowed this to happen.”
White’s mother is looking for more answers even though police say there is zero indication of foul play.
