FBI Offers $20K for Tip that Solves Tammy Jo Alexander Murder

LIVINGSTON COUNTY – The Federal Bureau of Investigation is offering a cash reward for any reliable information that will solve the murder of Tammy Jo Alexander.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Adam Cohen said that the FBI will offer up to $20,000 for any information that leads to identifying Alexander’s killer.

“We won’t stop. As you’ve seen, our work has never stopped,” said Cohen. “Our work continues, and we’ll come here over and over again asking that you help us keep Tammy Jo’s memory alive and relevant. As we’ve seen over these many years, this is a joint investigation. It’s been law enforcement and communitites from across the country coming together to get us where we are today. Please let’s not stop.”

Tips can be sent to the Sheriff’s Office at 1-844-THE-LCSO (1-844-843-5276) or sent to the FBI at www.fbi.gov.

Since January 2015, Bradley Schneider with the Livingston County Sheriff’s Investigations Division has traveled to Florida to gather leads, especially in the interstate trucking community. The Sheriff’s Office and FBI launched an electronic billboard campaign seeking leads, and Schneider and the FBI did a radio interview specifically reaching out to the trucking community. Since then, law enforcement has received numerous tips and pieces of information.

“Tammy’s family ran what people refer to as a truck stop, it was a family restaurant on a main thoroughfare that was used for trucking in the Florida community,” said Schneider. “Truck drivers would stop, have a lunch there. She was very friendly, she was a waitress in the restaurant, so that’s why we’re appealing to the trucking community. Maybe they remember seeing her and can help us put those pieces of the puzzle together.”

Schneider said that one of the gaps that remains in the investigation is a timeline of exactly when Alexander left Florida in 1979 and what happened between then and when her body was discovered in Caledonia.

“We have put small pieces of that puzzle together, and that’s where we’re looking for continued answers from the general pubic,” said Schneider. “We can’t put a definitive timeline as to when she left Florida and how long it took her to get here to New York State. We’re looking for the public to hopefully help us fill in some of those blanks.”

On the bright side, the FBI has collected DNA swabs of three persons of interest, which are being tested in FBI labs. Schneider made it clear that these are not suspects. There are still many missing pieces, and the age of the case makes it difficult to investigate. Many of the people who Schneider wanted to contact in Florida are deceased.

 

The Sheriff’s Office has said time and time again that one of their main motivations in this case is bringing closure to Tammy Jo’s surviving family members.

“I do have a close relationship with some of the family members and we do speak on a regular basis,” said Schneider. “They continue to thank us for everything that we’ve done over the years and everything that we continue to do, and we’re as hopeful as we are that we will be able to find who did this and hold them ultimately responsible for what they’ve done.”

Sheriff Thomas Dougherty re-iterated the importance of media and social media attention in this case. After all, he said, the body was identified last year by a civilian who followed the story on social media.

“We need the public’s help,” said Dougherty. “We need as much information as we possibly can get. I again want to thank the FBI and our law enforcement partners who continue to work with us across the northeast. It’s vitally important, as is the media, because the media gets this information to the general public.”