By Anita Miller
Lockhart — On Dec. 26 it will have been 15 years since authorities in Caldwell County made the grisly discovery — 38-year-old nurse Latricia White had been shot six times in the head.
Her body was found in bed at the Lockhart home of Lee Herman Wackerhagen Jr., who had disappeared, along with his nine-year-old son Chance.
Neither has been seen since, prompting the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to issue yet another plea for the public’s help.
Wackerhagen, who was 40 at the time, was the non-custodial parent of blue-eyed, blond-haired Chase, whose mother lives in Kingsville.
Wackerhagen is wanted both for the murder of White, who was a nurse at Central Texas Medical Center and the mother of two, by Kingsville police for interfering with child custody; and by the FBI, who issued a warrant for Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution in January 1994.
He is described as six feet tall and, at the time he disappeared, 230 lbs, with dark blond hair and blue eyes and scars on his right leg and both arms. Law agencies have said he is to be considered armed and dangerous.
Wackerhagen has been known to wear a mustache and glasses. Chance, who has a small dimple on his right cheek, would be 24 years old now.
Wackerhagen had left the scene of White’s murder in a green pickup truck that was later recovered in Austin. Authorities at the time said there was blood in the truck.
The case has been featured on the television show “Unsolved Mysteries.”
Anyone with any information is urged to contact the FBI Austin at (512) 345-1111; the Texas DPS at (800) 346-3243; or (800) THE-LOST (843-5678) and refer to case number M-126791244.
