The Terrible Tale of Tammy Terrell

WARNING: This case involves details relating to violent murder and sex trafficking. Viewer discretion advised!

Tammy Corrine Terrell (1963 - 1980)

Hey everyone! Today marks the 45th anniversary since the murder of Tammy Terrell, a teenage girl who was murdered in 1980, and remained unidentified for 4 decades. We'll cover what happened to Terrell, and what might've gone down in her tragic killing.

Life & Disappearance

Tammy Corrine Terrell was born July 4th, 1963, to Dancy Sanchez (1947 - 1981) and Jacqueline Terrel (1943 - 2001).

Terrell grew up in a foster home with her siblings. She was one of four sisters, and they had a brother, Johnny Terrell, who passed at 2. Her older sister, Nancy Irene Terrell Brown, passed in 2003. One sister in specific, who'll be important in this story, was Carla Klontz, 13 at the time her older sister disappeared.

Undated image of a younger Terrell (left) with unknown girls, possibly her sisters

Tammy was reportedly a "troubled teen", who was living at a assurance home at the time, and known to run away a few times.

Tammy was last seen alive on September 28th, 1980 at the Roswell State Fair in Roswell, New Mexico. Later that night, she was reportedly seen with an unknown man and woman. It is believed the two planned to take Tammy to California and she was a sex-trafficking victim.

Carla recalled that Terrell's disappearance wasn't taken too seriously by police, due to her being a repeat runaway and almost 18. Despite this, Carla would keep searching for her sister.

Discovery

On October 5th, 1980, police offers were reported to a disturbing sight in Henderson, Nevada. The naked body of a young female had been found nearby Arroyo Grande, a short road.  She had been killed the day before.

Crime scene

The victim had gone through a horrific ordeal leading to their demise, as they had been beaten and stabbed multiple times in their head and back, with a two-pronged instrument, suspected to be a hammer. The attack was so severe one of her lower teeth had been knocked out. There was also evidence of a sexual assault.

Weirdly enough, after death, it appeared the decedent had been washed and cleaned before their body was disposed, possibly in an attempt to remove biological evidence. Near the victim was a yellow shower curtain.

Shower curtain

To view an autopsy photograph of Terrell, click here.

The young girl, dubbed Arroyo Grande Jane Doe, was estimated to be a teenager or young adult, about 13 - 25 years old, although it was most likely she was 16 to 18 at the time of her death.

One unique feature of the girl was a crude, fresh S tattoo on her left fore-arm, likely drawn on her a few days prior. It is unclear what this S means, but we'll theorize on that later, as it'll tie into her demise.

The victim had 11-in light, reddish or brownish-blonde hair. Her eye color was commonly listed as blue, although some reports suggest it might've been green or hazel. (In real life, you can see Terrell's eyes were hazel.) 

As for dentals, all teeth except the avulsed tooth were accounted for. One tooth had a suture, an infrequent dental technique used to align teeth. She had all of her wisdom teeth as well, which were impacted. There was also a gap between her left front incisor and the lateral incisor, although later on it would be believe this happened antemortem or postmortem. 

RECONSTRUCTION DISCUSSION

The first sketch of Tammy. (Apologies for the bad cropping, this was the only version of it I could find.) It already depicts her face with accuracy, and captures her curly hair, although it could use cleaner details. Also...the eyes look unsettling.

Wes Neville sketch

The next reconstruction was made by Wes Neville, where we definitely see things go in a proper direction. Aside from what looks like a perturbed expression, the hair and eyes are a great replica, with a similar nose as well.

Original NCMEC reconstruction

This was the NCMEC first reconstruction of Terrell. It is also the first colored one, with dark hair and bright blue eyes. Unfortunately, it's a rather dull looking postmortem derivative, but it is a good start.

2015 NCMEC reconstructions

The later NCMEC reconstructions prove more professional and more accurate to Terrell, with her distinct hair color and prominent nose. They still used the incorrect blue eye color, but there is an alternate that uses the hazel eyes instead:

Hazel eyes

Lastly comes the ever so-talented Carl Koppelman, with another amazing reconstruction. 

Carl Koppelman recon

I like how it used an eye color which while is hazel, is colored in a way where it could be mistaken for green or blue, which happened to Terrell. While the outlines are more crude and her skin tone is a bit off than the others, I think this one perfectly gets her face and hair, and humanizes her the most.

One problem facial reconstruction artists face (pun unintended) is the fact no one knows how the victim stylized their hair, so they have to guess. Most reconstructions stuck with Terrell having straight hair, but a few, like this one, also added curls that she had in real life.

Identification

Tammy Terrell

Tammy would go unidentified for 4 decades, 27 possible identities ruled out, with her surviving sisters always hoping to find her, and the officer that discovered her that night always visiting her grave.

That was until November 2021, when genetic genealogy performed by Barbara Rae-Venter with DNA samples from two of her sisters confirmed Arroyo Grande Jane Doe was Tammy Terrell. Her identity was revealed a month later, a bittersweet feeling for many, especially her sisters.

Theories

Tammy may be identified, but the investigation into her murder remains continuous, as people all over hope for the better. There have been a few theories on what might've happened to her, so let's quickly discuss them:

As mentioned earlier, the main theory police have is that Tammy was a victim of sex trafficking. The distinct S tattoo may have stood for something relating to this, like "sex worker" or "slave". It's possible she was killed by the couple suspected to trafficked her in the first place, or she fell victim to someone else as a result of being vulnerable.

Something that interested me about her discovery was the fact she had been washed and a shower certain was found nearby. Some speculate she could've been attacked and murdered while showering. Maybe her killer had cleaned her to try and remove biological evidence.

I also read some discussion on the murder weapon. As opposed to a knife or gun, she had been attacked with an unknown two pronged instrument, which as I mentioned was suspected to be a hammer. Why do you think her killer chose to use something like this in specific? It might've been a convenient tool they found.

One interesting older theory I found is that Terrel's case may be tied to a similar murder that happened the year before, also involving a now identified Jane Doe: Gwenn Story, formerly known as Sahara Sue. Both victims were late teens who had been killed via stabbing. Their murders took place close to each other, with Gwenn being murdered in Las Vegas and Tammy being murdered in Henderson.

Tammy Terrell

Sadly, despite all this speculation, to this day, no one knows for sure who killed Tammy or why. I hope one day we do know, to bring her sisters further peace. Rest in peace, Tammy Terrell.

SOURCES AND FURTHER READING

• Unidentified Wiki
• Find a Grave
• Unsolved Mysteries [POSTMORTEM WARNING]
• Wikipedia
• My reddit post
• Doe Network [POSTMORTEM WARNING]
• Real Life is Horror [POSTMORTEM WARNING]