The real life story that inspired the Jeepers Creepers movies comes from a real life killer named Dennis DePue. In 1990 DePue became the subject of a police manhunt, after murdering his wife and dumping her body behind an abandoned church. DePue apparently murdered his wife as an act of revenge when she filed for divorce. She was reported missing on April 15th, 1990. Neighbors immediately suspected Dennis was behind her disappearance, it was well known they had a rocky marriage. Dennis snapped and severely beat her in front of their three children, he pretended that he was going to take Marilyn to the hospital, but instead shot her in the back of her head.
When DePue was dumping his wife's body he assumed he was alone. It was rare for anyone to drive along the isolate Michigan back roads where he was located. Ray and Marie Thornton were driving along that stretch of road at that very moment and found themselves bearing witness to Dennis disposing of Marilyn's body behind a church. She was wrapped in a bloody sheet. Before Ray and Marie could fully comprehend what they just saw, Dennis was in his van, following close behind them for several miles and then disappeared completely until March of 1991.
This case aired on Unsolved Mysteries on March 20th, 1991. On the night of the broadcast, Dennis was located living in Dallas, Texas under the name Hank Queen. He fled when he saw himself being profiled, leading police on a lengthy high speed chase into Mississippi. After pursuing officers disabled his van, he committed suicide to avoid capture.
