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True Crime Author Dale Hudson Found Dead In Pee Dee River

August 16, 2009 at 12:10 pm by  

Horry County, South Carolina The community of true crime bloggers, enthusiasts, and authors are coming together in the virtual world with hopes of finding answers to the disappearance of one of our own. William Dale Hudson, 56, has made his name authoring several true crime books including Kiss and Kill True Crime Author Dale Hudson Found Dead In Pee Dee River and All I Want To Do Is Kill True Crime Author Dale Hudson Found Dead In Pee Dee River – often spotlighting heinous murders that occurred in his part of the country. His 2006 novel Dance Of Death True Crime Author Dale Hudson Found Dead In Pee Dee River is a tale of a North Carolina woman who’s double life and the thirst for money resulted in a life sentence in prison for arranging her husband to be murdered on their 3rd wedding anniversary. With his curiosity and aptitude in exploring the motivating factors into the most bizarre criminal acts, it’s no wonder people are trying to speculate what may have happened to Dale when he left his home for a business trip Wednesday morning.

20090816120639 True Crime Author Dale Hudson Found Dead In Pee Dee RiverDale Hudson left his home in Conway, South Carolina at 8 am Wednesday morning for a business trip. Around 11 am, his wife received a phone call from Dale stating he had a migraine headache, he would look for a place to rest and would call her as soon as he knew where he’d pull over. That call never came. Dale’s wife called the police department Friday and reported her husband missing.

His car was found in a wooded area in Marion County, South Carolina. Using Google maps, I was able to determine that his trip from Conway to the Marion County line would have taken him approximately 38 minutes. A violent crimes unit and a crime scene unit were called in to assist local police in determining what happened. At this time, no information is available as to if anything was found or whether Dale’s disappearance is being considered a crime. What we do know is Dale Hudson’s last communication with his wife was at least 48 hours prior to his reported disappearance.

Steve Huff of the Village Voice sums up Dale’s disappearance best:

Without talking inside baseball, I can say that there can sometimes be enmity among true crime scribes of all stripes, be they bloggers or the book authors (though it’s worth noting I never heard a bad word from anyone about Dale Hudson). This is one time, I think, when we’re all of a single mind. We hope our fellow chronicler of the darkness comes back home okay.

William Dale Hudson is a 56 year-old man being about 5’10″ tall, around 180 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. Anyone with any information regarding his disappearance or his whereabouts can call the Horry County Police Department. 843-248-1520

UPDATE:
The body found by a father and son fishing the Great Pee Dee river has been identified as Dale Hudson. The body was found near the abandoned vehicle and a couple miles from the Highway 76 bridge. “There were no signs of blunt force trauma or of gunshot wounds. We’re waiting for the results of toxicology tests to determine a further cause of death,” Marion County Coroner, Jerry Richardson, said.

Source1 | Source2

True Crime Author Dale Hudson Found Dead In Pee Dee River
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19 Comments

Comments


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  • Lazlo

    Thanks for the news TG! I agree with Mr.Huffs sentiments that everything turns out alright. Some very mysterious circumstances though. Where was he and what was he doing during those three hours between the time he left on his trip and the last call home? His car only made it 40 minutes +/- from home. Curious.

  • ScribbleMuse

    :( I hope that they find him soon and that he’s okay. They found his car, which definitely doesn’t look good, but one scenario may be that he is a runaway grownup, and left the car on purpose. We’ve all seen the stories where someone, usually a woman, will stage something that looks like a kidnapping or crime and turns out that they just wanted to be able to disappear. It’s a shitty thing to do but in this case I hope that it’s that so he’ll be okay. I’d much rather be calling him an asshole because he’s perfectly fine and healthy than to be posting virtual condolences or thoughts on whodunit.

  • http://www.dreamindemon.com Morbid

    Body found in Marion County
    http://www.carolinalive.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=337657

    A father and son fishing along the Great Pee Dee river found a body in the water around 8:00 p.m. Saturday. Body was found near an abanoned vehicle belonging to Dale Hudson, a Conway man and true crimes author who was reported missing late last week.

  • Coyote

    This is definitely one I want to keep up with to find out what happened. Very strange.

  • thinkgoat

    Thanks for the update, Morbid. ScribbleMuse said it well…running away would have been a hell of a better scenario than finding him dead. I will admit, researching this story last night didn’t leave me with a overwhelming positive feeling. I can’t wait for more details to come forward.

  • http://www.dreamindemon.com Morbid
  • Stella

    Thanks for the write-up and updates. I was brought up not far from there, heard a snippet on the news yesterday evening and didn’t even make the connection until this morning. More details will be interesting.

  • dmax

    Only went 38 miles in 3 hours. Calls wife 3 hours after leaving home to tell her he will be calling her back once he is able to pull over. That call never comes. Wife calls authorities 48 hours later to report her husband missing.

    That whole timeline doesn’t add up. The wife should have been on pins and needles after not hearing back from him within an hour after he called her, if that is in fact the case, especially, since he initiated the call and found it important enough to call her to tell her he wasn’t feeling well. But, she waits 48 hours before calling authorities?

