Debra was last seen at her family's residence in Lebanon, Indiana on August 29, 1981 at approximately 11:00 a.m. She was allegedly with her mother's live-in boyfriend, Omer R. "Steve" Beebout. Debra disappeared during the day and has never been heard from again. She left all of her personal belongings inside her home. Debra's case was reclassified to a non-family abduction with foul play suspected after the homicide of her sister, Frances Annette Cole, in 1983. Beebout was considered a suspect in Frances's homicide and then became the prime suspect in Debra's 1981 disappearance.