Found Deceased FL - Tammy Alexander, 16, Brooksville, 8 Nov 1979

[darko]

Welcome to WS.

I take an interest in this case for the simple fact the murder happened close to where I live, as well as the fact it's unsolved.

There's a possibility here that the victim was with this perpetrator for a decent amount of time, say many hours or perhaps longer. Which I think maybe explains the close up and personal demise of this poor young woman. He had to be situated within a very short distance to her to shoot her in the manner described by law enforcement.

I believe the perpetrator knew he could carry out such an act because this young, vulnerable teenager needed him, and might trust him. He also would have known about her background, no doubt she told him during the car ride or perhaps at the diner. So we have a situation where the worst of humanity figured he most likely could get away with her murder.

Location:

The location of the diner where they ate, and the general area where he committed the crimes, I think was already known to the killer. The nearest, finished interstate highway during that time is a short drive north of there. He also had to have known U.S. 20 along there.

Interstate 390 was completed through there in 1982. U.S. 15 was the main north/south route through there, for many years. I maintain the killer knew that area well. I think he would have had to have known it well, in order to make a quick escape. The roads are generally not very straight. It's also very hilly due to glacial activity. Not many clear lines of sight over long distances. This happened in the evening hours.

My hunch is this was someone traveling a fair distance. Witnesses described a young man. One could surmise he was single, and no one was expecting him home during that period of the day. So most likely living alone.

He could have called ahead and told a family member he was delayed and decided to spend the night at a local motel. There were plenty of these motels located along both U.S. 20 and U.S. 15 back in those days, also near interchanges along the N.Y. State Thruway (I-90).

I agree @ZohanJB , it's most likely this was premeditated. The killer planned this ahead of time.

I would be inclined to look at similar cases around the same period of time, in nearby U.S. states.

In post #536 above, the documentary claims truckers saw Tammy Jo at a nearby truck stop. Most likely this was along I-90, but I will say "nearby" may be a relative term in this case. That could be Buffalo. There would have been maybe 2 or 3 along I-90 south and west of Rochester.

JMO

100% killer was familiar with area and preplanned murder. Possibly a local to the Avon/Caledonia area and likely had a travelling job with odd hours. Given the promotional Jacket from the Watkins Glen, I'd suspect his job probably pertained to something like an Automotive Sales Rep.

A traveling automotive sales rep based in this region could plausibly:
-Know the Route 20 area well
-Be comfortable committing a crime in a rural field
-Have access to promotional racing jackets (e.g., Watkins Glen)
-Travel far enough to encounter Tammy without local ties being obvious

Not to discount other potentials, like a trucker, but the access to the jacket implies a level of car enthusiasm that transcends the average person. and given that the killer was comfortable leaving the jacket with the victim suggests that he may have thought police would link the jacket to those that purchased it at a promotional event. I assume if he was a rep and had access to the jacket, he likely had multiple which may be why Tammy felt comfortable taking it.

Now this is speculative of course but there are some aspects of the profile for this killer that must be true or at least highly likely.

1. The murder was not spontaneous. He chose that location deliberately and that time deliberately.

-Traffic on Route 20 is virtually zero
-Patrol activity is minimal
-The offender has absolute control of time and setting

He knows:


-Where headlights show on the horizon
-Where no houses have line-of-sight
-Which pull-offs aren’t monitored

2.He was familiar with the location. You don’t commit an on-site homicide in a pitch-dark field unless you’ve driven past it repeatedly.

3. The timeline matches someone routinely on the road late
Sales reps, truckers, and regional drivers often traveled late into the night in the 1970s.

4. The killer likely had "functional territory" overlapping Avon/Caledonia area

This could be:

-A sales territory
-A trucking route
-A delivery path
-A habitual recreational drive
-A commuting route between counties

5. The Jacket

-A person attending Watkins Glen events or receiving promotional materials could easily have possessed a jacket like Tammy's.


Now as far as the timeline goes:
*=my opinion
Evening (8:00 pm – 11:00 pm)

Offender is traveling Route 20 or nearby highways after finishing:
A late-day sales route*
Driving home from a regional job
Returning from a trip
Or simply passing through the area en route between Rochester, Buffalo, or the Finger Lakes

At this time:
Traffic is thin
Hitchhikers (like Tammy) are more visible

The offender might stop at:
Gas stations
24-hour diners*
Truck stops
Bars
Small-town intersections

It’s during this window that Tammy was most likely picked up.

