When Vidor, Texas, police officers found a stalled Mercury Tracer nose-down in a ditch at 4:15 a.m. on May 14, 1991, they believed they were coming upon one of two scenes: the driver was either drunk or had been involved in an accident. As they approached the car, they felt the latter assumption was correct as a woman lay lifeless on the driver’s side of the vehicle. Upon closer examination, however, they suspected something more sinister; marks on her neck indicated she had been strangled. Numerous other discrepancies also poked a plethora of holes in the accident theory.
The woman was identified as thirty-four-year-old Kathy Page, a resident of Vidor, a town of approximately 10,000 people eighty-five miles northeast of Houston in the far eastern part of the state, only a few miles from the Louisiana border. She lived along Interstate 10, only three-hundred feet from where her car was found.
An autopsy confirmed Kathy had been strangled to death; a police investigation of the crime scene determined an amateurish attempt had been to make it appear she had perished in an accident.
Kathy’s recently estranged husband, Steve, came under suspicion, but he has not been charged with the crime, as prosecutors do not believe there is enough evidence against him. James Fulton, Kathy’s father, vehemently disagrees. He has undertaken a public campaign accusing his former son-in-law of murder and the Vidor Police Department of ineptness. His actions have received national attention and inspired an Oscar-nominated movie.
James Fulton hopes the final chapter in the murder of his daughter, Kathy Page, will soon be written; he hopes even more that the final page will be of the arrest, trial, and conviction of Steve Page.
Steve And Kathy Page
Married for nearly thirteen years, Steve and Kathy had two daughters, twelve-year-old Erin and seven-year-old Monica. Steve sold insurance and Kathy worked as a waitress at the Hoffbrau Restaurant in Beaumont, ten miles southwest of Vidor.
When the couple separated in April 1991, Steve moved out of the home and into a nearby apartment. He saw his children as he wished.
Despite the separation, Steve and Kathy, along with the kids, celebrated Mother’s Day, May 12, together. Steve and his daughters said they had a fun day of barbecuing on the beach.
The Page Family
On the following evening of May 13, Steve and Kathy attended the girls’ baseball games together. The final game ended at 9:00, and they returned home together between 9:30-10:00.
Steve says he left the home at 10:30 but that Kathy called him shortly thereafter, asking him to watch the kids as she wanted to go out with her friend, Charlotte Morgan. Steve agreed to do so.
Separated But Still Parenting
Steve says as he returned to the house, Kathy was putting on makeup and jewelry before leaving their home at approximately 11:15 p.m. She was not, however, going out with Charlotte; Kathy was instead meeting a lover at a local motel.
Having An Affair
Five hours later, at 4:15 a.m. on May 14, Kathy’s car was found abandoned on Interstate 10 only one-hundred yards from her home. It was soon clear her death was no accident. The car lights were off and the vehicle was barely damaged. A soft drink in the holder between the front seats had not spilled.
Kathy had not been thrown forward even though she was not wearing a seat belt. Her feet were pushed back against the seat, rather than stretched out toward the pedals.
Kathy’s Death Is Not An Accident
The only visible blood on Kathy was a minute amount on the back of her head; closer inspection revealed transfer blood on the inside of her clothes, suggesting she was dressed after the injury was inflicted. In addition, a blade of grass on the bottom of the back of her jeans indicated her body had been dragged.
These findings suggested Kathy was killed at another location then cleaned, redressed, and placed back in her vehicle after it was rolled into the ditch. When found, she was not wearing any makeup, nor was she wearing her watch, jewelry, and wedding band which she always wore when in public.
Killed Elsewhere
An autopsy showed that in addition to Kathy’s being strangled, her nose had been broken. The injury was not the result of a car accident but of a beating.
A Broken Nose
Authorities questioned the man with whom Kathy had rendezvoused late in the evening of May 13. He confirmed they had sex and volunteered to take a polygraph test which police say he passed “with flying colors.”
The autopsy report confirmed that Kathy had intercourse late in the evening before or the early morning of her murder with a man who had had a vasectomy. Kathy’s lover had not had such a procedure, meaning she had also recently had intercourse with another man.
Two Sexual Partners In Her Final Hours
Steve Page had had a vasectomy several months earlier. When questioned, he said he had no knowledge of Kathy’s affair, and that he and his estranged wife willingly had sex that evening prior to her going out.
Kathy’s family doubts Steve’s claim, saying the romance in the marriage had long since fizzled. The autopsy on Kathy could not determine whether the sex had been consensual.
Steve Becomes A Suspect
Phone records show two late night calls were made from the Page home during the late evening of May 13. The first was to Kathy’s friend Charlotte; the second was to the motel where Kathy and her boyfriend had hooked up.
Kathy’s sister, Sherry Valentine, believes Steve had discovered phone numbers in Kathy’s handwriting hinting at the affair. Charlotte confirms a call was made to her home late that evening; the caller hung up without saying anything.
