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Jessica Betancourt
On Friday, April 18, 1980, some fishermen hoping to catch their dinner parked their car at the end of a little known road that accessed the North Canadian River. This was off Britain Road near Tiny Jones, Oklahoma. When they walked down to the riverbank, they saw something very odd. In a patch of weeds was a human shaped white mound. It looked almost like a sand sculpture, except it was not made of sand. A fine white powder encased a human body, emphasizing the outline of her shape. It was the nude body of a white woman. The fishermen summoned the authorities and the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office responded to the scene. They found that the woman's body was covered in quicklime, otherwise known as calcium oxide. There is a bit of misconception about quicklime, that it speeds up the decomposition process. In fact, it inhibits the rotting of the corpse so that it is less odoriferous and Less of an attractant to scavengers, whether insect or mammal, it was typically used in times of plague in mass graves to prevent the spread of disease. Police believe that the person who covered this body in lime mistook it for a substance that would rapidly break down the body, leaving little evidence behind. Instead, investigators found that, as Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office Captain Bob Green told kfor, due to the moisture in the air from the river, it actually helped preserve the body. It almost mummified it. End quote. When the Oklahoma County Medical Examiner's office removed the Lyme from the corpse, they discovered an intact body underneath. Although it was estimated that the white woman had been dead for a length of time between 10 days and two weeks, she was not decomposed. Limelady, as she quickly became known, was immediately determined to be a homicide victim. She had been shot three times in the chest with a.45 caliber handgun. The bullets pierced her lungs and heart, two of them passing through the body. One of the bullets, however, remained inside her chest cavity. This was because it had apparently hit a dime suspected to have been in the front shirt pocket of the victim. The bullet drove the dime and the fabric of her shirt into the wound on the right side of her chest. The pathologist was able to remove intact the bullet, the dime, and two fabric fibers, almost certainly from a shirt. No clothing was found on or anywhere near the limelady, but the find told the investigators three things. One, limelady was dressed when she was shot. Two, she was standing up and facing her killer when she was shot, with her shooter moving toward her. Based on different ranges exhibited by the three gunshot wounds, and since no bullets or shell casings were found anywhere at the scene, investigators determined Lyme lady was shot elsewhere and then brought to the site by the river and dumped there. Her arms were found up over her head, indicating that she had possibly been dragged by the hands or wrists to her final resting spot. Lyme lady's facial features were intact. She had fair skin, freckles on her face and upper torso, and dark blonde hair to her shoulders. The Oklahoma Medical Examiner's office at the time determined she was between the ages of 18 and 25, stood 5 foot 6 inches tall, and weighed approximately 15 to 120 pounds. She also had some distinguishing characteristics. She had a 1cm wide tattoo above her left breast, a red heart outlined in blue with a scrolling line going through it. She had a scar from an appendectomy. She had expensive dental work, but not orthodontia, as some teeth were crooked. But her teeth were in excellent condition and indicated good dental hygiene.
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Jessica Betancourt
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Jessica Betancourt
Area where Limelady was found was searched extensively, but no items of physical evidence were located. This is from an article in The Oklahoman in 2014. Quote the area where the woman's body was found could offer some clues about how she died and who killed her. Chief Deputy Carson Marshall said her body was found at the end of an out of the way road just off Britain Road. There was only one way in and one way out of the spot where the woman's body was found, Marshall said. Fishermen sometimes drove down the road and walked to the river, he said, but it wasn't easily visible from the road. Marshall said the fact could mean the woman's killers lived nearby at that time. You'd have to know that road was there to drive down it, marshall said. I was told there is no parking lot where the river access was and the way down to the river was somewhat hard to get to. So investigators were looking for a local, or at least someone who spent enough time in the area that they would know of this remote road leading to the river's edge. They noted that the town of Jones, located nearby population 3,000, was home to a biker bar that attracted what were referred to at the time as outlaw biker gangs. Since publicity about the Jane Doe being found in Oklahoma county failed the to link her to any local missing persons reports, the investigators theorized that perhaps she had come from somewhere else and had come to town with one of these biker gangs. This theory was strengthened by investigators knowledge that these biker gangs tended to favor.45 caliber firearms like the one that had killed Limelady. Still, this was all just theoretical and investigators focused on trying to identify Limelady using the very sparse concrete evidence they had. Because she had been very well preserved, they were able to obtain