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Redhead Murders

UNSOLVED1981Multiple locations across Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, U.S.3 SOURCESUPDATED JUL 2026
Illustrative

The "Redhead murders" is a media term for a series of unsolved homicides of women and girls with reddish hair whose bodies were found abandoned along major highways in the United States between October 1978 and 1992. Cases considered potentially related have been found in Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Authorities have never determined how many perpetrators were involved or how many victims exist in total, with estimates ranging from five to fourteen. As of November 2018, four presumed victims had been identified. In 2018, the unidentified suspect was informally nicknamed the "Bible Belt Strangler" because the areas where bodies were recovered fall within the Bible Belt.

Victims whose remains have been identified include Lisa Nichols, found near West Memphis, Arkansas in 1984 and identified via fingerprints in 1985; Tina Farmer, found near Jellico, Tennessee in 1985 and identified by fingerprint in 2018; Tracy Walker, a 15-year-old from Lafayette, Indiana, whose skeletal remains were found near Jellico in 1985 and identified in 2022 through forensic genetic genealogy; Michelle Lavone Inman, found in Cheatham County, Tennessee in 1985 and identified in 2023; and Espy Pilgrim, found inside a discarded refrigerator in Knox County, Kentucky in 1985 and identified in 2018 via a DNA match with her daughter. Additional women considered possible victims — including Priscilla Ann Blevins, Karen Kaye Knippers, an unidentified Wetzel County, West Virginia Jane Doe, Lorie Pennell, Elizabeth Lamotte, an unidentified Pulaski County, Arkansas Jane Doe, Betty Lou Wisley, Stacey Lyn Chahorski, and Donna Sue Nelton — have been identified or tentatively linked over the years, though West Virginia authorities have expressed skepticism about whether the Wetzel County case is connected to the others.

One case within this group has been resolved. DNA evidence linked convicted kidnapper Jerry Leon Johns, a truck driver from Cleveland, Tennessee, to the 1984 killing of Tina Farmer. Johns had been convicted in 1987 of the kidnapping and assault of Linda Schacke, a red-haired woman he attacked in Knox County, Tennessee, two months after Farmer's death; Schacke survived and testified against him. Johns died in prison in 2015. In December 2019, a Campbell County, Tennessee grand jury determined that Johns would have been indicted for Farmer's murder had he still been alive. Separately, in 2022, the killing of Stacey Lyn Chahorski, found in Rising Fawn, Georgia in 1988, was attributed to Henry Frederick "Hoss" Wise, a trucker and stunt driver who died in a car accident in 1999.

Investigators noted in the mid-1980s that inconsistencies among the cases — including some victims found clothed and others unclothed, and varying evidence of sexual contact before death — led Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi to request FBI assistance. A separate Ohio case, the "Buckskin Girl" (later identified as Marcia King), was ruled out as a related victim in 1985. Most victims remained unidentified for years, in part because many were estranged from family or were not native to the states where their remains were found.

Key facts

Victims
Betty Lou Wisley, Tracy Walker, Karen Kaye Knippers, Priscilla Ann Blevins, Elizabeth Lamotte, Donna Sue Nelton, Michelle Lavone Inman, Tina Farmer, Stacey Lyn Chahorski, Lisa Nichols, Espy Pilgrim, Lorie Pennell
Date
1981
Location
Multiple locations across Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, U.S.
Case status
unsolved

Case timeline

  1. 1978

    Tracy Walker, 15, last seen at a mall in Lafayette, Indiana; her remains would later be found near Jellico, Tennessee.

  2. 1981-05-25

    Karen Kaye Knippers recovered from a low water crossing near Dixon, Missouri, having been strangled with pantyhose.

  3. 1983-02-13

    Unidentified woman's body (Wetzel County Jane Doe) found alongside Route 250 near Littleton, West Virginia.

  4. 1984-04-06

    Elizabeth Lamotte disappears from a group home in Manchester, New Hampshire.

  5. 1984-09-16

    Body later identified as Lisa Nichols found along Interstate 40 near West Memphis, Arkansas.

  6. 1985-01-01

    Bound body later identified as Tina Farmer found near Jellico, Tennessee.

  7. 1985-01-24

    Lorie Pennell found strangled near Olive Branch, Mississippi.

  8. 1985-03-29

    Skeletal remains of Priscilla Ann Blevins found along Interstate 40 in Waynesville, North Carolina.

  9. 1985-03-31

    Skeletonized body later identified as Michelle Lavone Inman found in Cheatham County, Tennessee.

  10. 1985-04-01

    Body later identified as Espy Pilgrim found inside a refrigerator in Gray, Knox County, Kentucky.

  11. 1985-04-03

    Skeletonized partial remains later identified as Tracy Walker found near Jellico, Tennessee.

  12. 1985-04-14

    Body later identified as Elizabeth Lamotte found in Greeneville, Tennessee.

  13. 1985-04-20

    Unidentified woman (Pulaski County Jane Doe) found deceased in Wrightsville, Arkansas.

  14. 1985-06

    Lisa Nichols identified via fingerprints.

