Deborah Deann Poe
Poe, circa 1990; Sketch of unidentified individual
- Missing Since 02/04/1990
- Missing From Orlando, Florida
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Sex Female
- Race White
- Date of Birth 08/03/1963 (61)
- Age 26 years old
- Height and Weight 5'2 - 5'3, 100 pounds
- Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Poe's hair was streaked at the time of her disappearance, she wore minimal makeup and her ears are triple-pierced. She has a burn scar on her left shoulder. Some agencies may spell her middle name "Deanna." Poe's eye color may be listed as hazel and her year of birth may be listed as 1964.
Details of Disappearance
Poe had two full-time jobs in 1990, one in the retail sales department at the Orlando Sentinel and one at the Circle K convenience store (now a Citgo store) near Hall Road and Aloma Avenue in Orlando, Florida. She worked the night shift alone, five nights a week, at the time of her February 4, 1990 disappearance.
Poe's boyfriend, Scott Iaggi, said men, some of them drunk, frequently bothered her while she was working the night shift at the Circle K, and he'd been concerned for her safety. A naked man came into the store about two weeks before her disappearance and climbed over the counter to get to her. He chased her around the store a few times and she ran outside, and he followed her, then she went back inside and was able to lock him out.
Iaggi had begun staying with her during the night shifts to help keep her safe. He last saw her in the store at 1:00 a.m. the night of her disappearance, when he came by to check on her. She was fine at the time. A friend who drove by the store at 3:00 a.m. saw her standing behind the counter.
Between 3:15 and 3:30 a.m., a customer came into the store and saw a Caucasian man behind the counter. He was between 19 and 25 years old, had long black hair and dark eyes, and was wearing a black t-shirt with the Megadeth rock band logo and a dragon spitting fire, a skull ring on his finger, and a wire earring with a cross in his right ear. He apparently drove a black van with a Megadeth mural airbrushed on the side of it.
He appeared to be the only person in the store and the customer assumed he was the clerk. She wanted some cigarettes, and had to point them out to the man because he did not know where they were. He said, "You shouldn't smoke ya'know," then used the cash register and made change when the customer made her purchase.
This man has never been identified and it's possible he was just another customer, but investigators would like to question him and find out what he knows about Poe's case. A sketch of the individual is posted with this case summary.
Poe's store was discovered unoccupied at 4:00 a.m., when a regular customer found it unattended and called police. A cup of coffee and a carton of chocolate milk were on top of a stack of house plans on the floor behind the counter, and Poe's Circle K smock was also behind the counter, neatly folded.
Her car was undisturbed in the parking lot with her purse in the backseat. Her paycheck and car keys were also inside it. There was no sign of a struggle at the scene, the cash register was locked and there no evidence of a robbery. It appeared as if the store had simply been abandoned.
Tracker dogs traced Poe's scent to the rear of the store, over a wooden fence and to a road, where they lost the trail, which suggests she got into a vehicle. She has never been heard from again. Investigators believe she was forcibly abducted from the store.
Authorities said that they had a suspect in Poe's disappearance in March 2002, but refused to publicly identify the individual. Investigators searched an area of land near the Chapel Hill Baptist Church in Orange County around the same time. Authorities stated that a re-examination of the evidence in Poe's case led them to the suspect and to the area. It is not known if any material was uncovered during the process.
Curiously, Chapel Hill Baptist Church is right across the street from Iaggi's former residence, and Iaggi had once been a pastor at the church. He has not been identified as a suspect in Poe's case, and passed a polygraph test about her disappearance. He now lives in Kentucky. The police were never able to locate the naked man who chased Poe around the Circle K two weeks before her disappearance.
Poe grew up in northern Virginia. She took ballet lessons for fourteen years and dreamed of becoming a professional dancer. She moved to Orlando in 1989. She purchased a brand new red Toyota, and planned to buy a home and open a catering business in the future. She was sharing a duplex with a female roommate.
Poe's father and older brother have died in the years since her disappearance; her mother is still alive, however. Her case remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
- Orange County Sheriff's Office 407-836-3700
Updated 6 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated May 28, 2020; picture added.