After nearly four decades, forensic scientists have identified a skull found in 2004 as belonging to Alice Mae Sullivan, a Tennessee State University student who went missing in 1986. According to the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department release, Sullivan, then 20 years old and a mother, disappeared on August 28, 1986, after failing to return home for her son.
The identification was made by experts at the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification. The skull was discovered by a contractor on Stokers Lane in North Nashville on February 20, 2004. Despite extensive searches by MNPD officers, the Medical Examiner’s Office, and the state anthropologist, no additional remains were found. Investigators also confirmed that the skull showed no signs of trauma.
While the identification resolves part of the mystery surrounding Sullivan’s disappearance, the investigation into the circumstances of her death remains ongoing. Authorities continue to seek information that could provide more answers and bring full closure to her family after nearly 39 years.
