Nine-year-old Chance Wackerhagen sounded jolly when he called his mom, Gaye Williams, on Christmas Day 1993. He was excited about opening presents and said he was having a great time with his dad, forty-year-old Lee” Dub” Wackerhagen, from whom Gaye was divorced. Chance asked his mom if he could spend a few more days with him and Gaye agreed. She has spent the last three decades wishing she had said no.

The Christmas call Gaye received from her son was the last time she ever spoke to him. Two days later, Dub’s new girlfriend, thirty-eight-year-old Latricia “Trish” White, was found murdered, and Dub and Chance had disappeared.

For thirty years, pictures of the missing father and son have graced fliers and are posted on the Internet. For twenty-three of those years, Chance was listed as an endangered missing person and Dub as a wanted person. In 2016, however, a major status update was made to the case; Dub, like Chance, is now listed as a missing person. Investigators now believe both Wackerhagens also met with foul play.

Trish White is believed to have been murdered in a crime of passion, but the culprit is now thought to be her former, as opposed to her new, beau.

 

                    Trish White    Chance Wackerhagen  Dub Wackerhagen

Trish White was a mother of two who lived in a rural area between Lockhart and McMahan, Texas, approximately thirty miles south of the state capital of Austin. She worked as a nurse at the Central Texas Medical Center in San Marcos. Following her divorce, Trish retook her maiden name of White.

Dub Wackerhagen was a truck driver. He and Trish had both grown up in the area and had dated briefly when in high school. They again began seeing one another following their respective divorces.

In March 1993, Dub moved into Trish’s house near McMahan.

Lifelong Acquaintances Begin Dating

Trish told her family that she and Dub fought frequently and that he often verbally berated her. Chance was frequently the source of the arguments. A friend visiting the home witnessed one heated exchange first hand on the evening of December 23, 1993.

As Dub and his friend were watching television, an excessive amount of water flooded the new linoleum floor. An irate Trish yelled at Chance, saying he had left the water faucet running. Chance denied having done so, and Dub sided with him, angering Trish. Dub took Chance and stormed out of the house, threatening to leave for good. The friend saw the two get into Dub’s truck and drive away.

The incident was apparently soon forgotten. Gaye said Chance made no mention of the argument when her son called her two days later, on Christmas day.

All also seemed well the following evening as Trish, Dub, and Chance were seen having supper at a local restaurant. Something, however, apparently went amiss afterwards.

Frequent Fights

Trish, uncharacteristically, did not arrive for work the following day nor call to offer an explanation. After not being able to reach his daughter, Trish’s father, Jack White, went to her home. When he received no response after repeated knocks, he let himself in the unlocked door.

Upon entering the home, Jack was concerned; upon entering the bedroom, he was devastated. His daughter lay lifeless on the bed.

Jack White

Trish’s Father

Trish had been shot six times with a .22 caliber gun. Police believed she had been killed on the previous evening of December 26. Her murder appeared to be a crime of passion, but police found it odd the home showed no signs of a struggle.

Trish Is Found Shot To Death

Bloody footprints found in the home were determined to be those of Chance, indicating he had been at the residence either when Trish was murdered or shortly afterward. Neither he nor his father could be located.

Three days later, on December 30, Dub’s 1986 Ford pickup was found abandoned in a high-crime area of East Austin, approximately thirty miles away. His wallet and checkbook were inside and appeared to be intact. His hunting rifle, which had not been recently fired, lay on the car’s front passenger seat.

In the back of the truck were a toolbox, a spare tire, and several Christmas gifts, some of which had been opened while others were still wrapped. All had trace amounts of blood on them, indicating that someone had been injured. Tests showed the blood was not Trish’s type but were inconclusive in determining if it belonged to Dub or Chance. Nothing conclusive was found indicating whether they were alive or dead.

No Chance, No Dub

Gaye lived in Kingsville, one-hundred-eighty miles south of McMahan. She and Dub had ended their relationship in 1990, three years earlier. “Stormy” was a word frequently used to describe their time together. Gaye says Dub was a good man when she met him, but she became “scared to death of him” because of his temper. She says Dub verbally, but never physically, abused her and that his ire was always directed toward her, never to Chance.

