Missing Indiana girl identified decades after her remains were found in Tennessee

Ron Wilkins, Lafayette Journal & Courier
·2 min read
JC file
JC file

Tracy Sue Walker should be 59, but instead, her life ended in a mystery — likely in 1978 — and her body was not discovered until 1985 — by that time, she was a skeleton, whose identity was lost — until this year.

Baby Girl, as police referred to Walker's skeletal remains for decades, turned out to be from Lafayette and was reported missing in 1978 by her mother, who told police Walker was a runaway from her home on Eisenhower Court.

Police did not release the name of the girl's surviving family.

Her remains were discovered in the Big Wheel Gap area of Elk Valley in Campbell County, which is north of Knoxville, Tennessee.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigations tried through the years to identify "Baby Girl." They used DNA when that became available, but DNA searches in 2007 and 2013 did not produce any leads.

A private DNA lab analyzed Walker's DNA earlier this year, and told agents from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations that "Baby Girl" might have family in Indiana, which led the agents to Lafayette.

Lafayette police helped Tennessee agents get DNA from a suspected family member, and it was a match.

The Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Office also had a missing person report for Walker that was filed for her when she went missing, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

"The collaborative efforts of the Lafayette Police Department and the Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Department were essential in assisting the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations in this case," Lafayette police Lt. Justin Hartman said.

Now that police know who "Baby Girl" is, they want to know how she got from Lafayette, Indiana, to Big Wheel Gap and how she died.

Anyone who might have been in contact with Walker before she died is asked to call the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation at 800-824-3463.

Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Tennessee agents identify Lafayette girl killed in 1978