Unsolved Crimes
Kids Playing Around Mead's Quarry on September 13, 1969 Discover Burned-out Car
February 27, 2022
STATUS: OPENAfter receiving a call around 2:30 pm on September 13, 1969 about a burned-out car Knoxville Police arrived on scene to begin their investigation. Though much information was developed the case remains unsolved. It is the hope of Mr. Hubert Lee Johnson’s daughter that with the help of East Tennessee Valley Crime Stoppers the murder of her father and Mr. Murel Mitchell Marie can finally be solved.
Johnson, 45 of Strawberry Plains left Bob’s Auto Service on Chapman Hwy on Friday, September 12th where he worked as a mechanic along with his two sons. While at work he got into an argument with his sons and left work without them. They called their mother, Mary Johnson, to pick them up. While Mrs. Johnson was on her way to pick up their sons she saw her husband drive by in their yellow 1966 Pontiac, heading south on Chapman Hwy at around 5:30 pm, that was the last time she saw her husband.
Later that evening it was reported that Johnson and Marie, 61 were drinking in Bunch’s Tavern on Gay Street and left there around 11:30 pm heading to North Gay Café for a bite. There is no report of them being seen again until the next afternoon when they were discovered at the quarry.
At one time Marie had been a resident and manager at the Dunbar Hotel on Gay Street and most recently had been in the Mountain Home Veteran’s Hospital in Johnson City. He was released from the hospital on September 10, 1969 returning to Knoxville.
Investigators found a Fairfax watch was found on the car’s floorboard.
When the investigation began the identity of Johnson and Marie were unknown. Johnson’s identity was the first to be confirmed through the car’s registration and dental information provided by Mrs. Johnson and Johnson’s dentist. The second person was later identified as Marie after investigators began the work on identifying the owner of the watch; Mrs. Johnson said her husband did not wear a watch so they knew it did not belong to him. Investigators located a local jeweler from Gay Jewelry who identified the watch and the repair marks as a watch he had worked on as recently as September 12th and that it belonged to Marie. The ownership of the watch was confirmed by Marie’s brother, Ott Marie of Dandridge who recognized it as one his brother wore.
Though the medical examiner was unable to conduct an autopsy due to the condition of the bodies he was able to find that Marie had what appeared to be an old gun shot wound to his abdomen, later confirmed to have occurred in 1966 and he found a copper-plated bullet in the base of Marie’s skull. The M.E. ruled Marie’s cause of death as a gunshot wound. He was unable to make the same ruling in Johnson’s death as he could not perform an autopsy.
There remains a lot of unanswered questions, to include, who killed Hubert Johnson and Murel Marie and why? Who did the light green dress shirt belong to?
Though more than 50 years have passed the family would still like answers and are hopeful that with time those who may still be around and who have answers will come forward to provide the family with some peace. If you have any information regarding this crime or any crime you can REMAIN ANONYMOUS and submit a tip to East Tennessee Valley Crime Stoppers. There are 3 ways to submit a tip and each way provides the tipster with 100% anonymity. Call 865-215-7165, go online to www.easttnvalleycrimestoppers.org, use our free mobile app, P3 TIPS, or text **TIPS. Your tip may = a CASH reward.