Late Night (Midnight – 2:00 am)
Tammy is in the offender’s vehicle.

Key behaviors during this phase:
He takes a familiar-long route*
stops for food (matching stomach contents)
Heads southwest, west, or north depending on his route pattern

By now, he has:
Assessed her vulnerability
Developed a false sense of rapport or control
Moved her progressively toward an isolated area
An offender who routinely travels Route 20 would know exactly where the darkest, least traveled sections were.

Early Morning (2:00 – 5:00 am)
This is the highest behavioral-likelihood window of the murder:
Traffic on Route 20 is virtually zero
Patrol activity is minimal
The offender has absolute control of time and setting
He turns off onto the field access area near Caledonia/Avon that he is already familiar with.*
He kills Tammy on-site — a sign of confidence in that specific location, not improvisation.

What the timeline suggests...familiarity

-He drove route 20 often
-he understands rural police rhythms
-he's comfortable navigating rural roads in the dark
-he likely had a reason to be out late

Ultimately,

The timeline and geographic logic strongly support an offender who was a repeat traveler on Route 20, with predictable familiarity with rural Livingston County, but not necessarily a local. Although, I do suspect this area was familiar and comfortable enough to the killer that they likely were in the radius of where they lived.


Someone mobile, car-oriented, and often out late — like a traveling automotive rep.

 

[FATMAOMAOCHONG]

100% killer was familiar with area and preplanned murder. Possibly a local to the Avon/Caledonia area and likely had a travelling job with odd hours. Given the promotional Jacket from the Watkins Glen, I'd suspect his job probably pertained to something like an Automotive Sales Rep.

A traveling automotive sales rep based in this region could plausibly:
-Know the Route 20 area well
-Be comfortable committing a crime in a rural field
-Have access to promotional racing jackets (e.g., Watkins Glen)
-Travel far enough to encounter Tammy without local ties being obvious

Not to discount other potentials, like a trucker, but the access to the jacket implies a level of car enthusiasm that transcends the average person. and given that the killer was comfortable leaving the jacket with the victim suggests that he may have thought police would link the jacket to those that purchased it at a promotional event. I assume if he was a rep and had access to the jacket, he likely had multiple which may be why Tammy felt comfortable taking it.

Now this is speculative of course but there are some aspects of the profile for this killer that must be true or at least highly likely.

1. The murder was not spontaneous. He chose that location deliberately and that time deliberately.

-Traffic on Route 20 is virtually zero
-Patrol activity is minimal
-The offender has absolute control of time and setting

He knows:


-Where headlights show on the horizon
-Where no houses have line-of-sight
-Which pull-offs aren’t monitored

2.He was familiar with the location. You don’t commit an on-site homicide in a pitch-dark field unless you’ve driven past it repeatedly.

3. The timeline matches someone routinely on the road late
Sales reps, truckers, and regional drivers often traveled late into the night in the 1970s.

4. The killer likely had "functional territory" overlapping Avon/Caledonia area

This could be:

-A sales territory
-A trucking route
-A delivery path
-A habitual recreational drive
-A commuting route between counties

5. The Jacket

-A person attending Watkins Glen events or receiving promotional materials could easily have possessed a jacket like Tammy's.


Now as far as the timeline goes:
*=my opinion
Evening (8:00 pm – 11:00 pm)

Offender is traveling Route 20 or nearby highways after finishing:
A late-day sales route*
Driving home from a regional job
Returning from a trip
Or simply passing through the area en route between Rochester, Buffalo, or the Finger Lakes

At this time:
Traffic is thin
Hitchhikers (like Tammy) are more visible

The offender might stop at:
Gas stations
24-hour diners*
Truck stops
Bars
Small-town intersections

It’s during this window that Tammy was most likely picked up.

Late Night (Midnight – 2:00 am)
Tammy is in the offender’s vehicle.

Key behaviors during this phase:
He takes a familiar-long route*
stops for food (matching stomach contents)
Heads southwest, west, or north depending on his route pattern

By now, he has:
Assessed her vulnerability
Developed a false sense of rapport or control
Moved her progressively toward an isolated area
An offender who routinely travels Route 20 would know exactly where the darkest, least traveled sections were.

