Paula Michelle Burnette

• Missing Since 09/17/1996
• Missing From Harrison, Tennessee
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 06/15/1975 (50)
• Age 21 years old
• Height and Weight 5'1, 110 pounds
• Distinguishing Characteristics White female. Brown hair, blue eyes. Paula has pierced ears. Her maiden name is Caudill.

Details of Disappearance

Paula was last seen at approximately 6:00 a.m. in her hometown of Harrison, Tennessee on September 17, 1996. She was estranged from her husband, Donald Ray Burnette, at the time. She had a four-year-old son by a previous marriage, and a two-year-old daughter by Donald.

There is a history of violence within the marriage. The day before she went missing, Paula had called the police to have Donald removed from the house. She asked her father to stay overnight with her because she was afraid Donald would return and harm her.

Donald called Paula's father on September 17 and asked him to pick up both children, saying Paula needed a vacation. He said she was upset because warrants had been issued for her arrest for writing bad checks, and that she wanted to have some time to herself. Paula's father reported her as a missing person when she failed to make contact with loved ones by September 21, four days after she was last seen.

Paula has never been heard from again. She did not have warrants out for arrest at the time of her disappearance; the warrants were not issued until October 29, more than a month after she was last seen.

Her driver's license was discovered beside a mailbox near a gravel road in the 9500 block of Harrison Bay Road in Harrison sometime during the month of October. The road led to the abandoned Savannah Valley Water Treatment Plant. Although cadaver dogs "went nuts" when brought to the water treatment plant, a search turned up no sign of Paula or her remains. A few miles away from that location, in April 1997, Paula's purse and address book washed up in someone's back yard following a heavy rain and flood.

Donald and an accomplice, James Travis White, took an AmSouth Bank branch manager and her family hostage in November 1996. The men forced the manager to rob her own bank of $187,000 after driving around with her family overnight. Both suspects were arrested one month after in the incident in December 1996. Donald was ultimately sentenced to 39 years in prison for his role in the crime.

Paula's case remains open and unsolved. Foul play is suspected in her disappearance due to the circumstances involved.