Match! NY - Caledonia, WhtFem 1UFNY, 13-19, Turquoise Necklace, Nov'79 *Tammy Alexander*

[Lexiintoronto]

BINGO!
I think this is Cali!!!

Tammy Jo Alexander

Just added to NamUs today.

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/24778/0

Carl, you're awesome. So are everyone of you working on the unidentified and trying to give them back their names. <3

 

[forthelost]

I have this weird little ritual. Every time that someone listed on Doe is identified, I go back to when that person was first listed, via the Internet Archive. I start on the first page of UID's and go until the end, saying the name of each person that has been identified (I just say "identified" if I've never found out the person's name).

Words can't express how happy I am that I can now say the name of the very first person there, every time.

 

[ME Investigator]

I always compare reports when there is an identification just so I have a better idea of what variables to look for in the future.

Cali was listed at 63" and 120lbs
Tammy was listed as 60" 100lbs

Usually I only do a 2" variation + - on height. Hmmmm......should rethink that.

I'm curious about the pollen evidence putting her in California though. Based on what the friend said - did Tammy have enough time to go from Florida to California to NY? Last known contact was 10 days prior to her death correct?

I'm just wondering. Maybe she got new clothes in San Diego so the pollen trail started then and not in Florida.

Green is the location of Austrailian Pine per the USDA and Hernando County is colored green. As with all science you can not deal in absolutes, the combination of pollens found suggested California but clearly Florida was a strong possibility.

 

[Irish_Eyes]

I always compare reports when there is an identification just so I have a better idea of what variables to look for in the future.

Cali was listed at 63" and 120lbs
Tammy was listed as 60" 100lbs

Usually I only do a 2" variation + - on height. Hmmmm......should rethink that.

I'm curious about the pollen evidence putting her in California though. Based on what the friend said - did Tammy have enough time to go from Florida to California to NY? Last known contact was 10 days prior to her death correct?

I'm just wondering. Maybe she got new clothes in San Diego so the pollen trail started then and not in Florida.

Thanks to ME Examiner for the useful info, and I agree with you appears, that is exactly what I do. Two cases I know of for example, bodies were found in the Great Lakes and after they were identified I realized that the estimated postmortem intervals were way off - I don't know if it's the freeze/thaw cycles or the algae blooms or what, but I now expand my timeline of possibles when looking at missing persons for matches to UIDs found in the Great Lakes.

 

[Abigail]

In response to a question about what Tammy's personality was like, and her musical tastes, etc. Her friend replied:

Looking at her high school photo, she looks so full of life and adventure, with that little sparkle in her eyes, the type of young lady that would bounce back from whatever life threw at her.

 

[Owutatangledweb]

View attachment 68338

Green is the location of Austrailian Pine per the USDA and Hernando County is colored green. As with all science you can not deal in absolutes, the combination of pollens found suggested California but clearly Florida was a strong possibility.

I believe that I read that the friend and Tammy went to california and the friend's mother paid for tickets to fly them back home because tammys mother said "leave her there".

 

[Abigail]

View attachment 68338

Green is the location of Austrailian Pine per the USDA and Hernando County is colored green. As with all science you can not deal in absolutes, the combination of pollens found suggested California but clearly Florida was a strong possibility.

Australian pines are very common in Florida, not only in the Brooksville area, but also in Pinellas county, just south, which is in white in this map. I rather think that her tan lines (in November) and the pollen would have just as clearly pointed to Florida as to California. All in retrospect, of course.

 

[apearn]

Often I second guess possible matches if the person went missing from several states away. This case is a good example of why I should kick that bias out of my head. For her age she traveled a lot further than I would have expected - except for the tan lines. That clue was always indicative of her not originating anywhere even remotely close to where she was found.

IMHO it is always good to compare the info on both sides of a solved case.

 

[Roselvr]

Just read some of the media stories on this - very cool that Carl is being publicly recognized for this!!! This is such a moving story!

