Driver pulls over with car trouble and finds body in 1985. Remains just identified
The body of a woman first found in 1985 has now been identified thanks to DNA and genealogy testing, Tennessee law enforcement officials said.
In March 1985, a motorist driving down Interstate 24 in Cheatham County started to have car trouble and pulled off the road, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in a July 21 release.
Off the road, the motorist discovered skeletal remains by a creek bank and alerted the Cheatham County Sheriff’s Office, according to the release.
Deputies and the TBI determined that the remains were a white female and her body had likely been there for two to five months. Her death was ruled a homicide.
With the body, officials found a dirty hat and shirt.
Law enforcement exhausted all leads, the TBI said, and the body was classified as a Jane Doe.
In 2018, a Tennessee forensic team submitted a sample of the remains to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification. The lab created a DNA profile that was then run through national DNA and missing persons databases.
The search didn’t yield any leads, and the mystery continued.
In December, another sample was submitted to Othram Inc., a private genealogy lab based north of Houston, Texas.
The lab created another DNA profile and provided a list of possible relatives of the unidentified woman, TBI said.
The bureau tracked down potential living relatives in Virginia and reached out to the family.
Agents spoke with a man who told them he hadn’t heard from his sister in more than four decades, and scientists compared his DNA to the DNA of the body.
They finally had an identification.
The bureau said in early July, agents positively identified the woman as 24-year-old Michelle Lavone Inman of Nashville.
Now, the bureau is asking the public to help find her killer.
Anyone who recognizes the clothing found at the crime scene or may know someone who was with Inman before her death is asked to call 1-800-TBI-FIND, or email TBI.ColdCase@tbi.tn.gov.
Cheatham County is about 30 miles west of Nashville.
This story was originally published July 21, 2023 at 12:38 PM with the headline "Driver pulls over with car trouble and finds body in 1985. Remains just identified."