fingerprints from the victim, but found they didn't match to any in law enforcement databases. A lifelike sketch was made of her face and a facial reconstruction was done using modeling clay formed over her skull. Bulletins containing these images and Limelady's details and physical description were circulated to local agencies and run in the local papers, but they failed to connect Limelady to anyone Missing in the state of Oklahoma. A lot of work was done to try to identify the Lime lady. On the second anniversary of her discovery by the North Canadian river, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, or osbi, appealed to the public for any leads that might help identify her, According to an April 19, 1982 article in the Oklahoma OSBI, spokesman Paul Renfro said the the case was one of the few in which the agency had made such extensive yet unsuccessful efforts at identification. All tips and leads were followed up on, but none led to the identification of Limelady. Eventually, her remains were buried in an unmarked grave in an Oklahoma county cemetery. Her skull and mandible, however, were retained for dental comparisons should one be called for. But her case was never forgotten by Detective Bob Green, who was an investigator with the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force in Oklahoma City before becoming head of the Criminal Investigations Division at the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office. In January of 2012, he told the examiner, quote, the Limelady case really seemed interesting and I thought if we could at least get her identified, we might get somewhere. This is my effort alone and I'm still reviewing what is in the case file. She has got to be someone, somebody, and they need closure as well. She was in her early 20s and could still have a parent living or a sibling, he said in the 2014 article. Captain Green saw to it that updated sketches and recons were done and circulated over the years, but they never led anywhere. So in 2014, working with the state medical examiner's office, he facilitated the extraction of DNA from Limelady and an STR DNA profile was obtained for her. The that profile was submitted to the University of North Texas to be on hand for comparisons against missing women who might match up with Limelady on Nimus. There were 13 rule outs in 2014 and 17 by 2015, as reported by the Oklahoman. Captain Green at that point felt that the investigators had exhausted every avenue available to them to identify the woman, Quote, he hopes media exposure will convince someone who knew the woman to come forward. She's got to be someone to somebody somewhere, greene said. Right now we've done all we can think of, end quote. Captain Green told KFOR in 2015, quote, there's really no way to pursue an investigation as far as working the crime because we have no idea who she is. We have to figure that out first. We're still hopeful. We really believe at some point we're going to get a break in this case. In 2017, Limelady was featured on a King of Spades playing card in in a deck of unsolved Oklahoma cases distributed by OSBI and the State Department of Corrections to prisoners housed in corrections institutions statewide. But all these traditional methods of solving cases would prove futile. In this case, Captain Green, hearing about the Golden State Killer arrested in the spring of 2018, decided to pursue scientific methods of case solving instead. The DNA DOE Project was founded in.
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Jessica Betancourt
Margaret Press as a non profit group of volunteer genealogists who donate their time to help solve cold case DOE identifications. They also crowdsourced to raise the funds needed for these efforts. In September 2018, Captain Green reached out to the DDP, inquiring whether they would take on the 47 year old Lyme.
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Jessica Betancourt
It took nine months to get a SNP profile using a blood card that had been collected from Lyme lady at her original autopsy. The blood was very degraded, but finally the genetic sequencing was done by Hudson Alpha discovery. On October 11, 2019, the SNP profile was uploaded to GEDmatch and the DNA Doe project received the GEDmatch kit on October 30, it was a home run. Lyme lady's closest match was a second cousin once removed. The lead genealogist on the case, Karen Binder, who is now at Ramapo College's IGG center, took less than 24 hours to identify a candidate for whom there was no proof of life since 1979. On November 2, she reported her theory to the Oklahoma authorities. The woman she named turned out to have served in the US army, and the Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office was able to obtain dental records for her from the Armed services. And on December 24, 2019, they learned that those dental records matched to Limelady. Her name was Tamara Lee Tygart. Captain Green started reaching out to the family. He learned that Tamara's parents and only sibling were all deceased. But he had another name, a paternal first cousin of Tamara's named Kylie Tigert. He called her at her home in Sisters, Oregon, and left a voicemail. When she and her partner, Lisa Baker, a retired law enforcement officer, listened to the message, they were skeptical. They called Captain Green back on speakerphone so Lisa could listen in. But it pretty quickly became apparent that he was the real deal. He said, did you have someone in your family named Tamara Tigard? She did. I was shocked. Kylie later said she was only 8 years old when her cousin Tammy went missing in early 1980. Her parents told her and her brother Conan that Tammy