Kerr County man found dead hours away from home; police still investigating decades later

GEORGETOWN, Texas - A Kerr County man was found dead on a property in Georgetown hours away from his home, and almost 30 years later, police are still investigating his death.

On June 15, 1994, Arbie Heckman found a body on his Georgetown property.

"I had noticed several buzzards in the trees and on the fence post and didn't think much of it the first day and the next day more and more seemed to show up," Heckman said. "So I went ahead and I walked down here and I was almost going to turn around because I thought I'd seen everything. And I took a couple more steps and I found him laying here on the ground."

That body was identified as John Myatt, a 43-year-old father from Mountain Home, Texas, just outside of Kerrville, over two-and-a-half hours away from where his body was found.

Myatt was found near the corner of County Road 254 and County Road 255.

"Deputies arrived on scene, they did locate the body, confirmed it was human," said Williamson County Sheriff's Office Det. Mark McKinney. "After various different methods were used, the person was identified."

MORE MISSING IN TEXAS

• South Austin mother hopes teen daughter will come home after running away
• Heidi Broussard case: Lifetime movie about Austin murder, kidnapping to air Sept. 23
• Carla Walker Act: Cold case solved decades later with advanced technology leads to bill for more funding

Heckman showed FOX 7 Austin's Libbi Farrow exactly where he found Myatt on his property that hot June day.

"It was extremely hot. It was probably 100 degrees or better," he said. "Of course, you know, he had it appeared that he'd been here for some time. I don't know how long that had been."

In 1994, the area was a little bit different, says Heckman.

"It was heavily grown up. There was I mean, just it was just covered real thick. This is at the end of a road that's supposed to be a cul-de-sac on two pieces of property, but it never had a fence or anything," Heckman said. "So people would sometimes come here, turn around, you'd see evidence of beer cans or maybe even shotgun shells or something."

"It was a pretty traumatic thing," he added. "You know, you come up and you find somebody and it's not something you're looking for. I ran home and I called 911."

Myatt was clearly a long way from home and detectives wanted to know what he was doing there.

"According to family members and witnesses he had left, where he lived outside of Kerrville to go to Arlington on June 9th, which just a couple of days prior to him being located," Det. McKinney said. "He had gone to visit someone on business in Arlington."

Myatt was a manager at a ranch out in Kerrville where he lived and worked. Police later learned Myatt had no intention on stopping by Arbie Heckman's home and Heckman says he doesn't know who Myatt is.

MORE CRIME COVERAGE

• Stolen vehicles reported racing in Manor neighborhood: police
• 1 dead after apparent homicide in north Austin; police investigating
• Jury duty phone scam prompts warning from WilCo District Clerk

Myatt's son reported him missing on June 13, 1994, just a few days after he left their home.

"Him and his son also worked together on that ranch. And just before his death, they had really, you know, started to rebuild their relationship and were actually getting along great and trying to do things together like they hadn't before in the past," Det. McKinney said. "So, you know, it's very sad that his life was taken, you know, as he and his family tried to rebuild their relationship."

While police were investigating the scene, they came upon Myatt's truck just a half a mile from his body.

"His truck, if somebody didn't know him, they might at least remember his truck or what it looked like. It was at the time of his death, he was driving a nineties model ford pickup. It was white and gray two-tone in color and it was a clean looking truck. It didn't have any, any real big dings," Det. McKinney said. "Anybody that might remember seeing that truck in this area or anything like that, I was encouraged."

Anyone with any information on Myatt's death is asked to call the Williamson County Sheriff's Office at 512-943-5204 or contact Williamson County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-253-7867 or online. Crime Stoppers has a cash reward for information that leads to an arrest.