Sheriff asks for help finding killer of teen in 1979

LIVINGSTON COUNTY, N.Y. — Saturday. Nov. 9, marked 45 years since 16-year-old Tammy Jo Alexander was murdered in Caledonia.

Tammy Jo — who would have turned 61 last week, on Nov. 2 — had been shot in the head and back and left for dead in a cornfield off Route 20, about a half mile southwest of Route 5, to be found by the farmer who owned the field. It would be decades before the unidentified teen would be identified.

Thousands of leads have been generated over those 45 years, according to Livingston County Sheriff Thomas Dougherty, but none have led to the identity of her killer. Last year, police noted to News10NBC she had been seen earlier the date she was killed with a man in what was then the Lima Diner.

Dougherty said the Sheriff’s Office is continuing to seek the community’s assistance in finding Tammy Jo’s killer, and urges anyone with any information to contact the Sheriff’s Office at 4 Court St., Geneseo, NY 14454 or (585) 243-7100, or contact Investigator James Merrick directly at jmerrick@co.livingston.ny.us.

She was wearing tan corduroys, a multi-colored plaid cotton/polyester shirt, blue socks, brown ripple sole shoes and a red nylon lined windbreaker with black stripes down the arms. The windbreaker was made by Auto Sports Inc.; anyone familiar with that company is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office immediately. She also had one silver necklace with three small turquoise stones and two key chains (one a heart and the other a key to the heart.

“It is not too late to provide her family with closure, as other similar cases have been solved in the course of this investigation,” Dougherty stated.