Sherry believes Steve Page learned of the affair and, filled with rage, raped and murdered Kathy after she returned home from her tryst.
Sherry Valentine, Kathy’s Sister
Steve denied his sister-in-law’s accusation and offered his own theory on the matter.
Shortly after Kathy’s death, Steve says he received several threatening telephone calls which he believed came from a member of a prominent Italian family considered part of the “Beaumont mafia.”
Steve’s Response
Steve Page has never been criminally charged with Kathy’s murder, but her family sued him in civil court, claiming he was responsible for her death. In a civil trial, a jury needs only to find it more likely than not that the defendant is responsible for a criminal act as opposed to a criminal proceeding, in which the jury must find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Civil juries can award monetary judgments against a defendant but cannot impose punishment.
Kathy’s mother, Dorothy Fulton, testified that she had seen Steve washing clothes on the morning of May 14, the day Kathy was found dead. The following day, her family witnessed him cleaning the carpet in their home. Steve claimed that he had spilled grease on it.
Neighbors stated they frequently heard loud arguments coming from the Page home. Sherry also testified that Kathy had told her that Steve had physically abused her, but no one, including the couple’s daughters, had witnessed such an incident.
Kathy’s autopsy showed she had most likely been strangled by a left-handed person. Steve insisted he was right-handed, but several acquaintances testified they had seen him using his left hand when writing and signing documents.
In 1999, eight years after Kathy’s murder and after two previous mistrials in civil court, Steve Page was found financially liable for her death. Kathy’s family was awarded $200,000.
Steve Loses The Civil Suit
Steve Page was later convicted of repeatedly desecrating Kathy’s grave. He is still living in Texas, now working as a carpenter.
The murder of Kathy Page was profiled on Cold Justice in 2018. Following the broadcast, a new witness claimed seeing Steve walking away from the ditch several hours before Kathy’s car was found. The witness said he did not come forward sooner because he was with his mistress at the time.
Steve was also interviewed on the show and continued to deny involvement in Kathy’s murder. He is still the prime suspect, but he has not been criminally charged. His former father-in-law is doing everything in his power to change that.
Steve Is still Suspected
Kathy’s father, James Fulton, along with many Vidor area citizens, believe the police bungled the investigation into his daughter’s murder from the beginning. He contends that when officers photographed the accident scene, no film was initially in the cameras and that the evidence was compromised before the error was discovered. Vidor police deny the accusation.
James is also critical that it took three years before the District Attorney granted a warrant to search the Page home. He believes the delay resulted from Steve’s parents being friends with the Vidor Police Chief.
The Vidor Police Department, then and now, says they were not and are not playing favorites with anyone. James Fulton is not convinced and the now ninety-two-year-old is letting everyone know it.
James Fulton
Kathy’s Father
On his property along Interstate 10 near Rose City, approximately three miles from where his daughter was found dead, James erected three large billboards.
Constructed in 1993, two years after Kathy’s death, I believe the billboards are still displayed today.
James Fulton’s Billboards
The 2017 movie Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri is about a mother’s quest for justice following the rape and murder of her teenage daughter in the fictional town.
Frustrated by the lack of progress in the investigation into her daughter’s murder, grieving mother Mildred Hayes rents three abandoned billboards near her home. The billboards read “Raped While Dying,” “And Still No Arrests?,” and “How Come, Chief Willoughby?”
Producer and Director Martin McDonagh’s impetus for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri were James Fulton’s billboards, which he saw while traveling through east Texas.
The Impetus For A Movie
The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Frances McDormand won the Oscar for Best Actress. Both Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell were nominated for Best Supporting Actor for their roles as the town police chief and a police officer, respectively. Rockwell won the award.
The Film Was Successful
The movie reignited interest in Kathy Page’s murder, but what her family and friends really want is closure. If you have any information relating to the murder of Kathy Page, please contact the Vidor, Texas, Police Department at (409) 769-4561.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/156039670/lucille-katherine-page
The Final Page Remains Unwritten
SOURCES;
- Austin Statesman
- Beaumont (Texas) Enterprise
- Cold Justice
- FindLaw
- Fort Worth-Star Telegram
- Houston Chronicle
- The Orange Leader
- Port Arthur News
- Unsolved Mysteries
Kathy Page’s younger daughter, Monica, committed suicide by overdosing on drugs in 2011 at age twenty-seven. She was hooked on painkillers.
Monica Page
I know for a fact that the billboard seen in the first picture above can still be seen from the interstate heading west towards Beaumont! I have traveled this way for many years going to my grandparents home in east Texas from my home in Louisiana…when I was much younger I always looked for the billboard and read it wondering the full story behind it (this was way before google)! Once the internet became the main platform for finding out virtually anything I googled the case and was shocked by the circumstances!