Early Morning (2:00 – 5:00 am)
This is the highest behavioral-likelihood window of the murder:
Traffic on Route 20 is virtually zero
Patrol activity is minimal
The offender has absolute control of time and setting
He turns off onto the field access area near Caledonia/Avon that he is already familiar with.*
He kills Tammy on-site — a sign of confidence in that specific location, not improvisation.

What the timeline suggests...familiarity

-He drove route 20 often
-he understands rural police rhythms
-he's comfortable navigating rural roads in the dark
-he likely had a reason to be out late

Ultimately,

The timeline and geographic logic strongly support an offender who was a repeat traveler on Route 20, with predictable familiarity with rural Livingston County, but not necessarily a local. Although, I do suspect this area was familiar and comfortable enough to the killer that they likely were in the radius of where they lived.


Someone mobile, car-oriented, and often out late — like a traveling automotive rep.

if we assume that the jacket was from the race in Watkins Glen a month prior, I think it’s a good idea to post posters on Facebook groups of old racing fans in New York. Maybe someone there would remember talking to a man resembling the sketch.

 

[FATMAOMAOCHONG]

On the Finding Tammy Jo podcast, one of Tammy’s friends said the both of them got into trouble with the law for doing something (not elaborated upon), presumably in April 1979. She could have done something like this and the person she was travelling with might’ve gotten angry at her.

 

[Falling Down]

100% killer was familiar with area and preplanned murder. Possibly a local to the Avon/Caledonia area and likely had a travelling job with odd hours. Given the promotional Jacket from the Watkins Glen, I'd suspect his job probably pertained to something like an Automotive Sales Rep.

A traveling automotive sales rep based in this region could plausibly:
-Know the Route 20 area well
-Be comfortable committing a crime in a rural field
-Have access to promotional racing jackets (e.g., Watkins Glen)
-Travel far enough to encounter Tammy without local ties being obvious

Not to discount other potentials, like a trucker, but the access to the jacket implies a level of car enthusiasm that transcends the average person. and given that the killer was comfortable leaving the jacket with the victim suggests that he may have thought police would link the jacket to those that purchased it at a promotional event. I assume if he was a rep and had access to the jacket, he likely had multiple which may be why Tammy felt comfortable taking it.

Now this is speculative of course but there are some aspects of the profile for this killer that must be true or at least highly likely.

1. The murder was not spontaneous. He chose that location deliberately and that time deliberately.

-Traffic on Route 20 is virtually zero
-Patrol activity is minimal
-The offender has absolute control of time and setting

He knows:


-Where headlights show on the horizon
-Where no houses have line-of-sight
-Which pull-offs aren’t monitored

2.He was familiar with the location. You don’t commit an on-site homicide in a pitch-dark field unless you’ve driven past it repeatedly.

3. The timeline matches someone routinely on the road late
Sales reps, truckers, and regional drivers often traveled late into the night in the 1970s.

4. The killer likely had "functional territory" overlapping Avon/Caledonia area

This could be:

-A sales territory
-A trucking route
-A delivery path
-A habitual recreational drive
-A commuting route between counties

5. The Jacket

-A person attending Watkins Glen events or receiving promotional materials could easily have possessed a jacket like Tammy's.


Now as far as the timeline goes:
*=my opinion
Evening (8:00 pm – 11:00 pm)

Offender is traveling Route 20 or nearby highways after finishing:
A late-day sales route*
Driving home from a regional job
Returning from a trip
Or simply passing through the area en route between Rochester, Buffalo, or the Finger Lakes

At this time:
Traffic is thin
Hitchhikers (like Tammy) are more visible

The offender might stop at:
Gas stations
24-hour diners*
Truck stops
Bars
Small-town intersections

It’s during this window that Tammy was most likely picked up.

Late Night (Midnight – 2:00 am)
Tammy is in the offender’s vehicle.

Key behaviors during this phase:
He takes a familiar-long route*
stops for food (matching stomach contents)
Heads southwest, west, or north depending on his route pattern

By now, he has:
Assessed her vulnerability
Developed a false sense of rapport or control
Moved her progressively toward an isolated area
An offender who routinely travels Route 20 would know exactly where the darkest, least traveled sections were.

Early Morning (2:00 – 5:00 am)
This is the highest behavioral-likelihood window of the murder:
Traffic on Route 20 is virtually zero
Patrol activity is minimal
The offender has absolute control of time and setting
He turns off onto the field access area near Caledonia/Avon that he is already familiar with.*
He kills Tammy on-site — a sign of confidence in that specific location, not improvisation.

