Disappearance of Mary Jacqueline Levitz

The disappearance of Mary Jacqueline "Jacquie" Levitz occurred on November 18, 1995, in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Levitz was a 62-year-old real estate investor and interior decorator, and the widow of Ralph Levitz, a co-founder of the Levitz Furniture retail chain. She had moved from Palm Beach, Florida, to Vicksburg several weeks before her disappearance and was renovating a house overlooking the Mississippi River.

After relatives were unable to contact Levitz, blood and indications that a struggle had occurred were discovered in her bedroom on November 20. Investigators later determined that blood found in the house belonged to Levitz and identified pieces of artificial fingernails recovered there as hers.

Local and federal authorities investigated the disappearance as a suspected crime, but Levitz was not located. The Vicksburg Post reported in 2015 that a Florida civil court had declared her dead in 2001. Law enforcement nevertheless continued to classify her as missing because no remains had been recovered. , the Mississippi Repository for Missing and Unidentified Persons listed the investigation as open.

Background

Levitz was born Mary Jacqueline Broadway on February 11, 1933. She was one of nine children raised in a farming family near Oak Grove, Louisiana.

After high school, she moved to Beaumont, Texas, where she lived with an older sister, attended secretarial school, and worked as a secretary. She later moved to the Washington, D.C., area and entered the real estate business, buying, renovating, and reselling houses. A 2005 retrospective in The Vicksburg Post reported that she accumulated an estimated $4 million through her real estate investments.

Levitz married and had a son before divorcing and moving to Washington. Her second husband, restaurant owner Banks L. Smith, later died, after which she moved to Florida. She met Ralph Levitz during the 1980s, and they married in 1987. Ralph Levitz died in March 1995.

In Palm Beach, Levitz also took part in charitable fundraising. Contemporary reports said she supported the Heart Association, Mental Health Association and a local opera company, as well as organizations serving battered women and abused children.

Later in 1995, Levitz decided to move closer to relatives in Louisiana. She purchased a 2,900-square-foot ranch-style house in Vicksburg in October and began an extensive renovation. She planned to roughly double its size and use it as a gathering place for relatives; reports described plans for as many as eight bedrooms, eight bathrooms and two kitchens.

Disappearance

On November 18, 1995, Levitz visited Midsouth Lumber & Supply in Vicksburg to obtain materials for the renovation. A contemporaneous report in the Los Angeles Times stated that a neighbor later saw her enter her house shortly after 4 p.m. The Mississippi Repository for Missing and Unidentified Persons instead records that she was last seen leaving a store in Vicksburg.

After family members were unable to reach Levitz during the weekend, her sister asked family friend Nancy Whitten to check the house on the morning of November 20. In a 2015 retrospective account, Whitten said she saw Levitz's car in the driveway but received no response when she knocked and called out. After contacting the family, she returned and found that the front door opened when she tried it.

Whitten said she heard a television operating and followed the sound to the bedroom. She found that the bed had been stripped, saw a large dark stain on the floor, and noticed damage around a closet frame. A television, a partially consumed glass of water, and a pair of earrings remained near a bedroom window. Whitten contacted Levitz's brother-in-law, James Earl Shivers.

Published accounts differ about who first discovered the evidence. Whitten's 2015 account identified her as the first person to enter the house. Contemporaneous reports in the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, as well as a 2005 retrospective in The Vicksburg Post, identified Shivers as the person who found the blood and notified authorities.

Investigators found pieces of artificial fingernails on the floor. After turning over the mattress, they found additional blood. Later testing established that the blood belonged to Levitz, and investigators identified the fingernail pieces as hers.

Early investigators believed that the amount of blood suggested Levitz might have been killed. A medical expert later advised investigators that the amount of blood found did not, by itself, establish that she had died.

Levitz's cream-colored Jaguar remained in the driveway. Fur coats, jewelry, and other valuable property remained at the residence. At least one purse, a scheduler, and a tote bag were reported missing.

Investigation

The Vicksburg Police Department and the Warren County Sheriff's Office began investigating the disappearance. The Federal Bureau of Investigation also participated.

The Associated Press reported that a witness had seen a vehicle outside the residence at about 11 p.m. on November 18 and that investigators examined tire tracks found nearby.

Searches were conducted in Vicksburg, along the Mississippi River, and in surrounding areas. Authorities used ground crews, search dogs, cadaver dogs, a boat, and aircraft, but did not locate Levitz or her remains. Investigators also dragged a lagoon behind the residence in December 1995, without success.

Investigators questioned approximately 25 subcontractors who had been working on the renovation and interviewed people who had known Levitz in Mississippi, Florida, California, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere.

Evidence was later retested. Witnesses were reinterviewed, and hundreds of reported leads from across the United States were examined. In 2008, Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said evidence from the case had recently undergone DNA testing that was unavailable when Levitz disappeared. WMC-TV did not identify the evidence tested or report any results.

In 2005, law-enforcement officials described the investigation as open and active rather than closed or abandoned. A 2015 review reported that investigators had considered several theories, but that none had been proven.

In July 2026, The Vicksburg Post reported that researcher Jason Chrisman was trying to trace any evidence that might remain so it could be organized and retested using current forensic methods. Chrisman said state and local officials had helped answer questions and determine where evidence might still be held.

Publicity and reward

The disappearance received national newspaper and television coverage, including coverage by Dateline NBC. The Vicksburg Post reported that the case was scheduled to be featured on Larry King Live on January 12, 1996.

Levitz's family initially offered a $10,000 reward in November 1995. In December, the family increased the total reward to $100,000: $50,000 for information leading to Levitz or her remains and another $50,000 for information leading to the conviction of anyone responsible. By November 1996, the reward had reached $200,000, and the FBI was circulating flyers about it nationwide.

In November 2000, The West Carroll Gazette reported that a memorial service and dedication of a family monument were scheduled near Oak Grove for November 25.

In 2005, Levitz's sister stated that the $200,000 reward remained available for information that solved the case. The family ended the reward in November 2007 after Levitz's only child, Walter Bolton III, died and her assets were distributed to the beneficiaries. The estate's attorney said continuing the offer was no longer financially practical. Pace said the decision did not close the case, that the sheriff's department, Vicksburg police and FBI were still meeting monthly about it, and that investigators had followed leads as recently as that month.

Legal status

A 1996 newspaper report stated that Northern Trust Bank had sought a judicial determination of whether Levitz was living or dead. In January 1997, a Florida judge dismissed a separate petition concerning Levitz's estate; the report stated that a conservator and bank custodian were already serving under court orders.

The Vicksburg Post reported in 2015 that a Florida civil court had declared Levitz dead in 2001. Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace stated that, from a law-enforcement standpoint, she remained a missing person because her body had never been located.

, the Mississippi Repository for Missing and Unidentified Persons identified the Vicksburg Police Department as the investigating agency and listed the case as open.