March 29, 2021 | By Anderson Bobo This story is part of a collaborative project between Project: Cold Case and a University of North Florida Journalism class. Ruthie Jean Hays was the only girl in her family of three brothers. But that didn’t stop her from pulling her weight. Ruthie was “a doer,” her cousin Owen Lunn said. “She could go in and get things done.” Ruthie was born on December 29, 1948, in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Her family then moved to West Plains, Missouri, where she spent most of her life. It was a simpler time – a time before the internet – and a simpler place, one in which the resident chopped their own firewood. The Hays family lived in Missouri alongside the Lunns. The Lunns had eight children – four boys and four girls. Owen and Ruthie were close in age – Owen being just two years older – and the two were close growing up. They could always relate to each other, and Owen could... Read More