What the timeline suggests...familiarity

-He drove route 20 often
-he understands rural police rhythms
-he's comfortable navigating rural roads in the dark
-he likely had a reason to be out late

Ultimately,

The timeline and geographic logic strongly support an offender who was a repeat traveler on Route 20, with predictable familiarity with rural Livingston County, but not necessarily a local. Although, I do suspect this area was familiar and comfortable enough to the killer that they likely were in the radius of where they lived.


Someone mobile, car-oriented, and often out late — like a traveling automotive rep.

I keep leaning towards the sales rep angle, for the simple fact it fits this crime. Perp was in a passenger vehicle, not a delivery truck or van, 18 wheeler, etc.

My own father's sales territory stretched from Rochester all the way to Williamsport, PA, to include Bradford until not long before this crime happened, in fact by late October he'd quit that job. He'd driven those roads since at least 1969, well before I-390 was built. U.S. 15, now NY 15 and U.S. 15 where it crosses into PA, was the literal main drag south of Rochester. Also NY 17 to this day remains the only east-west route in the Southern Tier and by the Catskills, folks on the road back then would have known that road as well, it's now I-86.

Anyone with a similar territory as my dad's would have known diners, gas stations, etc., along 15 as well as U.S. 20. My dad remembered the names of the waitresses at some of the diners, years later when he would talk about it. Then I-390 opened, and those little towns and cities were no longer places to stop as they once had been.

I'm picturing a young man who knew the area, but was not known at that diner by the folks who worked there. Killers often times feed their young victims before killing them. I have a sneaking suspicion other crimes are related to this perp, possibly in an area bounded by I-90, NY 17 (now I-86), and the route roughly followed by NY 15.

Note that this perp went west from the diner to unalive TJA. Again, just jumps out at me that they know that area near to Rochester.

JMO

 

[SadieSeeks]

I apologize if someone has mentioned this previously, but is there a possibility it could have been the convicted serial killer Samuel Little?
He often targeted young girls, runaways, and/or hitchhikers, he was active during that period, and he did travel pretty widely. Including the east coast. Just a thought!
However what’s making me feel like that theory may not hold weight is that it wasn’t his usual method for killing.

 

[FATMAOMAOCHONG]

I apologize if someone has mentioned this previously, but is there a possibility it could have been the convicted serial killer Samuel Little?
He often targeted young girls, runaways, and/or hitchhikers, he was active during that period, and he did travel pretty widely. Including the east coast. Just a thought!
However what’s making me feel like that theory may not hold weight is that it wasn’t his usual method for killing.

If we choose to believe the man at the diner was her killer:
•White
•25-30 y/o (approximately)
5’8”-5’9”

Samuel Little:
•Black
•39 y/o
•6’3”

 

[Wasp88]

100% killer was familiar with area and preplanned murder. Possibly a local to the Avon/Caledonia area and likely had a travelling job with odd hours. Given the promotional Jacket from the Watkins Glen, I'd suspect his job probably pertained to something like an Automotive Sales Rep.

A traveling automotive sales rep based in this region could plausibly:
-Know the Route 20 area well
-Be comfortable committing a crime in a rural field
-Have access to promotional racing jackets (e.g., Watkins Glen)
-Travel far enough to encounter Tammy without local ties being obvious

Not to discount other potentials, like a trucker, but the access to the jacket implies a level of car enthusiasm that transcends the average person. and given that the killer was comfortable leaving the jacket with the victim suggests that he may have thought police would link the jacket to those that purchased it at a promotional event. I assume if he was a rep and had access to the jacket, he likely had multiple which may be why Tammy felt comfortable taking it.

Now this is speculative of course but there are some aspects of the profile for this killer that must be true or at least highly likely.

1. The murder was not spontaneous. He chose that location deliberately and that time deliberately.

-Traffic on Route 20 is virtually zero
-Patrol activity is minimal
-The offender has absolute control of time and setting

He knows:


-Where headlights show on the horizon
-Where no houses have line-of-sight
-Which pull-offs aren’t monitored

2.He was familiar with the location. You don’t commit an on-site homicide in a pitch-dark field unless you’ve driven past it repeatedly.

3. The timeline matches someone routinely on the road late
Sales reps, truckers, and regional drivers often traveled late into the night in the 1970s.