    Are we supposed to believe that the wife sat by, patiently, waiting to hear from her husband for two days, after he found it important enough to contact her and inform her he was not doing well; knowing that the last time that she talked to him he was suffering from a migraine headache? I am anxious to hear the outcome of this story.

  • angelinfl

    How many books did this guy write. How would you rate him as an author. I’m sure there will be more of a story. How are we going to follow it Will it be an entry in the forum?

  • angelinfl

    How many books did this guy write. How would you rate him as an author. I’m sure there will be more of a story. How are we going to follow it Will it be an entry in the forum? I heard he also wrote for In Cold Blog as well.

  • thinkgoat

    @ Angelinfl, any developements will be posted here.

  • thinkgoat

    Marion County Coroner, Jerry Richardson, said foul play has been ruled out in the death of Hudson, 56, who had been missing since Wednesday.

    “There were no signs of blunt force trauma or of gunshot wounds. We’re waiting for the results of toxicology tests to determine a further cause of death,” he said.

    http://www.thesunnews.com/news/breaking_news/story/1024578.html

  • dmax

    Marion County Coroner, Jerry Richardson, said foul play has been ruled out in the death of Hudson, 56, who had been missing since Wednesday.

    “There were no signs of blunt force trauma or of gunshot wounds. We’re waiting for the results of toxicology tests to determine a further cause of death,” he said.

    How can the coroner rule out foul play without having the results of the toxicology tests? For example, he may have been poisoned. I would still like to know why he traveled only 38 miles in 3 hours…and why the wife waited 48 hours to call the cops.

  • CassieMomma

    I am in agreement with you dmax on both issues. Regardless if it supposively wasn’t foul play, why wouldn’t his wife call earlier…..very strange.

  • runnergirl

    I would still like to know why he traveled only 38 miles in 3 hours…and why the wife waited 48 hours to call the cops.

    I make that drive often and have frequently driven less than 38 miles in 3 hours due to accidents or just traffic. However, it does seem odd that the wife did not call the police for 48 hours after he told her he was feeling so bad.

  • ScribbleMuse

    Such a sad ending. :( There are definitely lots of questions though. I’m glad RunningGirl may have cleared up part of it–there are definitely places that are not quite good to relate to time:distance because of traffic or condition factors.

    Still, stories like this are so strange and curious. HOW did he end up in the river. WHY did he apparently get out of his car and go to the river? Was he suicidal? Did he have a history of headaches, or could this have been a neurological problem manifesting, and would that have led him to leave his car and approach the river, even to purposely enter it? Or did he fall in the river? My biggest question is that–why did he get that near the river to begin with? And how far was the river from his car?

    I don’t know about the wife and her actions. I’m not inclined to be too suspicious though. Maybe she DID try to find things out sooner, but the only ‘official’ records began 48 hours later. Maybe she was talking to cops or to others long before he was officially entered as a missing person, or maybe it was a typical behavior. Sometimes when my hubby has left for a business trip, I may go about 48 hours before hearing from him. If he DID have a history of headaches/migraines, maybe she thought it wasn’t unusual for him to hide under some blankets until it passed–that’s what I do in migraines.

    Condolences to his family and friends. I hope that they find the answers soon.

  • Abroad

    Aneurysm? Though of course they would most likely have known by now, wouldn’t they?

    I should say of the issue of the wife not making sure he was chased up quickly that if they were a frequent occurrence she might have assumed he was in no fit state to phone by the time he found a place to hole up. My ex-bf used to suffer terribly with his, and everyone around him knew better than to worry him with anything while they lasted. If the area he went missing in was an area he knew well, she might have assumed he would surface when he was feeling better.

    If he didn’t usually suffer with migraines she would have (should have) been fretting far worse……

  • thinkgoat

    I suffer from migraine headaches and I can assure you, those who have witnessed how sick I become would most definitely be concerned if they couldn’t immediately contact me. The pain alone will make a rational human do irrational things. There’s no way friends and family would let me go even 12 hours without knowing for sure I didn’t off myself in the throws of one! Believe me, I’ve thought about it with each one – it always seems like the better option. :p

    And for sure, this is still a very tragic and curious story.

  • mom2

    I know everyone is naturally curious and has questions. However, I knew Dale and his family. I will tell you that there was not a couple more devoted to one another than Dale and Deborah. Deborah is devastated, as are their children. The area Dale was traveling is called the low country for a reason. The roads are two lane and often are used by farm vehicles. It can take hours to go from town to town. Dale’s son was a very good athlete and Dale was so excited to see him play at High School this year. Dale would never have harmed himself. He simply had too much to live for. As for waiting to report him missing, I am sure that is when an official report was made. His wife has a close friend whose husband is a police officer. I am sure they were looking for him prior to an official report. What has happened is a personal tragedy for his wife and children. I don’t know how he ended up in the River. But, if it wasn’t foul play it was an accident. I know that as sure as anything I have ever known and anyone that knew Dale would tell you the same thing. Let us pray for his family and not cast questions at their actions.