Tamara Lee Tigard - They Also Served Tribute site by Q Madp

Tamara Lee Tigard

?, California

March/April, 1980

Age	Military	Rank	Unit/Location
21	Army	Spc

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April 18, 2022

From KOCO News 5 abc TV koco.com 01/30/20

Authorities identify ‘Lime Lady,’ victim of 40-year-old cold case murder in Oklahoma

OKLAHOMA CITY —
Officials with the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday announced they have identified a woman, known as the “Lime Lady,” whose body was found nearly 40 years ago.

The woman was found dead on the east bank of the North Canadian River, about 20 miles east of Oklahoma City near the town of Jones, on April 18, 1980.

The victim became known as the "Lime Lady" due to the fact that her killer used lime in an attempt to accelerate the decomposition of her body, investigators said. The specific type of lime used actually helped preserve the body.

Officials with the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office said for nearly 40 years, they worked to identify the victim.

With help from DNA Doe Project, the Sheriff’s Office announced during a news conference on Thursday that they were able to identify the victim as Tamara Lee Tigard.

Tigard, born in 1959 in California, was reported missing in March 1980, officials said. She was found dead on her 21st birthday.

The process of obtaining usable DNA from the remains was challenging, officials said. The DNA was finally sequenced by Hudson Alpha Discovery and the results were uploaded to GEDmatch. Within a day and a half DDP’s team of volunteer genealogists identified a likely name for Lime Lady.

The Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed the identification of Tigard in December 2019 through a match of dental records obtained from the United States Army, officials said.

Officials with the Sheriff’s Office said they are now focused on solving Tigard’s murder.

Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office was live.
January 30, 2020 ·
DNA LEADS TO IDENTIFICATION OF OCSO COLD CASE UNSOLVED MURDER VICTIM KNOWN AS THE “LIME LADY”
https://sheriff.oklahomacounty.org/244/Lime-Lady

(Oklahoma City) The Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office announced a huge break in a cold case unsolved murder. The identification of one of the agency’s most publicized “Jane Doe” homicides finally has been accomplished with the assistance of the DNA Doe Project’s volunteer genealogists and the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office. “This has been an extremely difficult case for our agency,” said Oklahoma County Sheriff PD Taylor. “One that has been frustrating, but a case we never gave up on, specifically our Investigations Division Captain Bob Green, he has continuously worked the case, and his relentless efforts have paid off.”
Nearly 40-years ago on April 18, 1980 Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the scene of a murder in Eastern Oklahoma County along the North Canadian River. The body of a young woman, whom we now know to be 21-year old Tamara Lee Tigard of California, was found covered in lime. She had no identification her body and was found the day of her 21st birthday.
The initial investigation determined Tigard was shot at a different location, then her body taken to the river site. Investigators used traditional techniques attempting to identify Tigard, but all efforts failed. Investigators called her the “Lime Lady” due to the murderer’s attempt to destroy evidence and speed up the decaying process for her body with lime. The killer’s lime strategy actually ended up helping to preserve Tigard’s body.
“I always just wanted to bring dignity to the victim in this case,” said Captain Bob Green. “All of these years she has been gone without a trace, with none of her family or acquaintances knowing what happened to her. I just couldn’t give up, and now we know who she is due to the hard work of the DNA Doe Project with assistance from the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office, and I am so thankful for their efforts in helping us in this case.”
The DNA Doe Project uses sophisticated DNA techniques and was able to create a candidate profile that took nearly 9 months of challenging processing to complete.
“DDP wishes to acknowledge in addition to OCSO the contributions of those groups and individuals who helped solve this case: the University of North Texas for providing DNA samples; Hudson Alpha Discovery for processing the DNA; Dr. Greg Magoon, Research Engineer, Aerodyne Research Corp., contracting through Full Genomes Corp., for his work in bioinformatics; and GEDmatch for providing their database.” – The DNA Doe Project
Through this process it was discovered Tigard had also lived in Nevada, and had even served in the U.S. Army. The Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office assisted in securing military medical records of Tigard which helped positively identify her. “Now she can be properly recognized,” said Captain Green, “her life has meaning and we can respectfully honor her.”

Tamara Lee Tigard, (April 18, 1959 - March or April 1980) previously known as "Lime Lady" was a young woman found murdered in 1980 in Oklahoma. She received her nickname from the quicklime poured over her body in an attempt to quicken decomposition, which had actually mummified her and preserved evidence.

She was identified on January 30, 2020, in a press conference between the DNA Doe Project and Oklahoma County's Sheriff's Office.

Tamara was born in California in 1959 and later moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. She was a veteran of the United States Army. Her parents had passed away in the 2000’s and her sister passed away in 2010, without ever knowing what happened to their loved one.

In March 1980, Tamara went for a walk near her home in Las Vegas, Nevada and never returned home. She was reported missing, but her report was cleared due to a woman in Ohio using her identity. The woman has never been named as a suspect and her true identity is unknown.

Her unclothed body was recovered on the shore of the North Canadian River on April 18, 1980. She had been shot three times with a .45 caliber revolver. Following her death, the responsible party poured quicklime on the remains in an attempt to quicken decomposition, which ended up preserving the remains. She was discovered on what would have been her 21st birthday.

When she was shot, one of the bullets hit a dime, which had been drawn into her body, indicating she was clothed when murdered, as there was also clothing fibers found along with the dime. The shooter was facing the victim and moving toward her when they fired.