Tammy Jo Alexander was shot to death in a cornfield along U.S. Highway 20 in rural Caledonia, roughly half a mile southwest of Route 5, in 1979 — and 47 years later, the Livingston County Sheriff's Office says the case remains open, with investigators describing people of interest as viable suspects but no one ever charged. Alexander would have turned 63 on November 2, according to seed reporting from Newport Dispatch's coverage of the case.
The Livingston County Sheriff's Office is formally asking the public for help solving the homicide, according to Newport Dispatch. Sheriff Thomas J. Dougherty said his office has persistently investigated Alexander's death since the initial crime call 47 years ago, per the same reporting. The case has generated thousands of leads over the decades, according to the sheriff's office, but none of them has identified her killer.
Accounts differ on the exact date Alexander's body was discovered. WHEC reports she was found on November 9, 1979, writing that “her body was found Nov. 9, 1979, in a cornfield in Caledonia, and she had been shot to death.” A document posted by the FBI, however, states that “on November 10, 1979, the body of an unidentified 16-year-old White female was located in a cornfield off of New York State Route 20 in Caledonia, New York.”
From Cali Doe to a Name
For decades, Alexander was known only as Cali Doe, an unidentified homicide victim with no name attached to her case. That changed after her information was posted to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System in 2014, when a California resident named Carl Koppelman believed he recognized her, according to USA Today. Investigators then compared DNA, and USA Today reports that authorities, after matching a DNA sample from her sister, Pamela Dyson, determined that Cali Doe was Tammy Jo. The sheriff's office made the identification public in January 2015, per USA Today's reporting.
WHEC notes that DNA from a family member helped confirm her identity, closing one mystery even as the central one — who killed her — remained open. Her killer has not been identified, WHEC reports. Investigator James Merrick told the station there are people actively under scrutiny. “There's people of interest with our case of Tammy Jo specifically that are viable suspects,” Merrick said, according to WHEC.
What She Was Wearing
At the time she was found, Alexander was wearing tan corduroys, a multi-colored plaid cotton/polyester shirt, blue socks, and brown ripple-sole shoes, according to Newport Dispatch's reporting. She also had on a red nylon-lined windbreaker with black stripes down the arms, made by Auto Sports, Inc. Her jewelry included a silver necklace with three small turquoise stones and two key chains — one shaped like a heart, the other its key.
The Livingston County Sheriff's Office says it continues to seek the community's assistance in resolving the case, according to a statement posted on the office's own site. Anyone with information is asked to contact Investigator James Merrick at the Livingston County Sheriff's Office, which can be reached at 585-243-7100 or by email at [email protected], per Newport Dispatch's reporting. WHEC similarly reports that anyone with information that could help the case can contact the sheriff's office at that same number.
