Tennessee homicide victim identified over three decades later
CHEATHAM COUNTY, Tenn. — The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says a woman whose skeletal remains were found in 1985 in Cheatham County has been identified.
A news release says in March 1985, TBI launched an investigation after a motorist with vehicle trouble discovered skeletal remains along Interstate 24 West between mile markers 29 and 30.
The release says after all leads were exhausted, her identity could not be determined and she was classified as a Jane Doe.
In April 2018, a sample of the woman’s remains was submitted to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification, and a DNA profile was developed in hopes that the woman would eventually be identified.
In December 2022, as part of the Unidentified Human Remains DNA Initiative, TBI submitted a sample of the woman’s remains to a private lab in Texas, and scientists provided information about possible relatives connected to the woman.
According to the release, that information was used by a TBI intelligence analyst to locate potential family members in Virginia, and agents made contact with a family member who confirmed that he had a sister he had not heard from in more than four decades.
The release states agents obtained a DNA standard from the man to be compared against the victim’s DNA utilizing forensic genetic genealogy.
The TBI confirms that earlier this month, Othram, Inc. positively identified the woman as Michelle Lavone Inman from Nashville. Inman would have been 61 years old this past April.
Agents are now hoping the public can provide information that may help solve her murder. Anyone who may have information on her death, who she may have been in contact with around that time, or who may recognize any of the clothing from the crime scene, is asked to call 1-800-TBI-FIND.
Click here to learn more about the TBI’s Unidentified Human Remains DNA Initiative.
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