Murder of Tammy Alexander

Tammy Jo Alexander was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on November 2, 1963, and attended high school in Brooksville, Florida. Pamela Dyson, Alexander's half-sister, believes that Alexander left to escape a turbulent household. Dyson had a different father from Alexander, and, after about age 11, she lived with her paternal grandmother. According to Dyson, Alexander's biological father was not part of the younger girl's life; she grew up with their mother, Barbara Jenkins, and a stepfather. Their mother had become addicted to prescription medication and was emotionally volatile, erupting into temper tantrums. "She did prescription drugs," Dyson said of Jenkins. "She was suicidal. I think she had issues back then that they didn't diagnose." Until the identification, Dyson assumed that her half-sister had made a new life somewhere away from her mother and stepfather. She had wished that it included a happy household, with a husband and children. "I thought she just wanted to go away and start all over," Dyson said. With her pockets turned inside out to indicate that any identification she carried had been removed, the investigators later named her "Caledonia Jane Doe" or "Cali Doe" as they worked to identify her. The autopsy by the medical examiner indicated that Alexander had first been shot in the head while next to the road bordering the cornfield, at or near a blood spot found on the ground. She was dragged into the cornfield, where she was shot again in the back and left for dead. Heavy rains on the night of Alexander's death washed away a large portion of potential forensic evidence, such as physical and DNA traces of the perpetrator on her body and clothes. ==Investigation==

, matched this to a real picture of Alexander (shown above). In the 1980s, John York, who had been one of the first Livingston County deputy sheriffs on the scene in 1979, was elected sheriff. He served in the job until 2013, and ensured that the Cali Doe investigation remained active. == Identification ==

Alexander was formally identified on January 26, 2015, more than 35 years after her discovery. Laurel Nowell, a close friend in high school from Florida, had started trying to reach Alexander in the 2010s by social media. She eventually reached Alexander's half-sister, Pamela Dyson, of Panama City, who knew that she had often run away from home, but Dyson had not lived with her younger half-sister after about age 11. She learned that no one in her family knew anything of Alexander's whereabouts since the girl had left sometime between 1977 and 1979. but she has since assumed that, since Alexander had a history of running away and returning, police may not have taken the case seriously. In August 2014, the Hernando County sheriff's office told them no missing persons report had been filed for her, and promptly filed one. Dyson said the family decided to keep Alexander buried in Dansville, New York, A public ceremony took place on June 10, 2015, when the new headstone, displaying the victim's name and lifespan, was revealed. Approximately one hundred family and community members attended. Dyson and other members of the Alexander family thanked the police and Livingston community for their caring for Alexander and continued efforts to find her killer. The Livingston County Sheriff's Office released three audio clips of Alexander's voice on November 2, 2020, which would have been the victim's 57th birthday. She was believed to have created the recordings during July 1979 on a cassette tape, which she sent to her boyfriend, who had kept it in his possession until he provided it to the investigative agency. == Perpetrator ==

of the man seen with Tammy Alexander prior to her murder. Sheriff Dougherty has said the investigation would now focus on finding out who killed Alexander. "We've always said one of the biggest parts of solving this case is knowing the victim," he told the media. "This case is burning hot ... We're going to be working it harder than ever." Alexander was seen with a white male between five feet eight and five feet nine inches tall. He was seen driving a tan station wagon and wore black wire-rimmed glasses. The man was stated to be a "person of interest" in the case, and police continue to seek his identity. The waitress at the diner, who served the pair on the night of Alexander's death, explained the male companion had paid for the meal. A trucker from Tennessee reported what police said was a "significant" lead after he had heard a radio broadcast detailing the case. By early 2016, the police had identified three male persons of interest who had known Alexander, and took male DNA from her clothing. By November 2016, the FBI had reported that none of the three matched the sample from Alexander's clothing, and continued to receive and investigate new leads in the case. By 2020, it was announced that the male DNA found on Alexander’s clothing was now being tested against national databases in search of a familial link to the killer. [42] == In the media ==

In the decades she remained unidentified, the case received national attention. It was featured on such television shows as ''America's Most Wanted. In August of 2024, the podcast Method & Madness'' produced an episode on the case with the assistance of the Livingston County Sheriff's Department. After her discovery, two news organizations in Rochester, New York, partnered to produce a multi-part podcast in May 2016 detailing Alexander's murder and the ongoing investigation called Finding Tammy Jo. It was hosted by reporters Veronica Volk from WXXI News and Gary Craig from the Democrat and Chronicle, who spent a year co-reporting on the case. They had interviewed potential witnesses, law enforcement, and Alexander's family and friends. ==See also==