Edyth Ann Dewees was born on December 19, 1955, to Randle and Edyth Dewees. She married Ron Smith, and they had a son, Nicholas Vincent Smith, born on July 11, 1979. They were married for eight years before divorcing. Ron resided in Orange County, California following the split.
Edyth later married Henry Warner, and they had a son together, Andrew Henry Warner, born in June 1987. Edyth, 35, was an art major at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, and Henry was an engineering student there. The family resided in university married-student housing.
By 1991, their marriage was falling apart, and Edyth asked for a divorce in February that year. She and Nicholas vanished shortly after.
Where is Edyth Warner and Nicholas Vincent Smith?
Edyth’s parents lived in Laguna Niguel, California. They last saw Edyth at Christmastime 1990, but they had spoken with her several times over the telephone in January 1991 and early February 1991. When they had not heard from Edyth, they called Henry two nights in early March. Henry answered, saying their daughter was either not home or out for a walk. When Randle called on the third night, Henry said Edyth and Nicholas had not been home since February 23, 1991.
Two Fathers Search for Answers
Randle and Ron drove to Las Cruces and knocked on Henry’s door. But he refused to speak to them, saying he was studying for finals.
They later drove to Nicholas’ elementary school and were told he had been absent from class since February 22. Edyth last attended her classes on February 21. Randle and Ron subsequently drove to the El Paso airport, about 30 miles away, to see if Nicholas would show up to take his scheduled flight to California on March 9. Nicholas had planned to visit Ron but never arrived at the airport.
NMSU campus police never took the disappearances seriously and right away said they did not believe foul play was involved. Randle tried to convince them that his daughter and grandson did not run off, but no evidence suggested either scenario.
Ron and Randle spent two days in Las Cruces before returning to Orange County.
Randle returned to Las Cruces two weeks later. He found a woman who knew Edyth who had seen Edyth leaving home with several cardboard boxes piled in her station wagon a week before she disappeared.
Randle thought she had put them in a storage utility and visited more than a dozen storage businesses, but they had yet to see or hear of Edyth. Randle never learned what Edyth did with all of the boxes or what was inside them.
Henry claimed his wife took $1000 in cash and $10,000 in gold and silver from their shared accounts. It’s unclear whether police confirmed his story, but it would have been easy to find out.
Ron traveled back to Las Cruces in early April 1991. He checked around the city before driving to Los Alamos, where Henry and Edyth once resided. Two travel agency employees there identified Edyth from a photo and said she was a woman who had inquired about a flight in March.
Smith notified campus investigators about the tip. One traveled to Los Alamos and interviewed the travel agency employees. Both identified Edyth as being there in March, inquiring about a flight. Strangely, the investigator later claimed, “Which flight is unknown.” How is that possible if he had spoken to the agents?
This same investigator also claimed there was a sighting of the mother and son on a Greyhound bus bound for Albuquerque. He also acknowledged the pair could have been other people.
Randle and Ron never believed Edyth left voluntarily with Nicholas because she would never have left Andrew behind. Furthermore, Nicholas had a good relationship with his father and would have remained in contact with him if possible.
It also was uncharacteristic of Edyth to take off without notice.
Ron told the Los Angeles Times in October 1991: “The thing is, she’s not like this. I was married to her for eight years, and she never did anything like this. I think something serious happened to them.”
Subsequent calls from Randle to Henry resulted in Henry hanging up the phone each time. Henry moved back to Los Alamos soon after Edyth and Nicholas vanished.
He likely killed both of them and disposed of their bodies somewhere outside of and close to Las Cruces. The motive was probably the divorce. Edyth presumably wanted custody of Andrew. Why Henry harmed Nicholas, who knows? It is possible Nicholas witnessed his mother’s murder and was old enough to tell the police who did it. So, his stepfather silenced him (strictly this author’s opinion).
RECENT
There has been no activity in the investigation since 2008 that I could find. Police offered a reward for information in 2011.
Whitepages says Henry is living in Goodyear, AZ, although it’s hard to say if this is current. He has lived in numerous places across the country and typically uses a P.O. Box. Whitepages lists two different phone numbers – one for Wilton, Iowa, where Andrew H Warner also has a P.O. Box and uses the same Iowa telephone number, and a Florida number registered to a Tim Daly, around the same age as Henry, who is now in his 60s. I don’t know how reliable Whitepages is so I”ll leave it at that.
Henry has never publicly spoken of his missing wife and stepson. I know, shocking, right? 😉 It does not appear that anyone is searching for Edyth and Nicholas today, including the police.
As of 2013, Ron Smith was living in Texas. It’s unclear what happened to Edyth’s parents.
Anyone with information regarding Edyth Warner and her son, Nicholas Vincent Smith, should call the New Mexico State University Police Department 505-646-7000.
Sources
Associated Press. “Student, Son, 11, Missing.” Albuquerque Journal, March 29, 1991.
Good, Meaghan. “Edyth Ann Warner” and “Nicholas Vincent Smith.” The Charley Project. https://charleyproject.org/
McLellan, Dennis. “Missing and Not Accounted For.” Los Angeles Times, October 30, 1991.
“Mountain Searched in Cold Case.” The Santa Fe New Mexican, March 12, 2008.
Valdez, Diana Washington. “Mother Not Seen Since 1991 Art Class at NMSU: Stepson Never found.” Ruidoso News (Ruidoso, NM), November 6, 2013.
