Suvechha Sarkar
In January 2017, 68-year-old Ethel Atkins Raines, also known as Kay, suddenly went missing from her home in Mobile, Alabama. The missing person’s investigation transformed into a homicide as time passed by. Unfortunately, her remains were discovered in a shallow grave around two months after her disappearance. A&E’s ‘ The First 48: Buried Secrets’ revisits the case, which exposed a tragic string of betrayal and greed. Additionally, the episode follows the detectives in real time, chronicling the investigation’s progress and the killer’s arrest.
Kay Raines’ Remains Were Discovered Two Months After She Went Missing
Ethel Atkins Raines, affectionately known as Kay among his loved ones, arrived in the world as a blessing on September 19, 1948. Her parents, Clarence Nolan and Ethel Gabel Atkins Sr., had always cheered her on to pursue the career she wanted. Kay’s friends often described her as non-judgmental, a quality that helped her make friends from different walks of life. After graduating from high school and completing her undergraduate studies, she earned a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Development from the University of Alabama. Following that, Kay joined the Mobile Mental Health Center as the Director of Children’s Programs. During her time there, she developed a program regarding children with learning disabilities.
Kay left that position to begin working as a realtor and then a magazine publisher, during which she featured cuisine along 30-A in Florida. As an exceptional athlete, she enjoyed playing UTSA Tennis and cheered for his favorite football team during championships. In her personal life, Kay found love when she met Lawrence Ronald “Ron” Raines. After dating for a while, the pair finally tied the knot in 1980 and welcomed their son, Clarke Raines, into the world. Over the years, they moved around among Atlanta, Georgia; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Birmingham, Alabama. After she lost Ron forever on April 16, 2006, she moved in with her mother in Mobile, Alabama. Shortly after, Clarke also moved in with Kay.
By 2017, Kay was working part-time at a Home Depot in Biloxi, Mississippi. On January 28, 2017, her loved ones grew concerned when they were unable to contact her, leading them to report her missing. When officials checked her home in Mobile, they discovered her purse, wallet, car keys, cellphone, and a red suitcase packed with clothes in her bedroom. They further found her car parked outside. After searching for her extensively, officials uncovered her remains from a shallow grave in a wooded region off Highway 225 on March 27, 2017. Dental records reportedly helped identify the remains as Kay’s. Reports state that forensic experts noted she was hog-tied and wore the same clothes she was last spotted in. The autopsy report determined her cause of death to be asphyxiation by strangulation.