  15. 1987-08-29

    Unidentified woman later identified as Betty Lou Wisley found in Roane County, Tennessee, body deliberately burned.

  16. 1988

    Stacey Lyn Chahorski found strangled to death in Rising Fawn, Georgia.

  17. 1989-01

    Stacey Lyn Chahorski officially reported missing.

  18. 1990-05-07

    Woman later identified as Donna Sue Nelton found shot and set on fire in Rogers, Arkansas.

  19. 2012

    Priscilla Ann Blevins identified via DNA and dental records.

  20. 2015

    Jerry Leon Johns dies in prison.

  21. 2018-09-06

    Tina Farmer identified by fingerprint by the Shelby County Sheriff's Office.

  22. 2018-10-01

    Espy Pilgrim positively identified by the Knox County Sheriff's Office.

  23. 2018-11

    Elizabeth Lamotte identified through DNA match with family profile.

  24. 2019

    DNA evidence identifies Jerry Leon Johns as the man who killed Tina Farmer.

  25. 2019-12-18

    Campbell County, Tennessee grand jury rules Johns would have been indicted for Farmer's murder.

  26. 2019-12

    Karen Kaye Knippers tentatively identified by the DNA Doe Project.

  27. 2021-05-25

    Legal confirmation of Karen Kaye Knippers' identification.

  28. 2022-03

    Stacey Lyn Chahorski identified with assistance from Othram Inc.

  29. 2022-08-30

    Tracy Walker identified as 15-year-old Tracy Sue Walker of Lafayette, Indiana.

  30. 2022-09-06

    Henry Frederick "Hoss" Wise identified as Stacey Lyn Chahorski's killer.

  31. 2022-10-25

    Donna Sue Nelton identified by Othram Inc.

  32. 2023

    Betty Lou Wisley identified as a Knox County, Tennessee woman.

  33. 2023-07

    Michelle Lavone Inman identified by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Othram, Inc.

Best coverage

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People

  • Betty Lou Wisley

    VICTIM

    Found burned in Roane County, Tennessee in 1987; identified in 2023.

  • Tracy Walker

    VICTIM

    Skeletal remains found near Jellico, Tennessee in 1985; identified in 2022 as a 15-year-old from Lafayette, Indiana.

  • Karen Kaye Knippers

    VICTIM

    Found near Dixon, Missouri in 1981; tentatively identified in 2019, legally confirmed in 2021.

  • Priscilla Ann Blevins

    VICTIM

    Skeletal remains found in Waynesville, North Carolina in 1985; had disappeared in 1975; identified in 2012.

  • Elizabeth Lamotte

    VICTIM

    Found in Greeneville, Tennessee in 1985; identified in 2018 as a New Hampshire native.

  • Donna Sue Nelton

    VICTIM

    Found shot and burned in Rogers, Arkansas in 1990; identified in 2022.

  • Michelle Lavone Inman

    VICTIM

    Found in Cheatham County, Tennessee in 1985; identified in 2023.

  • Tina Farmer

    VICTIM

    Found near Jellico, Tennessee in 1985; identified in 2018; killing attributed to Jerry Leon Johns via DNA.

  • Stacey Lyn Chahorski

    VICTIM

    Found strangled in Rising Fawn, Georgia in 1988; identified in 2022; killing attributed to Henry Frederick "Hoss" Wise.

  • Jerry Leon Johns

    CONVICTED

    Convicted in 1987 of aggravated kidnapping and assault of Linda Schacke; DNA linked him to the 1984 killing of Tina Farmer; a 2019 grand jury found he would have been indicted for her murder had he lived; died in prison in 2015.

  • Lisa Nichols

    VICTIM

    Found near West Memphis, Arkansas in 1984; identified via fingerprints in 1985.

  • Espy Pilgrim

    VICTIM

    Found in a refrigerator in Knox County, Kentucky in 1985; identified in 2018.

  • Lorie Pennell

    VICTIM

    Found strangled near Olive Branch, Mississippi in 1985.

Roles reflect public records and court outcomes at the time of writing — supporting citations are on file under Sources.

Places

Multiple locations across Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, U.S.

36.1627, -86.7816

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Common questions

What happened to the victim?
Between 1978 and 1992, the bodies of multiple red-haired women and girls were found dumped along highways across Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, in a pattern investigators have long suspected may be linked to one or more unidentified killers. Several victims have since been identified through DNA and forensic genetic genealogy, and at least one case has been solved, but most of the killings remain unsolved.
Where did the murders happen?
Multiple locations across Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, U.S.
Who was convicted?
Jerry Leon Johns (Convicted in 1987 of aggravated kidnapping and assault of Linda Schacke; DNA linked him to the 1984 killing of Tina Farmer; a 2019 grand jury found he would have been indicted for her murder had he lived; died in prison in 2015.).
What is the current status of the case?
Status: unsolved.
More cases in Pennsylvania

Sources

  1. PRESS2 Tennessee high school students review cold case killingsAssociated Press · 2026-07-11
  2. ENCYCLOPEDICRedhead murdersWikipedia · 2026-07-10
  3. OFFICIAL / AGENCYContemporaneous coverage — namus.govnamus.gov · 2026-07-10