Forty-seven years after Tammy Jo Alexander was killed and left in a Caledonia cornfield, Livingston County investigators are asking the public to revisit details of the case, including a red windbreaker that could still help generate leads.
The Livingston County Sheriff’s Office issued a renewed appeal Nov. 10, saying thousands of leads have failed to identify the person responsible for the teenager’s death.
Alexander was 16 when her body was discovered off Route 20 on Nov. 10, 1979. The sheriff’s office lists the killing as occurring the previous day.
For more than three decades, investigators did not know her name. On Jan. 26, 2015, authorities announced that DNA had identified her as Tammy Jo Alexander, a teenager who had disappeared from her home in Florida in 1979.
Identifying Alexander answered one of the investigation’s central questions. Her killer remains unidentified.
She would have turned 63 on Nov. 2.
Investigators are again drawing attention to the clothing and jewelry found with her. Alexander wore tan corduroy pants, a multicolored plaid shirt, blue socks, brown ripple-soled shoes and a red nylon-lined windbreaker with black stripes down the sleeves.
The sheriff’s office is asking anyone familiar with the jacket’s manufacturer to contact investigators. Its release calls the company “Auto Sports, Inc.” The FBI’s case page identifies the collar label as “Auto Sports Products, Inc.”.
Alexander also had a silver necklace with three small turquoise stones and a two-piece heart-and-key keychain. Photographs of her, the jacket, necklace and keychain are available on the FBI page.
The FBI continues to list a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever was responsible.
County records also document efforts to pursue additional forensic testing. In May 2024, the Livingston County Public Services Committee backed a proposed contract of up to $15,000 with DNA Labs International. Undersheriff Matt Bean explained that the work involved testing clothing from the Alexander case for familial DNA.
The sheriff’s latest announcement does not disclose results from that testing or identify a new suspect. It asks people with information to come forward despite the passage of time.
“It is not too late to provide her family with closure,” the sheriff’s office said.
Anyone with information can contact Investigator James Merrick at 585-243-7100 or JamesMerrick@livingstoncountyny.gov. Tips can also be submitted through the FBI at 800-225-5324 or tips.fbi.gov.
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