Forty-four years after 20-year-old Tammy Little was found bludgeoned to death in the bathtub of her Portsmouth apartment, state investigators have released a previously unseen photograph of her in hopes that someone who knew her, or lived near her, will finally come forward. The New Hampshire Cold Case Unit says it is still reviewing case files, evaluating physical evidence for modern forensic testing, and pursuing every other lead in the decades-old killing.
Little was last seen alive in the early morning hours of Saturday, Oct. 16, 1982, after a night out, according to NBC Boston. Her body was found three days later inside her ground-floor apartment at 315 Maplewood Avenue. An autopsy determined that Little died from massive head injuries, per the station's report.
The night before she disappeared, Little had attended a concert in Boston with friends before being dropped off at her Portsmouth home around 4:15 a.m. that Saturday, according to the podcast Murder, She Told. She had grown up in Portsmouth, graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1981, and enrolled at Portsmouth Beauty School, pursuing a practical trade while chasing a dream of becoming a professional model, the podcast notes.
Investigators Renew Appeal to Former Classmates and Neighbors
R. Christopher Knowles, chief of the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit and senior assistant attorney general, said the unit and Portsmouth police remain committed to finding answers for Tammy and her loved ones, per the same account from NBC Boston. Knowles said people may still hold information critical to solving the case despite the decades that have passed.
Investigators are specifically seeking information from Portsmouth Beauty School classmates and peers who attended in 1982, as well as former neighbors and residents who lived around 315 Maplewood Avenue at the time. They also want to hear from anyone who saw or spoke with Little between Oct. 16 and Oct. 19, 1982 — the window between her last confirmed sighting and the discovery of her body. The Cold Case Unit hopes the newly released photo will jog memories among anyone who lived, worked, or attended school near the scene around the time of her death.
Tips can be submitted to the Cold Case Unit tip line at 603-271-2663, by email at [email protected], or through the online submission portal at www.doj.nh.gov/criminal/cold-case. Portsmouth Crime Stoppers is also offering a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case, according to the City of Portsmouth.
A Case Chief Robert Merner Once Kept on His Coffee Table
Little's family continues to honor her memory and seek justice, describing her, per the NBC Boston report, as joyful, supportive, and a friend to everyone. The case has weighed on Portsmouth for decades — so much so that in 2017, then-Police Chief Robert Merner accidentally rented an apartment at 315 Maplewood Avenue, the very building where Little was killed, according to the Bangor Daily News. Merner reportedly planned to share case evidence with a Boston Strangler investigator.
The investigation is now being handled in coordination between the Cold Case Unit and Portsmouth police detectives. The unit itself was established on July 29, 2009, through state legislation creating a joint initiative between the Attorney General's Office and the Department of Safety specifically to investigate unresolved homicides, according to a 2014 status report from the NH Department of Justice.
An Eerie Parallel to Another Portsmouth Cold Case
Little's murder has long been linked in the public mind to another unsolved Portsmouth killing: the September 1981 bludgeoning death of 23-year-old Laura Kempton, who also attended Portsmouth Beauty School and had modeling experience. Both young women were beaten to death in their own apartments roughly 13 months apart, a parallel documented by Murder, She Told.
In July 2023, officials announced that forensic genetic genealogy had identified deceased suspect Ronney James Lee in Kempton's murder, according to InDepthNH. But state prosecutors explicitly cautioned at the time that Lee had not been officially linked to Little's murder, according to the Manchester Ink Link, leaving her case open and uncharged in official files. Despite the striking similarities between the two cases, investigators continue to treat Little's killing as a separate, unsolved mystery — one they hope a single remembered detail from a former classmate or longtime Maplewood Avenue neighbor could finally help crack.
