ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- The sister of Tammy Jo Alexander said Monday that she was only a child when Tammy Jo went missing. Pamela Dyson said she never imagined that, more than three decades later, it would be her DNA that would finally solve at least part of the case.
Police said Monday that the body of a young woman found in Nov. 1979 in Caledonia, Livingston County, was that of Tammy Jo Alexander. Alexander had been shot to death.
Dyson said she first heard from police after a classmate of Tammy Jo reached out to police in Aug. 2014. Officers tracked down Pamela living in Panana City, who confirmed Tammy had gone missing in the late 70s. Pamela said she assumed her mother and her stepfather at the time had reported it, but according to the Hernando County Sheriff's Office, no one ever had.
Police in Florida stated that Tammy went missing from Brooksville, Florida between 1977 and 1979.
Pamela says she and Tammy grew up in the same house until Pamela went to live with her grandmother, and the two lost touch. Pamela said in the past six months, detectives called her asking for her DNA to add to a database to see if she was a match to any Jane Doe.
Monday, she received official confirmation that the remains found in Caledonia were that of Tammy Jo.
"It is a devastation, but at the same time it is a relief," Dyson told Time Warner Cable News. "We have gotten an answer where alot of people don't get an answer.
"She was very strong-minded, she was a very outgoing, vibrant woman who was full of life. She was very adventurous. We are glad that she has been identified and we do want the killer or killers caught."
Pamela said she plans to come to New York to visit her sister's gravesite, and hold services for her.