had been placed in witness protection. And they all just assumed that she was safe somewhere. Well, she wasn't. The Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office and the DNA DOE project held a press conference on January 30, 2020, to announce the resolution of the identity of Limelady. Oklahoma County Sheriff P.D. taylor said, this has been an extremely difficult case for our agency, 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. Captain Green spoke next. He said, I always just wanted to bring dignity to the victim in this case. All of these years, she's 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 and in helping us in this case. Now she can be properly recognized, her life has meaning, and we can respectfully honor her. Okay, so what do we know about Tamara Lee Tigard? She was born on April 18, 1959, in Alameda, California to parents Jimmy Lee Tigert and Patsy Young Tigert. She had one sister, Cynthia. All these immediate family members were deceased by the time she was identified. Apparently, Tamara went by Tammy socially. She grew up in California and graduated from San Ramon high school in 1977. She had a somewhat fraught relationship with her father. Eager to set out on her own. In 1978, she enlisted in the Women's Army Corps and served as a specialist earning the E4 rank. But then, her family told me, Tammy was assaulted while in the army and was discharged early from the Armed forces as she struggled to cope with with what had happened to her. One of my sources of information here is Tammy Tigard's maternal first cousin, once removed, a woman named Nicole. Amazingly, Nicole approached my booth at CrimeCon in Denver in September 2025 and introduced me to this case. Nicole's mother, Deborah Robinson, was maternal first cousins with Tammy. Their mothers, Mary and Patricia, were sisters. Nicole never met Tammy, who was killed before she was born, but heard about her for her entire life. Her grandma Mary was Tammy's aunt and was very close with Tammy. So close that after Tammy got out of the army, she lived with Mary and then 14 year old Deborah at Mary's house for a time. But then she met a man I'm calling CR Carr. Tammy's family says that after her military service concluded, she started hanging out with a different crowd. People described to me as questionable. Unbeknownst to the family, Tammy married the C.R. carr on February 24, 1979 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Both listed California as their place of residence, but they were actually living in Las Vegas. The marriage did not last long and Tammy started living with another man, last name Hennessy. Her family was told that he was her boyfriend, but this is unconfirmed. There was an incident sometime in very early 1979 in which Tammy fled Las Vegas and showed up at her maternal aunt Diane's house in California. While she was staying there, a big black car showed up and a long haired man got out of the car. Tammy told her family she had no choice to return to Vegas with him and so she left with him. Unfortunately, the family does not know who this man was, Hennessy Carr, or someone else. Tammy was reported missing to the Las Vegas Metro PD on March 21, 1980 by this Hennessy character. He said she left on foot from their Las Vegas apartment and walked down Paradise Road. She never returned. Hennessey called Patricia and told her the same story. Limelady was found 28 days later, on the riverbank in Oklahoma, it would have been her 21st birthday. Shockingly, the missing persons report was canceled after Tammy turned up, or at least her name did. Once he learned that Limelady was Tammy Tigard and that she had gotten married and lived in Las Vegas, Detective Green contacted police in that city. They looked up Tammy, and that's when they noted that a missing persons report had been filed for her. But the Las Vegas detective Captain Green spoke with informed him that the missing persons report had been negated because it turned out Tammy was living in Ohio. On January 1, 1997, a teletype had come into the LVMPD from Canfield, Ohio PD about a field interview of a woman in Ohio who was named Tammy Tygard and had Tammy's identifiers. When the Ohio officer ran her name, he came up with the missing persons report on this Tammy Tiger. But this Ohio Tammy Tiger was not the real Tammy. Apparently, this Ohio woman, last name believed to be Hunter, had stolen Tammy's identity. And this begs the question of how this woman had access to Tammy's personal information in order to impersonate her. But this had all happened in 1997. The woman was long gone, and no one knew how to find her. Captain Green told me that, of course, this information immediately raised a red flag. He said he didn't know whether the identity theft was related to Tammy's homicide or not. But in his mind, this could not be a coincidence that Tammy was murdered unbeknownst to anyone who knew her, and her identity was also stolen and used by this random woman. He asked Las Vegas PD for a copy of the missing persons report for Tammy filed by this Hennessy guy who was deceased by this time. And he found that with the report was a photo of Tammy in an army uniform. This was how he found out that Tammy was in the military and was able to locate dental records to confirm her identification. But all this also gave rise to a whole bunch of questions. How did this woman who stole Tammy's identity know that Tammy was dead and access her personal info? What was Tammy's relationship with this guy Hennessy, who was also dead? How did Tammy end up in Oklahoma after supposedly going out for a walk in Las Vegas? And what role, if any, did her former husband play in all of this?
