Alice Sullivan Missing Person Case

Dec 12, 2008

Jan 05, 2024

Alice

Sullivan

59

20

62 inches

90 lbs

Black / African American

Female

In the late summer of 1986, a devoted mother and ambitious college student named Alice Mae Sullivan disappeared, leaving behind a life filled with promise and a loving family. On the morning of August 28, 1986, the 20-year-old female began her day like any other in Nashville, Tennessee. She was a business major at Tennessee State University, skillfully balancing her studies with a job at a fast-food restaurant and the responsibilities of raising her three-year-old son. That morning, she dropped her son off at preschool before attending her 8:00 a.m. class. Afterwards, she visited a friend in a campus dormitory, leaving around 10:00 a.m. Alice was expected at another class at 1:00 p.m. but she never arrived. The alarm was raised when she failed to pick up her son from preschool and did not return to the apartment she shared with her boyfriend. Her worried parents were notified and traveled to Nashville the following day to report her missing. For nearly four decades, the Sullivan family held onto hope for answers, a period marked by the pain of not knowing what happened to Alice. Her parents insisted that their responsible and dedicated daughter would never have willingly abandoned her child or her aspirations. In the initial stages of the investigation, there was a sense that the case was not given the urgency it deserved. As years turned into decades, family members provided DNA samples in the hope that scientific advancements might one day bring them the closure they so desperately sought. Then, on February 20, 2004, a contractor discovered a human skull in a drainage area near a construction site on Stokers Lane in North Nashville. Despite this discovery, the remains were not immediately identified, and the mystery of Alice's disappearance continued. A significant breakthrough in the case finally came in October 2025, when the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department announced that the skull found years earlier had been positively identified as belonging to Alice Mae Sullivan. The identification was made possible through the dedicated work of forensic scientists at the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification, who were able to match the remains with the DNA provided by her family. An examination of the skull revealed no signs of trauma, leaving her cause of death undetermined. Following the identification, investigators conducted a thorough search of the area where the skull was found but were unable to locate any additional remains. This case, which began as the search for a missing young mother, has now transitioned into a homicide investigation. While the discovery has brought a painful measure of closure to her loved ones, the full story of what happened to Alice Mae Sullivan in 1986 remains an open and active investigation, a solemn reminder of a life cut short and the enduring quest for justice.

Aug 28, 1986

Nashville

Tennessee

Davidson County

No

6089

Metropolitan Nashville Police Department

Nashville

Tennessee

Davidson County

37201

200 James Robertson Parkway, Tennessee

6158628600

Local

Law Enforcement

https://www.nashville.gov/departments/police

86-192436

1986-08-29

Metropolitan Nashville Police Department

4116

Black

Brown

Brown

07/07/2026