Sister of '79 Cape murder victim says case now behind her

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the day Deborah L. Martin was found murdered in her residence and place of business, the Mother Earth Plant Store at 605 Broadway.

For the first time since Sept. 16, 1979, Elizabeth Martin, of Boise, Ida., Deborah's older sister, said she knows the identity of her sister's killer.

Max Ellison, a former acquaintance of Deborah's, died of natural causes almost a month ago while awaiting trial for her murder. Ellison was arrested and charged with the murder last April, and his death officially closes the investigation into Martin's homicide, authorities have said.

The news that the man it took 30 years to charge with her sister's murder had died before he could stand trial was something that took awhile for her process, Elizabeth Martin said.

"I can now say that it's over," Elizabeth Martin said.

She regrets that her parents died before the murder could be solved, she said. The death of Deborah, who had been the youngest in a family of four girls, devastated their parents, Elizabeth Martin said.

"Neither one of them was ever the same," she said.

Elizabeth Martin described her younger sister as extremely creative, independent and dedicated to her plant and antiques store.

"She was a wonderful writer," she said.

After Deborah's death, Elizabeth found a small notebook in which her sister had kept some of her poetry and prose. She said she still takes it out from time to time and reads the words to herself.

Ellison's unexpected death also disappointed Detective Jim Smith, who asked the Cape Girardeau Police Department to allow him to begin working on the cold-case homicide several years ago.

Smith began reinterviewing witnesses in the case, including Ross Alan Milburn, a former boyfriend of Deborah Martin's who was able to provide key testimony in the case against Ellison, and eventually secured enough evidence for an arrest.

"The case had been so cold, but Detective Smith was determined to get resolution," Elizabeth Martin said.

Smith said he is convinced Ellison was responsible for the murder and that the "general consensus" of investigators who'd worked the case over the past three decades agreed with that conclusion.

Witnesses described a "money deal" between Ellison and Martin in which he'd promised to turn a profit for her on a large quantity of money police believe she took from Milburn's safe.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

388-3635

Pertinent address:

605 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO