A CRAWLING TIGER, AN UNCERTAIN DATE OF DEATH
Lacking any other physical evidence at the time, detectives pursued the Tiger Lady's tattoo as a major lead. They analyzed the ink and found the supplier: Spaulding and Rogers, of Vooheesville, NY, according to the New Jersey State Police case file.
The tattoo company cooperated with the investigation, even distributing 20,500 fliers about the case to tattoo shops across the country. Investigators talked to tattoo artists across the nation, all of whom called the tattoo a "scratcher" -- a distinctly amateur piece of work, according to investigators who handled the case.
The potential link with the Grateful Dead and its nomadic following was not identified until sketches were released this past November, according to August Wistner, the lead detective on the case in the 1990s.
"Nobody ever mentioned it at the time," Wistner said.
Jerry Garcia played the "Tiger" guitar between 1979 and 1995, and it was the last instrument he used on stage, according to his official website. The inlay shows a tiger in white crawling down the tailpiece, its left paw forward, and its tail crooked to the right. After Garcia's death in 1995, it was sold to Jim Irsay, the owner of the Indianapolis Colts, in 2002 for $850,000.
Several Dead fans reached out after NJ Advance Media published a story about the Tiger Lady in November to say that the tiger tattoo looked like the icon on the Garcia guitar, with the pose of the tiger, and the kinked tail.