Condy Dabney was convicted of murdering a girl who was later found alive. In 1924, he was convicted of murdering Mary Vickery, 14, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Vickery had disappeared on August 23, 1924. A month later a girl's body was found nearby in an abandoned mine shaft near Coxton, an unincorporated area in Harlan County, Kentucky. After Mary's father had posted a $500 reward for information, a woman named Marie Jackson came forward and claimed to have witnessed Dabney murder Vickery. The prosecution's case against Dabney was weak. The found body was too decayed to be dead only a month and witnesses disputed Jackson's whereabouts on the day of the alleged murder. Still Dabney was convicted. Twelve months after Dabney's conviction, a police officer in Williamsburg, Kentucky, 85 miles away, happened to notice the name Mary Vickery on a hotel register. Because the name seemed familiar, he spoke with her and realized that she was the person Dabney was convicted of murdering. Mary said she ran away because she was not getting along with her stepmother. Dabney was released and Jackson was convicted of perjury. The found body was never identified.