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Jessica Betancourt
Captain Green told me it's still such a mystery. He notes the extreme brutality with which Tammy was killed by someone shooting her with a very large caliber gun, face to face, getting closer with each shot, and then stripping her of all evidence dumping her in a location she had no connection to and attempting to destroy all evidence with Lyme. This was someone very callous, someone with criminal experience, someone who was on a mission to ensure Tammy was dead and never connected to him. For reasons we cannot know, we agreed that likely more than one person was involved in Tammy's murder, or at least disposal. Where the murder happened is unknown, but the dumping of the body, dragging it some distance, and the use of a heavy, bulky supply of lime implies an accomplice. Tammy's husband is still living. I'm not relating his full name because he is considered a suspect. Captain Green referred to this CR Carr as a biker with a criminal history who was not pleased to be contacted by law enforcement. When Captain Green called him after identifying Tammy, Carr told Captain Green that in 1979, he and Tammy spent some time in Ventura, California, but she left him several months after they were married and he hadn't seen her since. The veracity of Carr's statement is questionable at best. Carr has spent time in prison and has a significant criminal history. Further, he was part of a biker gang back in the day. In fact, his Facebook page today still refers to him as an old biker dude and has a picture of his motorcycle. Tammy's mom's side of the family believes something was going on with Tammy before she died. She may have suspected what was going to happen to her. Nicole told me that one day in early 1980, Tammy called her cousin Deborah, saying, I just called to tell you how much I love you. Tell Aunt Mary I'm so sorry. I love you guys. She said she couldn't share what was going on with her and she could not come home. She was very upset and crying. They never heard from her again. She is believed to have been killed in March or April of 1980. Nicole's aunt Diane, another cousin of Tammy's, reported her missing as well. But when the family learned that Tammy had been arrested in Ohio, they assumed she didn't want to be found. But that arrestee was in actuality the identity thief, whose illegal behavior resulted in Limelady not being identified for decades. Still, the family wanted to know what happened to Tammy. Nicole, the cousin whom I met at CrimeCon, told me that her whole life she had been interested in the story of her missing cousin, Tammy Tygart, of whom her grandmother had spoken so sadly. In 2020, she got online and conducted a search of her cousin's name and was shocked to see many articles and even a press conference announcing the identity of the Lyme lady from Oklahoma as her missing first cousin once removed, Tammy's mother's side, had heard nothing about the news of her being found. Nicole got in touch with Captain Green, who brought her and her mother, Deborah, up to speed on what they knew and the investigation into who killed Deborah's beloved older cousin. So what is the status of the homicide investigation now? Captain Green of the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office had vowed to stay on until Limelady was identified. After it was all over, he could finally retire. He expressed to me some regrets that he did not have time to pursue fully the few leads that remain in Tammy's case, such as tracking down the woman who stole her identity and interrogating CR Carr. Now that Captain Green has stepped down, it appears that no agency is actively working Tammy's case. The OSBI told me that the lead investigative agency is the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office, and that agency does not seem to be working it and did not return my phone calls. Tammy's first cousin once removed, Nicole is determined to push for the homicide to be reinvestigated and told me it means a lot to her to try to get justice for Tammy because her beloved grandmother so cherished the young woman who. Who tragically spent decades known as the limelady. And I think we can all agree it is urgent that someone work this case. No one has been cleared as a suspect and inquiries need to be made into Tammy's husband, CR Carr, and the woman who stole Tammy's identity before it is too late. Circling back to Tammy. Even though her murder remains unsolved for the time being, her family is very thankful for the resolution they have. Nicole told me that thanks to Captain Gream, whom she called a godsend and a great advocate for Tammy, who her mom finally got to have a little bit of closure. The not knowing where Tammy was for years and years was torturous to those who loved her. So having resolution at long last was a relief. And they took solace in knowing that Tammy didn't suffer. If you live in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, please call the Sheriff's Department and request them to devote resources to getting justice for Tammy Tygard. So that is the status of the Lyman lady case. Her family can do little to advance the case, having shared everything they know with law enforcement. But everyone felt that it was important to give Tammy a proper burial. Her parents had relocated to the Sutherland Oakland area of Oregon in the mid-1980s and apparently lived in their namesake town, Tigard. The authorities in Oklahoma exhumed Tammy's body and ensured that all items retained by the medical Examiner's office were reunited with it so the remains were complete. Then her cousin Kylie and other family members raised funds by a GoFundMe to transport Tammy's ashes to Oregon and reinter her by her parents in Valley View Cemetery, where they are buried. Captain Green contacted the people he needed to contact and pushed for Tammy to be buried with full military honors with a headstone commemorating her service. The ceremony took place in April of 2022 with nearly 100 veterans and civilians wanting to pay their respects as well as family in attendance. Rest in peace, Tammy. Thanks for listening to this episode of dnaid.
