Do you know who murdered 17 year old Elizabeth \Liz\ Lamotte in 1984? In the spring of 1985, on April 14th, the body of a young white female was discovered along Interstate 81 in Greene County, Tennessee. The remains were partially decomposed, and it was determined that she had been deceased for approximately three to six weeks. An autopsy revealed a brutal end to her life; she had suffered from severe blunt-force trauma and a possible stab wound, with the fatal blow being to her head. For decades, her identity remained a mystery, a Jane Doe in a cold case file.
Investigators were able to obtain her fingerprints and DNA, but with no matching records, her name remained elusive.
The young woman was Elizabeth Lamotte, a 17-year-old from New Hampshire. She had disappeared on November 22, 1984, after leaving a youth development center in Manchester, New Hampshire. It wasn't until 2017 that she was officially reported missing, a crucial step that would finally lead to her identification. Detectives in New Hampshire located Lamotte's family and obtained DNA samples, which were entered into the Combined DNA Index System. In November 2018, more than 33 years after her body was found, a match was confirmed, and Jane Doe was finally identified as Elizabeth Lamotte.
Despite this significant breakthrough in the case, the identity of her killer remains unknown. The investigation into her homicide is active and ongoing, with law enforcement seeking information from the public about who she might have been with in the days leading up to her death. Her case has been considered in connection with the 'Redhead Murders,' a series of unsolved homicides of red-haired women across several states, but no definitive link has been established. There was also initial speculation about a connection to the serial killer Terry Peder Rasmussen, as Lamotte disappeared from the same area where he was known to operate. However, this theory was later ruled out. As of now, no arrests have been made, and no suspects have been publicly named in the murder of Elizabeth Lamotte.
