It’s time to dive into another unsolved mystery. This happens to be one of those cases that is difficult to follow, and hard to process. And that is mainly because there is very little known about this particular crime. There is no full closure. Sometimes evil things happen to innocent people, and there is no light to cast away those shadows.
We’re going to take ourselves to Kauai, the fourth-largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago. Known as The Garden Island due to being covered in a lot of tropical rainforests, this is a tourist destination as much as it is home to around 70,000 people living on the island. It is surprisingly rural in nature. Especially so in 1979.
This beautiful island has been the backdrop to many movies, and television shows, but despite the lush terrain and gorgeous views, it holds its own set of secrets. And this is absolutely one of them.
Nancy Baugh and Paul Featherman met in the summer of 1976 in Florida and immediately connected. Nancy, a resident of Florida, was only seventeen at the time, but entirely in love with the 24 year old Paul who happened to be visiting. That same winter, when Paul made his way back to Hawaii, she desperately wanted to follow. Her family, however, had her wait until she was eighteen. And exactly on her eighteenth birthday, Paul sent a dozen roses and a plane ticket to Kauai.
What should have been the beginning of a beautiful love story became a series of unfortunate events that would eventually lead to Nancy disappearing, not to be identified until 2013. Decades later.
The goals the couple had were simple. Paul wanted to go to college and had plans of pursuing horticulture, the practice of garden cultivation and management, and with his degree, they had hopes that they might be able to open a greenhouse together. The life they wanted was uncomplicated and fit them perfectly, the couple was happy to spend time together, as much as they could.
To make money for the household, the two had been working at a resort during the summer when they were brutally murdered. Having been together and on the island of Kaui for three years at that point. Nothing about them and their easy-going lifestyle should have led to such a tragic end. They were young, in love, and looking forward to their future together in Hawaii.
In the early morning hours of June 2, 1979, the fates of this happy couple and their families would be changed forever. In the early hours of the morning, intruders entered the home of Paul and Nancy. They killed Paul first, taking his life by shooting him directly in the face using a 12-gauge shotgun. Ending his life instantly.
When Paul and Nancy didn’t show up for their shifts at the resort, co-workers of the pair became instantly worried for their well-being as it was out of character for the couple to be late. They were responsible and reliable, and so the police were called to the home for a welfare check. The co-workers that had called had every right to be worried as when the police got there, they found Paul, shot dead, and Nancy was nowhere to be found.
As police began to try and piece together what happened in those early morning hours, witnesses quickly came forward. They expressed that Nancy had been dragged out of the home, screaming and fighting, into the night. She was loaded into an unmarked van. And that was the last that anyone saw of the woman, just twenty when she disappeared.
When police attempted to press further these same witnesses for more information, the ones that had been willing began to clam up. Almost fearful of the idea of speaking up. They shut down and refused to say anything else. Some even attempted to change their story, as if attempting to protect themselves from a possible backlash.
Unfortunately, this is where the investigation ran cold. The police did everything they could to locate Nancy, as well as identify the people responsible for killing Paul. But no one was willing to speak any further.
Even though the witnesses had closed themselves off, there were still rumors. The family began to receive anonymous letters that aimed the murders as being two brothers who lived on the island. The brothers were well connected in the area, allegedly due to the drug trading during that time. However, they have been left unnamed because there has been no confirmation or evidence that suggests their ties to the case. Some have also suggested that this case was covered up thanks to those connections. They were never sought for questioning and, at this point, both brothers are dead and gone.
Even so, anytime they were brought up in questioning, anyone that might have information would clam up and stop speaking to police about the double murder. So there is a possibility that the influx of drug trafficking in the 1970s was part of what led to the untimely end of these two love birds. However, nothing concrete ever came out of it, and no evidence to suggest that either Paul or Nancy was part of a drug trafficking operation.
It would be decades later when the biggest break in the case came. In 2012, when heavy rains led to large landscape-changing landslides, the lower half of Nancy’s remains were finally revealed. A passerby found them, and in 2013 DNA testing confirmed her identity. The lower portion of her body was heavily decomposed from being out in the elements and with only one-half of her to work with, there was no way to tell what had happened to her and how she met her demise. And that is once more where the case comes to a halt.
In an unfortunate twist, her body was unearthed only a few short miles from where she shared a home with Paul. She had been nearby all that time but hidden well enough that no one had been able to locate her in the dense forest at the time.
Her family spoke of the trauma this murder caused them. She was the baby, and the only daughter, so when she went missing, her family took the weight of that. It was hard to talk about and only by finally identifying her and bringing her home was there any sort of closure for the family of Nancy. However, the fight isn’t over. Despite it being a decades-old case at this point, there is still so much to uncover.
The local cold crime unit in Kaui is hoping that with the discovery of her body that the case itself can finally move forward. However, they’ve admitted that at this point it’s going to rely heavily on people finally speaking up. Most of the evidence they have is all they are going to find, and without people willing to come forward to describe any information they have about that night in 1979, then it’s likely that Nancy and Paul will never find justice.
This case is one of those that feels haunting because it is proof that we’re not guaranteed tomorrow. They had their whole lives ahead of them, and whether it was one bad drug deal, as rumors have suggested, or it was just the wrong place at the wrong time, they had their lives cut severely short. Nancy was only twenty when she was murdered, and Paul was only twenty-seven. They were looking forward to their evolving lives in Hawaii, and that was taken away from them. Violently.
I will admit that I was a bit shocked by the entire thing. It seemed so random, and so out of place. From what tiny bits can be found about Nancy and Paul, while there were rumors of them selling marijuana, they were just that. Only rumors. Paul and Nancy weren’t troublemakers. They worked at a resort, they had good friends, and as a young couple still finding their way, they liked doing what all young couples do. There seemed to be no reason for them to come into contact with anyone that would cause such a violent end for them. It can lead anyone to believe that nothing is sacred and nothing is safe. Although personally, things like this become proof that there is no point in wasting time. Never know when you’re the next up, so don’t pretend you’re guaranteed anything.
If you know anything about this case or have any information that would aid in solving the double homicide involving Nancy and Paul, call 808-241-1734 or 808-241-1757.
Seeing Red 