Pauline “Polly” Devor was 70 when she was reported missing from the Siloam Springs, Arkansas ranch she shared with her husband, Bob Devor, 65.

Bob Devor came home from a work trip and called 911 when he found the house burglarized, money missing and his wife gone.

Bob Devor’s breezy demeanor during the emergency situation struck officials as odd, according to Steven Hulsey, a detective with Washington County Sheriff’s Office. 

“He didn’t seem to be upset or really bothered by any of the things that he was reporting,” Hulsey said on Fatal Family Feuds, airing Sundays at 7/6c on Oxygen. 

Alarmingly, that included Polly Devor’s disappearance from the ranch. Polly Devor’s daughter, Delores “Dee” Eggert, 47, who lived and worked on the property, told officials that her mother was probably at a nearby casino.

The unsettling puzzling would take two years to be finally pieced together.

Polly Devor’s life as a wife and mom becomes key to the case

Raised in Virginia, Polly was known for being “outdoorsy, tough and kind,” said Amy Driver, Deputy Prosecutor, Washington County Prosecutor’s Office. 

In 1950, she married Robert Hoeller, who was in the Army at the time. They moved to El Paso, where they had four children, three boys and one girl — Eggert. A decade later they divorced and Hoeller got custody of the children.

Polly Devor married a second time in 1961. She and her spouse bought the 750-acre property in Washington County, Arkansas. “My grandmother, Polly, absolutely loved the ranch,” Alyssa Hockenberry told Fatal Family Feuds.

Twenty years into their happy marriage, her husband suffered a fatal heart attack. Looking for help to run the ranch, Polly Devor met Bob Devor. They tied the knot in 1987.

Following Polly Devor’s disappearance, Bob Devor told authorities that he and his wife were happy. “They both enjoy the outdoors, and they live this great life,” said Driver.

At the scene, investigators found no forced entry, despite some bullet holes in a kitchen window, no blood, and Polly Devor’s cars remained in the driveway. 

Bob Devor told investigators that Polly Devor collected monthly payments from rental properties they owned. Bob Devor’s theory was that Polly Devor’s disappearance might be tied to her collecting those payments.

“There was about $3,000 in cash … that was missing,” Denis Dean, Senior Deputy Prosecutor for the Washington County Prosecutor’s Office. 

Police interviewed Eggert, who lived in a trailer near the main residence. She claimed she had last seen Polly Devor on June 14, while she worked alongside Monica Bautista, a ranch hand. Bautista gave the same account.

Detectives interviewed the Devors’ rental tenants and found no viable leads. They reviewed security footage at the casino Polly Devor frequented and saw that she’d not recently been there.

Three days into the case, police could find no activity on Polly Devor’s cell phone, financial accounts, or “any presence of her anywhere in and around the area that would substantiate that she’s still alive,” said Hulsey. 

Polly Devor’s family members are a focus of investigation

Bob Devor had claimed he’d been away on a long-haul trucking job before returning home to find Polly Devor missing. Detectives confirmed his alibi, but they considered that the scene at the ranch may have been staged.

Detectives learned that Polly Devor and Eggert had a difficult relationship that reached back to the girl’s childhood. After a long period of no contact, they reunited. At age 37, Eggert went to live with her mother and stepfather. As Eggert worked on the ranch, the women clashed. 

“Dee felt she was overworked and underpaid,” said her friend Gene Partlow. “She felt that Polly controlled her. She would say, ‘I hate that bitch.’”

On June 29, investigators questioned Eggert, who reiterated that on June 14, the last time she saw her mom, she and Bautista were working on the ranch. 

After work the same day, Eggert and Bautista went to an Oklahoma casino and didn’t get home until the wee hours the next day. To back up her story, “she gave us a toll receipt,” said Hulsey.

Eggert dismissed rumors of bad blood between her and her mother as chatter. Investigators pushed Eggert to tell the truth, yet she stuck to her account. 

A month into the investigation, officials learned that Eggert had moved into the main house with Bob Devor, raising eyebrows among members in the community. 

“There was a relationship there that was much more than a stepfather and daughter situation,” said Partlow, adding that he’d seen the two kissing.

This relationship, which detectives learned began before Polly Devor vanished, was key. “This could, in fact, be a primary motive for the disappearance of Pauline,” said Hulsey.

Lacking sufficient evidence to make any arrest, police continued to dig for leads. The case went cold for nearly two years.

Deal leads to arrests of Dee Eggert and Bob Devor

Twenty-two months after Polly vanished, Bautista was investigated for an unrelated case of forgery. It would be a twist that broke Polly Devor’s case wide open.

In exchange for help with Polly Devor’s investigation, authorities told Bautista they would forgive the forgery case and give her immunity for any information she provided, according to Fatal Family Feuds.

On April 13, Bautista told officials that Eggert had approached her. “We learned that Dolores specifically asked her to help her kill her mother and get rid of the remains,” said Hulsey. 

Bautista explained that Eggert had stolen Polly Devor’s credit card and racked up $1,500 in purchases. “Dee has a strong suspicion that Pauline had turned her into the police,” said Driver.

Bautista described the ruse that Eggert masterminded. “Dee was going to act hurt and get her mother away from the house to a rural part of this farm,” said Dean. 

When Polly Devor arrived at the location to help her daughter, Eggert pulled a gun on her, but the firearm didn’t go off.

A fight broke out between the mother and daughter. Bautista bashed Polly in the head with a stick. Eggert beat her mother unconscious with a tire iron and then got another weapon. “She returned and shot her mom three times in the chest, killing her,” said Hulsey.

Eggert and Bautista burned her body then drove to a casino in Oklahoma, where they met Bob Devor. Eggert “told him that the murder had taken place,” added Hulsey.

On June 15, Bob Devor came home. He used ranch machinery to push his wife’s incinerated remains into a sinkhole. He shot up the main house windows to throw off police.

To incriminate Eggert, police had Bautista wear a wire. Officials recorded what they needed to arrest Eggert for murder. “Monica told Dee that she was worried that she was about to be arrested,” said Hulsey. 

Investigators spent over two weeks searching the ranch for human remains. They located several teeth and tiny bone fragments that were determined to belong to Polly Devor. 

“Dee had a love-hate relationship with Polly,” said Dean. “She felt abandoned from a young age.”

Those feelings drove her beyond limits. “She also revealed that she was having an affair with Bob, but that was only because of her anger and hatred towards her mother,” said Driver.

Eggert told detectives that Bob Devor knew all along about the murder plans. “Bob Devor was tired of Polly’s gambling habits, of her reckless spending, and he was afraid that the family fortune was going to be depleted if Polly remained alive,” said Dean. 

In August 2010, after a plea agreement was reached, Eggert was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the murder. Bautista had immunity.

Bob Devor was arrested for hindering apprehension and prosecution. He was found guilty in January 2011 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Bob Devor died from cancer behind bars in 2014. 

Polly Devor’s loved ones still grieve. “Dolores is in jail,” said Hockenberry. “Monica Bautista should be sitting right there next to her.” 

Watch all-new episodes of Fatal Family Feuds on Sundays at 7/6c on Oxygen.