4. The killer likely had "functional territory" overlapping Avon/Caledonia area

This could be:

-A sales territory
-A trucking route
-A delivery path
-A habitual recreational drive
-A commuting route between counties

5. The Jacket

-A person attending Watkins Glen events or receiving promotional materials could easily have possessed a jacket like Tammy's.


Now as far as the timeline goes:
*=my opinion
Evening (8:00 pm – 11:00 pm)

Offender is traveling Route 20 or nearby highways after finishing:
A late-day sales route*
Driving home from a regional job
Returning from a trip
Or simply passing through the area en route between Rochester, Buffalo, or the Finger Lakes

At this time:
Traffic is thin
Hitchhikers (like Tammy) are more visible

The offender might stop at:
Gas stations
24-hour diners*
Truck stops
Bars
Small-town intersections

It’s during this window that Tammy was most likely picked up.

Late Night (Midnight – 2:00 am)
Tammy is in the offender’s vehicle.

Key behaviors during this phase:
He takes a familiar-long route*
stops for food (matching stomach contents)
Heads southwest, west, or north depending on his route pattern

By now, he has:
Assessed her vulnerability
Developed a false sense of rapport or control
Moved her progressively toward an isolated area
An offender who routinely travels Route 20 would know exactly where the darkest, least traveled sections were.

Early Morning (2:00 – 5:00 am)
This is the highest behavioral-likelihood window of the murder:
Traffic on Route 20 is virtually zero
Patrol activity is minimal
The offender has absolute control of time and setting
He turns off onto the field access area near Caledonia/Avon that he is already familiar with.*
He kills Tammy on-site — a sign of confidence in that specific location, not improvisation.

What the timeline suggests...familiarity

-He drove route 20 often
-he understands rural police rhythms
-he's comfortable navigating rural roads in the dark
-he likely had a reason to be out late

Ultimately,

The timeline and geographic logic strongly support an offender who was a repeat traveler on Route 20, with predictable familiarity with rural Livingston County, but not necessarily a local. Although, I do suspect this area was familiar and comfortable enough to the killer that they likely were in the radius of where they lived.


Someone mobile, car-oriented, and often out late — like a traveling automotive rep.

Hello, I’m new here and I am definitely not an expert! But reading your description of the probable profile of this killer, my very first thought was LEO? I haven’t read through the older comments yet, this may already have been addressed. Particularly “knowing the horizon and where exactly headlights show”, this made me immediately think of speed traps? And knowing exactly when this particular portion of the highway was “monitored”. Has this even been considered? Thanks for allowing me to comment here. This is indeed my first comment in Websleuths.

 

[Wasp88]

Someone mentioned in this thread back in 2015 that a person travelling down a road in Avon/Lima on the night of the murder heard a loud gunshot like sound, then saw a large car speeding down the road. If this story is true, I think that the suspect would be someone who is at least able to drive fast with skill, considering the adrenaline they would probably be feeling escaping a murder scene. Maybe he realised this was a chance to experence the racing dream he couldn’t achieve.

As for the two shots, the sequence of them mostly indicates rage from the perpetrator. At the edge of the cornfield, she was shot first in the head, likely killing her instantly. The perpetrator would have no reason to shoot her in the back in the cornfield if she was already dead, other than pent up anger.

I read another comment posted by another websleuth member in November 2025. They suggested the killer knew the highway where the victim was found, so much so, that they knew exactly where the headlights would peak over the highway on the horizon and would know exactly when that stretch of highway would possibly be monitored by LEO (which was apparently very rare, monitoring that highway). My first thought was could this be a law enforcement officer? Now I see you suggest the dauspect had to be someone who could “drive fast with skill”…..which is also taught to LEO. I don’t know anyone who drives like a race car driver, more than a police officer. Has this ever been mentioned? This is only my second post to this forum, I just joined tonight. I still need to go back and read a lot of the previous posts. Thanks for letting me comment on your thread!

 

[FATMAOMAOCHONG]

Hello, I’m new here and I am definitely not an expert! But reading your description of the probable profile of this killer, my very first thought was LEO? I haven’t read through the older comments yet, this may already have been addressed. Particularly “knowing the horizon and where exactly headlights show”, this made me immediately think of speed traps? And knowing exactly when this particular portion of the highway was “monitored”. Has this even been considered? Thanks for allowing me to comment here. This is indeed my first comment in Websleuths.

A piece of evidence that supports the law enforcement officer theory is that the murder weapon was a .38 Special revolver, the type issued to on & off duty officers at the time.