Good evening. Here are some stories you may have missed today.
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The case of the missing ‘Queen of Oak Lawn’
LaCheryl Wilson didn't know it, but she was supposed to be dead. At least, thousands of people close to Dallas' LGBT community thought she was.
Wilson, 64, is a homeless woman with mental health issues who has hung around the Oak Lawn neighborhood for the past three decades. Sometimes kind, sometimes hostile, she has acquired a nickname over the years: "Crazy Mary." The moniker might be a little rough, but the community loves her.
When several months went by without Wilson being spotted in Oak Lawn, people began to speculate that she had died. Find out how that rumor sparked an obituary in a local publication ... and how Wilson turned up months later in Fort Worth. Reporter Naomi Martin has the full story.
And: The Dallas City Council wants to get input from the public before acting on Confederate monument recommendations.
Also: The State Fair of Texas closed its 2017 run Sunday, logging 2.2 million visitors and $54.5 million in coupon sales -- second-best in the festival's history, fair officials said.
Editorial: The adults in Sherin Mathews’ world repeatedly failed her
All of us are grieving the short, sad life of 3-year-old Sherin Mathews.
Much of this little girl's existence remains a tragic mystery. But based on the grim facts at hand, no adjective -- not harrowing, not traumatic, not heart-rending -- adequately describes her reality.
Time and again, the adults in Sherin's world failed her, our editorial board writes.
Abandoned in random bushes at some point after her birth and raised in an orphanage in India, Sherin had few odds in her favor. She was said to have been malnourished and physically underdeveloped, without the language skills of a typical toddler.
Even after Sherin wound up adopted and living in Richardson, we don't know if things ever got better for her. Read the full editorial here.
Commentary: In his own words, Sherin Mathews' father is culpable in her disappearance and likely death, writes columnist Jacquielynn Floyd.
Ezekiel Elliott can play for the Cowboys on Sunday
Ezekiel Elliott will be available for the Cowboys on Sunday against the Washington Redskins after a judge scheduled the next hearing in his suspension fight for the day after the game.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla rejected the NFL's request to expedite the hearing on the preliminary injunction that has kept Elliott's six-game suspension at bay. The next hearing is scheduled for 5 p.m. Oct. 30 in New York.
The league says its year-long investigation found Elliott used physical force against a former girlfriend on three occasions, which Elliott denies.
More Cowboys: The dominating performance against the 49ers is just the latest sign the Cowboys' offensive machine is revving back up to 2016 form, writes expert Bob Sturm. On the less positive side, the Cowboys are trying out replacement kickers as while starter Dan Bailey is out.
Mavs news: After being cautious and sitting two games, the Mavericks' Dennis Smith Jr. will play tonight against the Golden State Warriors.
Famous foursome: Steph and Seth Curry joined Jordan Spieth for a Sunday round at the Dallas National Golf Club. Oh, and President Obama showed up, too.
Photo of the day
Tristan Stone (left), as Texas Chainsaw Massacre character Leatherface, and Jerome Espinosa, as Jason from Friday the 13th, got some face time in front of a green screen on Saturday at the Dallas Fan Days convention. The annual event took over the Irving Convention Center with wonderful costumes and more geekery than you can shake a gaderffii stick at. Check it all out at GuideLive.com.
Around the site
Crime: Dallas police are trying to identify a man who sexually assaulted a woman he met in Deep Ellum early Saturday before attacking a second woman downtown less than an hour later.
Real estate: The developer behind a bold downtown Dallas makeover takes on his biggest project yet.
In limbo: How thousands of immigrants could suddenly lose their legal status.
Hearing sought: Attorneys for an undocumented pregnant teen in Texas asked a federal appeals court to reconsider its ruling against granting the teen an immediate abortion.
Elections: Early voting began today for the Nov. 7 general election. Here's the expert analysis from our editorial board on the most important ballot propositions.
Elections, Part 2: Sports raffles, home equity loans and saving to win -- here's what you can vote on this November.
Finally,
Texas is one of the most generous states in the nation when it comes to compensating the wrongly convicted. It’s paid a total of $109 million to 109 women and men who were wrongfully convicted. Those 109 people spent a total of 1,160 years imprisoned for crimes they didn’t commit.
But the number of exonerees receiving compensation is falling, a trend that, for better or worse, experts expect to continue.
One of those 109 exonerees is Christopher Scott, who was wrongfully convicted of murder. The state of Texas paid Scott more than $1 million as a sort of apology for stealing more than 12 years of liberty from him. The state will pay him another $4,900 a month for the rest of his life. The money has helped him buy a home and a car, and start a business.
“That compensation probably made me the person I am today,” Scott said.
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