Of course Carl is getting recognition; I am working Cali's FB page, SSA is on Never Forget Me; both pages have been going nuts asking for interviews.

Here is the presser on my you tube for anyone that had issues seeing it

Really wish they would have said murdered vs dead

Web sleuthing helped lead to ID of girl found dead in 1979 Gary Craig, Staff writer 5:52 p.m. EST January 27, 2015

Within a split-second after he saw the photo of the smiling young teen — her eyes asparkle, her curly blond locks framing a cherubic face — Carl Koppelman was certain the girl was "Cali."

From his computer, Koppelman, a member of a volunteer Internet group at Websleuths.com, started a chain of events that led to Monday's announcement: A girl found fatally shot in a Livingston County cornfield in 1979 had finally been identified.

In the fall of last year, a photo of Tammy Jo Alexander was posted on the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, or NamUs. A teenage friend of Alexander, wondering what had happened to her childhood pal, filed a missing persons report that led to the release of the photo on NamUs.

Koppelman, a certified public accountant who lives in El Segundo, California, saw the photograph in September, and quickly recognized it as a near match for the girl found dead in 1979. An autopsy photo had been released in 1979, as well as other reconstruction photos since.

"I said, 'That's her, that's Cali,' " Koppelman, 52, said about the moment he saw Alexander's photograph. "... You're surprised to be seeing somebody you're used to seeing dead, and all of a sudden you see them there with a big smile on their face.

"It's really a shock to see them alive," he said in a telephone interview.

Websleuths.com brings together online volunteer investigators who pore over reports of missing persons and dead bodies that remain unidentified. The website first started in 1999, and now has over 70,000 registered members and 19 moderators, said Tricia Griffith, a Utah woman who co-owns the site with Sue Pruitt....

 

[sayd]

Carl, I just wanted to say that I am so proud of you. I read the Missing/Unidentified threads often, and the things you do just amaze me! Very, very proud of you!!!!

 

[winko567]

Rest in peace Tammy :"( </3
it's so heart breaking seeing her real picture, and knowing that it was her the whole entire time now I really hope they can find the monster who killed her

 

[carbuff]

I believe that I read that the friend and Tammy went to california and the friend's mother paid for tickets to fly them back home because tammys mother said "leave her there".

I remember reading that as well, but I can't find the source right now.

 

[CarlK90245]

I remember reading that as well, but I can't find the source right now.

Yes, that was told to me by Tammy's friend. I relayed her comments in Tammy's MBNF thread, which has now been moved to the Cold Cases forum.

Just relaying some information received from Tammy's best friend from high school.

She says Tammy disappeared after the 78-79 school year was over, around May of 1979.

She says that they both ran away around Christmas of 1978, and caught rides from truckers all the way to California. She says that Tammy had a reason to run away. But her friend says that she just went along for the ride. Tammy's friend's mom had to pay for airfare back to Florida for both of them because Tammy's mom said "Leave her there".

She says that both she and Tammy wore earth shoes like the ones found on Cali, and that when she last saw Tammy, her hair was cut a little shorter than in her sophomore photo. She doesn't recognize the turquoise necklace or the keychains that fit together.

She still has the names of some of the truckers that they traveled with.

And contrary to the suggestion in the Zabasearch post, Tammy's friend says emphatically that Tammy was not a prostitute

 

[Abigail]

Well, I just opened the local newspaper, and there's Carl's photo and article right on the front page. Democrat & Chronicle.

 

[RocNYchick]

As a local who is close in age to Tammy, I want to give a heartfelt Thank You to Carl and all those who helped to solve this case. It was so wonderful to see this news and also to see all the well-deserved props Carl and WS is receiving in our local media. Carl you gave a wonderful interview on Wease Show this morning!

Brittnee Drexel case brought me to WS and her case and the other cases I followed were Cali and the Alphabet Murders. Those 2 cases have always kinda haunted me because they were a part of my childhood being of the era of both. It's good to know that Cali is no longer unknown, now hopefully her killer can be found. Now I wish you guys can get on the Alphabet Murders in Rochester in the 1970s and solve that one too!

