Remains found in 1985 now identified as teen missing from 300 miles away, TN cops say
Skeletal remains found decades ago in a remote Tennessee valley have now been identified as a missing girl, officials said.
Tracy Sue Walker was a teenager when she disappeared in 1978 near Lafayette, Indiana. Seven years later and more than 300 miles from where she was last seen, human remains were found across state lines in Tennessee, officials said.
Now, almost four decades after the discovery, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced that the previously unidentified remains belong to Walker.
Still, questions linger in the case. As of Tuesday, Aug. 30, investigators continued to seek clues about what happened before she died and how she got to Tennessee.
The case came onto that state’s radar on April 3, 1985, when human remains were found in a remote part of Campbell County. They were discovered in the Big Wheel Gap area, roughly 70 miles northwest of Knoxville, officials said.
“Investigators could not determine her identity, and she became affectionately known as ‘Baby Girl,’” state officials wrote in a news release.
Then in 2007, the case started to gain steam. The remains were sent for identification, and a DNA profile was created, according to investigators.
The case was revisited in 2013 before a lab called Othram reportedly stepped in this year to help with “forensic genetic genealogy testing.” The company later shared that someone living in Indiana could be a relative of the unidentified girl.
“Using that information, a TBI intelligence analyst located potential family members in the Lafayette, Indiana, area,” officials wrote. “A TBI agent made contact with those individuals and confirmed they had a family member go missing from that area in 1978.”
After further DNA testing, cops reported that the remains had been identified, helping to solve the decades-long mystery.
“It’s a case that investigators never gave up on,” state officials wrote Aug. 30 on Twitter. “As a result, we now know her identity.”
As officials continue searching for answers, anyone who spent time with Walker or has details about her case is asked to call 800-824-3463.
This story was originally published August 31, 2022 at 8:45 AM with the headline "Remains found in 1985 now identified as teen missing from 300 miles away, TN cops say."
