William J. Murray III was born in Ohio in 1946, after his mother Madalyn Mays Roths had returned from service in Italy during World War II. His father was William J. Murray Jr., a married Catholic officer with whom she had an affair while they were both stationed in Italy. He refused to get a divorce. Also married at the time, Madalyn divorced her husband. She named the boy after his father. She also took the surname Murray. Murray moved with Bill to Baltimore, where her mother and brother lived. In 1954 Bill's half-brother Jon Garth Murray was born. Their mother became an atheist activist when the boys were still young and attending public school. In 1960 she gained national attention by filing a lawsuit challenging the practice of compulsory prayer and Bible reading in public schools as unconstitutional. She named her son William Murray III as plaintiff. The Murrays' case, Murray v. Curlett, was folded into Abington School District v. Schempp before the Supreme Court of the United States heard the issues. In 1963, it ruled that mandatory Bible reading in public schools was unconstitutional. The year before it had overturned the practice of mandatory prayers in public schools. Murray later worked in various industries in the private sector, including the airline industry. He had a daughter, Robin, with his high school girlfriend, who stayed with his family after running away from home. In 1980, Murray became a Christian. Learning of his conversion, his mother commented: "One could call this a postnatal abortion on the part of a mother, I guess; I repudiate him entirely and completely for now and all times. He is beyond human forgiveness." He became a Baptist minister. He and his mother Madalyn Murray O'Hair were estranged by his action, as he was from his daughter and brother, who shared his mother's household and were deeply involved with the American Atheists organization. O'Hair had legally adopted Robin. She was legally both her uncle Jon's niece and sister. In 1995, his mother, daughter Robin, and half-brother Jon disappeared from their home and office. It was learned that they were kidnapped, held for about a month, and subject to extortion of $600,000 before they were killed in a remote area outside Austin, Texas. Their bodies were not found until January 2001. The plot was led by David Roland Waters, an ex-convict and former employee of the American Atheists, who had been fired for theft of $54,000; and two accomplices.