Thanks again and kudos to all involved. THIS is what WS is all about!

 

[CarlK90245]

I thought that interview went very well. I was very pleased with how the conversation flowed.

Then I went to his website, and saw the cheap shot he took at me on his comments about the interview. Oh well - I guess I have to expect that when I get public attention.

As a local who is close in age to Tammy, I want to give a heartfelt Thank You to Carl and all those who helped to solve this case. It was so wonderful to see this news and also to see all the well-deserved props Carl and WS is receiving in our local media. Carl you gave a wonderful interview on Wease Show this morning!

Brittnee Drexel case brought me to WS and her case and the other cases I followed were Cali and the Alphabet Murders. Those 2 cases have always kinda haunted me because they were a part of my childhood being of the era of both. It's good to know that Cali is no longer unknown, now hopefully her killer can be found. Now I wish you guys can get on the Alphabet Murders in Rochester in the 1970s and solve that one too!

Thanks again and kudos to all involved. THIS is what WS is all about!

 

[Houston Mom]

The sketch of the man she was with in the diner.

http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/vicap/uni...deceased-person/person_view_multimedia#images

Notes on killer:
"Suspect(s): An unknown subject is described as a White male, 5'8" to 5'9" tall. He was wearing black wire-rimmed glasses and a plaid shirt. He drove a tan station wagon with side paneling. "

 

[webrocket]

Carl, I hadn't signed on in quite some time and congratulations for finding this match AND getting recognition. The countless hours you devote here daily is a tremendous public service.

 

[Houston Mom]

WAIT, WAIT, Lucas had a station wagon and admitted to killing Cali Doe, hmmm.

http://98.139.236.92/search/srpcach..._&icp=1&.intl=us&sig=T6hsOPRSmuk3F2_FlvycqA--

 

[Abigail]

Piecing together from FB pages and news articles:
1. Tammy was born in Georgia in 1963 to Barbara Barnes and Marvin Bobby Alexander.
2. Tammy was living in Brooksville, Fl at the time of her disappearance with her mother and step-father. In 1980, Tammy's mother (then Barbara Jenkins) moved to Lakeland, FL. Tammy's mother and step-father and her biological father are all deceased.
3. Tammy has a younger half-sister (same mother, different fathers), Pamela Dyson, whose DNA proved the link to "Cali." Pamela was not living with her mother or Tammy at the time of the murder. She had gone to live with her grandmother at age 12. Pamela reported in a news article that her mother had a volatile personality and abused drugs, which led to Tammy running away.
4. Tammy has a step-sister named Sharon (not sure exactly which parent she's related to). She was a small child at the time of the murder.
5. Tammy and a friend (I think the same one who reported her missing) had run away before -- hitching rides with truckers all the way to California. The friend's mother paid for their tickets to come back home (Tammy's mother said "leave her there"). This happened in May 1979, about 6 months before the murder.
6. Some controversy as to whether or not the parents reported Tammy missing. It may be that they did, but because Tammy had just turned 16 and had previously run away, the police may have assumed she was voluntarily missing and not done anything with it. (back in those days in rural Florida, it wasn't uncommon for girls to be getting married and having babies at that age). Or the police may have discarded the file later on.
7. Tammy was last seen by her family on the day of or day after her birthday (Nov. 2). She was found murdered in the tiny town of Caledonia, New York (near Rochester) about one week later (Nov. 10).
8. Tammy's good friend from high school, Laurel Nowell, officially reported Tammy missing in June 2014. She last saw Tammy on the last day of the school year (in 1979). Apparently one of them attended a different school in Fall 1979, so they were not in touch as much. Laurel started a FB page for Tammy Alexander at the time she reported her missing.
9. Tammy had a boyfriend named Kevin. Kevin tried to do a search for her sometime around 2007 on Zabasearch. He thought it was possible she'd gotten involved in prostitution in St. Petersburg.