CO CO - Tracy Neef, 7, Thornton, 16 March 1984

[margarita25]

"Tracy Neef, 7 yoa
March 16th, 1984
Case #S84-3781

Detective Carolyn Roberts (jointly investigated with the Thornton Police Department; they maintain custody of the case file)

The body of Tracy Neef, 7 years of age, was found dumped at a roadside pullout above Barker Reservoir in Boulder Canyon. She had been abducted earlier that day on her way to Bertha Heid Elementary School in Thornton. Her death was caused by asphyxia and exposure; it was suspected that she had been sexually abused as well.

The case was jointly investigated by Thornton PD and the Sheriff's Office; Thornton PD has custody of the case files. A likely suspect was identified, however, there is insufficient evidence for an arrest warrant at present."

http://www.westword.com/news/harold...icide-cases-that-havent-heated-up-yet-5872098


*********

Contact information: Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Det. Doug Parker at 720-977-5080. You can also contact Denver Post reporter Kirk Mitchell at 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcas...ishes-after-mom-drops-her-off-at-school/37/5/

******

Tracy Marie Neef
Case Details:
Case Type: Homicide
Height: 3' 6"
Case Status: OPEN
Weight: 55 lbs
Aliases:
Identifying Marks:
Incident Date: 03/16/1983
Occupation:
Agency: Thornton Police Department
City: Thornton
Date of Birth: 01/06/1977
County: Adams
Date of Death: 03/16/1983
Agency Case #: 84-1937
Age: 6
Judicial District: 17th Judicial District
Gender: Female
Year Solved:
Race: Caucasian
NamUs Case #: Unknown
Eyes: Unknown
NCMEC Case #: Unknown
Hair: Blond/Strawberry

About this Case:

The victim was abducted after being dropped off at school in the morning, her body was found later that day. Anyone with information regarding this case, is asked to please contact the Thornton Police Department.

If you have any information about this case, please contact:

Thornton Police Department

https://apps.colorado.gov/apps/coldcase/casedetail.html?id=1598

 

[margarita25]

First-grader vanishes after mom drops her off at school
KIRK MITCHELL
http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcas...r-vanishes-after-mom-drops-her-off-at-school/

"The mystery of who intercepted her that day has troubled Thornton homicide detectives, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and FBI agents and Boulder County sheriff’s investigators for 24 years."

 

[margarita25]

Post from another thread mentioning Tracy:
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?85500-Tracy-Neef-murder-sounds-oddly-familiar

 

[margarita25]

"Tracy’s body was found in a small grassy area between rocks a quarter-mile west of Barker Dam near Nederland, between a dirt road and the reservoir.

Since her death, the circumstances leading to Tracy’s murder have been scrutinized by more than 100 local, county, state and federal investigators.

Detectives looked at every known sex offender in Colorado.

But key evidence that might have led to the killer was either destroyed or lost, Thornton Crimes Against Persons Det. Doug Parker said.

“Many circumstances worked against the investigation from the beginning,” he said."

http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcas...ishes-after-mom-drops-her-off-at-school/37/2/

 

[margarita25]

"On the day she disappeared, Tracy watched cartoons in her home, which was about six blocks from school. She went with her mom as Susan Neef delivered newspapers to neighbors.

At 8:16 a.m. Susan Neef drove her daughter to school. Because she was 10 minutes late, there were no other kids outside on the north side of Bertha Heid, Parker said.

Also because she was late, the door on the north end of the school was locked, Parker said.

Susan watched Tracy run to an opening in the chain-link fence surrounding the school, carrying a red school bag with her Pacman lunch box inside."

http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcas...ishes-after-mom-drops-her-off-at-school/37/2/

 

[margarita25]

"Watch video: Aerials of Bertha Heid Elementary

She never entered the school. Tracy likely met her killer while trying to find a way into the school, Parker said.

“There is nothing to indicate that anyone from the school had anything to do with it,” he said.

Poze Boulevard is a heavily traveled street that curves around the school. In all likelihood, someone who knew her called the girl to a car or a stranger grabbed her and forced her into their car, Parker said.

Tracy’s father, Gary Neef, of Commerce City, a carpenter who remodels homes, said it is possible that someone who knew Tracy met her there.

“Tracy wasn’t the type who would go to somebody she didn’t know,” he said.

A few weeks earlier, she had called him when his wife was late picking her up, Neef said. When he got to school Tracy was standing next to her teacher, sobbing."

http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcas...ishes-after-mom-drops-her-off-at-school/37/3/

 

[margarita25]

"At 1:30 p.m. the day Tracy disappeared, a man found her red school bag next to a dirt road at Barker Reservoir in Boulder County.

At 2:45 p.m., Susan Neef drove to school to pick her daughter up. She waited for a few minutes then drove home to see if her daughter had walked home. Then she drove back to the school and spoke with her daughter’s teacher, who said Tracy had never come to school.

Gary Neef’s boss paged him and he called his wife, who was crying. Together they drove around the neighborhood until 4 p.m., and then called 911, Gary Neef said.

The investigation of Tracy’s disappearance started after all the teachers and students had gone home for the day, Parker said. It wouldn’t be until Monday that police were able to question them about anything they may have seen. Nobody had seen Tracy disappear, Parker said.

