Debra Burch (Brandy Ledford) was a minor antagonist in the 2002 episode "Stray" for the TV series "Smallville".
Debra was married to James Gibson, a sleazy man who was once married to a woman who was the mother of Ryan James, a child with telepathic abilities. Ryan had been conceived by Mr. James, who was now deceased. When Ryan's true mother died, James Gibson was granted full custody of Ryan. Now widowered, Mr. Gibson was free to find a more attractive trophy wife, whom he found in Debra. When James married Debra, they became his ipso facto parents.
Debra and her husband James were professional criminals who carried out a number of successful robberies by exploiting the abilities of their stepson Ryan. Ryan possessed a form of telepathy that allowed him to read the surface thoughts of anyone around him and his so-called guardians used him to gain knowledge of their marks, such as safe combinations and passwords. After watching his guardians murder a pawnbroker, Ryan tried to run away and ended up running into the path of Martha Kent's car. After spending a night in the hospital, Ryan was allowed to return home with the Kents until any next of kin could be contacted.
Debra and James soon tracked Ryan down and Debra posed as a Child Services worker in order to get the Kents to give the boy up. She warned Ryan that she would kill them if he told them who she really was. Ryan was later forced to glean an account password from his guardians' next mark Lex Luthor.
Debra and James ditched the limo they had stolen from Lex and tried to break into his trust fund account using a password that Ryan had gotten from Lex's mind. The password was fake, and James got angry and demanded Ryan to tell him the real password. Ryan turned to Debra, telling her that James planned to kill her after the job was over. While James protested that Ryan was trying to get them to turn on each other, Debra believed him. She said that he had never lied to them before. James admitted that Debra was right just as he raised his shotgun and blasted her.
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