Authorities in North Carolina say that they’ve solved the cold case of an East Carolina University student who was kidnapped and killed nearly 45 years ago.
At a press conference Thursday, the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office named Gary Lane Laframboise as the individual responsible for the 1979 death of Tammy Sue Aldridge. Laframboise died in 2020.
Authorities said that Aldridge had been reported missing June 30, 1979, when the 20-year-old did not return home from a jog. Three days after her disappearance, her body was discovered in the middle of a highway in Graham, North Carolina. Her ankles were tied with rope, and investigators found evidence that her neck and hands had also been bound.
At the press conference, Sheriff Terry Johnson said that her body was still warm at the time of discovery. Her clothes were put on backward, which indicated that the victim was dressed after her death, Johnson said.
He added that Aldridge was sexually assaulted while alive, and medical examiners ruled that she died from strangulation.
