Deborah was last seen in Hanford, California on June 12, 2006. She has never been heard from again. After her disappearance, her home appeared to have been ransacked, and there was a trail of blood on the floor.

Two days after Deborah was last seen, her minivan was found in Fresno, California. The doors were unlocked, the keys and a small sum of money were inside the vehicle, the windows were rolled down, and the glove box was empty. There was a bloodstain in the backseat. The van bore a rear license plate that had been stolen from another vehicle. Investigators stated the van had been at the place where it was found since the day Deborah disappeared, and it appeared that whoever left it there hoped it would be stolen. There were marks on the vehicle indicating it had been driven through rough terrain.

At the time of her disappearance, Deborah, was in the process of a custody battle, and she was on bad terms with her ex-husband, David Martin Hawk, whom she divorced in 2000. Photographs of Dave is posted below this case summary. David and Deborah shared custody of their three children, who ranged in age from 10 to 15 years old in 2006. Deborah was seeking additional time with the children. She wanted more child support money as well, and she claimed David had made unauthorized withdrawals from their trust funds. She disappeared the day before these issues were to be examined in court. Her divorce attorney, L. Kim Aguirre, was shot in the neck before the custody case was to go to court in May 2006. Aguirre survived the attack. He claims that someone also fired five bullets through his office window. Deborah called him after he was shot and said David might be responsible, but several of his clients suggested the same thing about other individuals. David is considered a person of interest in the Aguirre shooting, but has not been charged in connection with it.

Although authorities initially said David was with his children at the time Deborah vanished and had been ruled out as a suspect, they later reversed their position and named him as the prime suspect in her case. In June 2007, David was arrested on five charges unrelated to Deborah's disappearance: perjury, grand theft, embezzlement, tax evasion, and misdemeanor possession of child pornography. Authorities stated David lied about his income and made $300,000 in illegal withdrawals from his children's trust funds, and there were images of child pornography on his computer.

In May 2008, David was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in Deborah's case. Authorities stated they didn't have any new evidence in the presumed homicide, just the same evidence that had been accumulating for nearly two years. They have not described in detail the case against him, but they believe the murder was committed for financial gain. The murder case and the embezzlement case were tried together in the summer of 2009. David was convicted of first-degree murder and ten financial crimes in August 2009. In December, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Deborah was employed as a salesperson for a pharmaceutical company at the time of her disappearance; her job involved going to doctors' offices with samples. Authorities investigated the possibility that she disappeared because someone wanted to steal her pharmaceutical products, but found no evidence to support that theory. Although her body has not been recovered, foul play is suspected in her case due to the circumstances involved.

Above Images: David Hawk in 2008