A couple discovered Tracy’s body at 4:45 p.m."

http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcas...ishes-after-mom-drops-her-off-at-school/37/3/

 

[margarita25]

"Tracy was found lying sideways with her knees bent together and her hands lying palm down on her belly. Her school supplies were scattered around her body.

“It appeared like she was placed there and not thrown there,” Parker said.

Tracy had a scratch on her right cheek and one above her left eye that appeared to be caused by a fingernail. The marks may have been caused as the kidnapper tried to control Tracy after pulling her into his car.

Tracy had ligature marks on both wrists indicating she had been tied with a rope or cord, Parker said. Some rapists and killers carry abduction tools like rope with them in their cars, he said.

She waswearing her jeans and t-shirt.

It was a key piece of evidence along with other signs that Tracy may have died before the kidnapper could sexually assault her, Parker said.

A ligature mark on her right chin that may have been caused by a coat strap is another clue. While trying to silence Tracy, the killer may have tied her coat so tightly above her mouth that she could not breathe, he said. While her kidnapper may have intended to kill Tracy from the moment he saw her, killing her may have been an act of desparation or a mistake, Parker said.

Tracy’s autopsy later showed that she died of asphyxiation, Parker said.

Although there were signs that Tracy was molested, the attacker did not remove her clothes or rape her, indications the kidnapper may have changed his plans after killing the girl prematurely, Parker said.

The fact that Tracy’s body was left so close to a well-traveled road, Highway 119, may indicate the killer panicked and quickly disposed of the body."

http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcas...ishes-after-mom-drops-her-off-at-school/37/4/

 

[margarita25]

"Tracy’s school bag was found about 100 feet from her body. It may have been thrown out the window of a car as the killer was driving away and realized he still had it with him, Parker said.

Homicide detectives estimated Tracy took her last breath between 10:30 a.m. and noon based on accounts of people who drove on the dirt road that day and when her school bag was seen."

http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcas...ishes-after-mom-drops-her-off-at-school/37/5/

 

[margarita25]

"A coroner discovered two hairs that could have belonged to the killer during an autopsy.

One found on Tracy’s shoe was lost while it was handled over the years by Thornton detectives, FBI experts and Denver crime laboratory investigators, Parker said.

Another found near Tracy’s pubic area, was contaminated during DNA testing in 1998. The testing only proved useful in 2006 when a Denver University DNA expert was able to exclude two longstanding suspects, he said.

There are no other suspects, Parker said.

Gary Neef said investigators never told him about the hairs.

“That’s all the evidence they had,” Gary Neef said. “Now with no DNA we’ll never know who did it unless the killer confesses.”"

http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcas...ishes-after-mom-drops-her-off-at-school/37/5/

 

[margarita25]

"Over the years, he said he coped by telling himself that the killer likely committed more terrible crimes, got caught and is rotting in prison.

Tracy’s death led a year later to her parents’ divorce, Gary Neef said.

“We kind of blamed each other and grew apart,” he said.

He said his wife Susan left the state with his 6-year-old son and he didn’t hear from them for 10 years.

Parker said police have not received any new leads in the case in many years.

It will take someone coming forward who heard the killer talk about the murder, he said."


http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcas...ishes-after-mom-drops-her-off-at-school/37/5/

 

[margarita25]

Scott Kimball eyed in 1984 murder of Tracy Neef, 7, found in Nederland
By John Aguilar Camera Staff Writer
POSTED: 10/15/2010

"The Boulder County Sheriff's Office will begin looking into whether notorious serial killer and Lafayette native Scott Kimball played a role in the unsolved murder of a 7-year-old girl whose body was found near Nederland's Barker Reservoir 26 years ago.

Sheriff Joe Pelle said Friday that his department never had reason to suspect Kimball, 44, in the murder of Tracy Marie Neef, who vanished after her mother dropped her off at school in Thornton on March 16, 1984. Her body was found later that day in a grassy area about a quarter-mile west of Barker Dam.

Pelle said a report from Fox 31 News that aired Thursday, stating that Kimball had told his cousin that he helped bury the body of a girl near Nederland, has prompted him to meet with his investigator on the still-open case to see if there's a connection."

*more at link

 

[margarita25]

I found a book about Tracy's case:

Closed Eyes: Who is Killing our Children?

"Closed Eyes; Who's Killing Our Children is a story of four individual child abductions that have found no closure for the families to this day. This is a factual story with an emotional element that starts with a cold case investigation into the abduction of seven year-old little Tracey Neef from the grounds of her school in 1984. Tracey was found raped and dead a few..."

 

[margarita25]

Jonelle was just found and ID’d / making a consolidated case list for easy reference:

CO - CO - Remains Found at Oil and Gas Site, Weld County, 24 July, 2019.

Found Deceased - CO - Jonelle Matthews, 12, Greeley, 20 Dec 1984

CO - CO - Margaret 'Margo' Hillman, 14, Lyons, 24 Sept 1983

CO - CO - Elizabeth 'Beth' Miller, 14, Idaho Springs, 16 Aug 1983

CO - CO - Tracy Neef, 7, Thornton, 16 March 1984

CO - CO - Christine Jones, 17, Boulder County, 1 Sept 1977

 

[margarita25]

WS link with some discussion about Tracy:

Tracy Neef murder sounds oddly familiar