Several sources say Dub and Gaye divorced, but one says they had only a common law marriage and never were officially married. Gaye had another son from a previous relationship. Following the separation, Gaye was awarded custody of Chance, their only child together, while Dub was granted visitation rights.

Despite her fears of her former husband, Gaye does not believe he would harm their son.

Gaye Williams (Now Walstad)

Dub’s Former Wife and Chance’s Mother

The claims Trish made to friends and family regarding Dub were virtually identical to those made by Gaye. Trish said Dub had a hair-trigger temper and also verbally, but never physically, abused her.

Investigators came to believe that Dub was responsible for Trish’s murder and that he had abducted Chance. The new year of 1994 began with a new man among Texas’ Most Wanted.

Arrest Warrant Is Issued For Dub

Four months passed with no word from Dub or Chance. In April 1994 O.P. Williams, Gaye’s father and Chance’s grandfather, received a phone call. On the other end, a boy’s voice twice cried out “Help me”, before the phone was slammed down, ending the call. O.P. believed the voice was Chance’s, but he could not be certain. The call was too short to be traced.

As no sightings of Chance could be confirmed, authorities concluded the call was either a crank or not related to his disappearance.

Did Chance Make The Call?

For the following two-plus decades, Dub Wackerhagen continued to be listed as a wanted person, charged with the murder of his live-in girlfriend and the kidnapping of his son.

Dubbed A Killer And Kidnapper

In 2016, however, over twenty-two-years after being charged with the crimes, authorities announced, after re-investigating the case, they believe Dub, like his girlfriend, is a murder victim. Investigators also said that Chance, as opposed to having been kidnapped by his father, had likely been murdered as well. A new set of investigators believed their predecessors had developed “tunnel vision” in zeroing in on Dub as the suspect.

Several people had told the original investigators to also look at Trish’s former husband, saying he too had a violent temper and was angry at his former wife. They had been involved in a contentious custody dispute over their son and daughter.

Trish’s former husband had told the original investigators that he went to her house on the day she was last seen, December 26, to retrieve items their children had left behind but that no one answered the door. Current investigators, instead, believe he went to the home either intending to kill Trish or that he killed her after an argument ensued. Dub and Chance, current investigators believe, were at Trish’s home at the time, providing an opportunity for a cover.

The new investigators believe after Trish’s former husband murdered her, he took Dub and Chance hostage, forced them into Dub’s truck, then murdered them elsewhere in the hopes that it would appear as though Dub had killed Trish and kidnapped Chance. For nearly twenty-three years, such a scenario was the working theory.

Authorities have not said what has led them to these conclusions but do say they cannot charge Trish’s former husband with murder without locating the bodies of Dub and Chance.

A New Theory

Dub Wackerhagen is no longer sought on any criminal charges. He is now listed as an endangered missing person.

Dub Is Now Listed As Missing Instead of Wanted

At the time of his disappearance in 1993, Lee Herman “Dub” Wackerhagen was six-feet-four-inches tall. He weighed two-hundred-forty pounds, but he often ballooned to as heavy as two-hundred-seventy pounds. He had a moustache, blue eyes, dark strawberry blond hair, wore eyeglasses, and had scars on both of his arms and his right leg. He likely now has a receding hairline.

Dub was a truck driver but had also worked as a backhoe operator. He would today be seventy-years-old.

Computer-Aged Image of Dub

Chance Lee Wackerhagen was nine-years-old when last seen in 1993. At the time, he had blonde hair and green eyes, was four-feet-eight-inches tall and weighed seventy-five pounds. He had a small dimple on his right cheek.

As an adult, Chance may be a large man like his father. He would today be thirty-nine-years-old.

Computer-Aged Images Of Chance

If you have any information on the murder of Trish White, or on the disappearances of Dub and Chance Wackerhagen, please contact the Missing Persons Clearinghouse at 1-800-346-3243, the FBI at the Missing Persons Clearinghouse at 1-800-346-3243 or the Texas Rangers Cold Case Unit at 1-800-346-3243.

Clues Still Sought

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/22201258/latricia-gail-white#

SOURCES:

• America’s Most Wanted
• Charley Project
• Kingsville (Texas) Record
• Lockhart (Texas) Post Register
• Lostnfoundblogs
• San Antonio Express-News
• Unsolved Mysteries