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Episode: Doe ID: 'Lime Lady' Tammy Tigard
Host: Jessica Betancourt (AbJack Entertainment)
Release Date: February 16, 2026
This episode of DNA: ID delves deep into the decades-old mystery of an unidentified homicide victim known for years as the “Lime Lady.” The host, Jessica Betancourt, recounts the tragic story of Tamara “Tammy” Lee Tigard: the discovery of her body in Oklahoma in 1980, the decades-long struggle to identify her, and the eventual breakthrough using investigative genetic genealogy. The episode examines not only the resolution of the “who” but the enduring questions of “why,” unearthing the factors in Tammy’s life that may have contributed to her fate and the persistent uncertainties that remain around her unsolved murder.
"She had been shot three times in the chest with a .45 caliber handgun. The bullets pierced her lungs and heart... The pathologist was able to remove intact the bullet, the dime, and two fabric fibers..." (Jessica Betancourt, [04:05])
"You'd have to know that road was there to drive down it." (Chief Deputy Carson Marshall, via Jessica Betancourt, [09:30])
"She has got to be someone, somebody, and they need closure as well." (Captain Green, [10:58])
"It took nine months to get a SNP profile using a blood card...The blood was very degraded, but finally the genetic sequencing was done..." (Jessica Betancourt, [16:08])
"Nicole told me that thanks to Captain Green, whom she called a godsend...her mom finally got to have a little bit of closure. The not knowing where Tammy was for years and years was torturous to those who loved her..." (Jessica Betancourt, [28:02])
"This was someone very callous, someone with criminal experience, someone who was on a mission to ensure Tammy was dead and never connected to him."
(Jessica Betancourt relaying Captain Green’s thoughts, [23:51])
"The pathologist was able to remove intact the bullet, the dime, and two fabric fibers, almost certainly from a shirt."
— Jessica Betancourt ([04:05])
"I always just wanted to bring dignity to the victim in this case...I just couldn't give up. And now we know who she is."
— Captain Bob Green ([17:02])
"The not knowing where Tammy was for years and years was torturous to those who loved her. So having resolution at long last was a relief."
— Jessica Betancourt, reflecting family’s views ([28:04])
| Timestamp | Segment Focus | |------------|-------------------------------------------------------| | 02:41 | Discovery of the “Lime Lady” and forensic details | | 09:08 | Early theories and investigation effort | | 10:45 | Captain Green’s ongoing commitment | | 14:16 | Introduction of DNA Doe Project and geneaology | | 16:08 | DNA breakthrough and confirmation as Tammy Tigard | | 17:15 | Tammy’s background and disappearance | | 19:50 | Identity theft and investigation misdirections | | 22:41 | Family’s emotional journey and new contact | | 23:51 | The enduring mystery and theory about the crime | | 27:59 | Final resolution, burial, and call for justice |
Through the thoughtful narration of Jessica Betancourt, this episode powerfully demonstrates both the wonders of modern investigative genealogy and the enduring pain unanswered questions inflict on victims’ families. The story of Tammy “Lime Lady” Tigard is one of persistence—by detectives, genetic genealogists, and family members—proving that no Jane Doe is ever truly forgotten. Yet even with closure on her identity, the chapter on justice for Tammy remains unfinished, as the mystery of her murderer lingers.
If you have information that may help, or wish to support efforts for justice and resolution in cold cases like Tammy’s, consider reaching out to the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office and elevating public awareness.