KY KY - Tammy Pippin, 28, Fort Knox, 18 Dec 1987

justformom

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Hi everyone,

I am new to this forum but came to it in search of finding answers to my mother's murder 25 years ago. I was young when she died, so I never knew the details of the case, but as I get older I long for answers. I would appreciate any advice on handling my search.

A little about the case:

We lived in Fort Knox, KY at the time in Hardin County near Elizabethtown. From what I remember, she left and never came back and was missing for over a year. I recently ordered the death certificate and see that she was killed in December 1987 and her body was found buried in the woods in November 1988. An autopsy was conducted but cause of death says, "homicide by means not determined."

I called the coroners office today to see if I can get a copy of the autopsy hoping that might provide more clues.

During my research, I found posted on the Elizabethtown Police Department cold case list, other cold cases of female victims during the same time period. I'm not sure if they could be linked.

I would like to know how I can ascertain whether or not my mother's case has been given any attention by detectives, or if it has just been put on a shelf with no one paying attention to it. Thank you for your advice!
 
Hi, justformom, and welcome. Do you have links to any news articles from the time? Or any information that would help the members find them? Was her body found in Elizabethtown? Do you have a location or street name? I don't mean to sound like a nag, but details you can provide will make it easier to find information.

Also, have you tried to obtain a police report or missing person's report from 1987-88?
 
Thank you for your guidance! Unfortunately, I do not have any news articles from the time. Nothing comes up when I search online so I have been looking into possibly contacting the local newspaper in Elizabethtown to see if they have hard copies of newspapers from that time that might include mention of her disappearance/murder. I live on the west coast now so I wouldn't be able to actually go to the library myself.

After reviewing the death certificate more it appears that she was discovered on the Ft. Knox military base in "isolated woods." It also says under other that she was found buried in woods. According to what the coroner said, if she was indeed found on the military base, then I would not be able to receive a copy of her autopsy through the Hardin county coroner's office.

It looks like the detective on the case was part of the USACIDC, which is the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command. Through their website it looks like I can request information about the case through the Freedom of Information Act, but I am not sure what to expect from that process. I'm not sure if I can also request one from the local police department but I will try calling tomorrow.

I know it's not a lot to go on but I appreciate your help!
 
That's a start! I'll look around and see what I can find. If you click the link in my signature to our Resource Center, there's some info on FOIA there. I'd give you the direct link, but I'm logged in from my phone now and I have trouble copying them. :). I'll post back here tomorrow.
 
I grew up in Elizabethtown and I know the area pretty good. The location where her body was found "Snow Mountain" is actually in Meade County. Fort Knox is large and covers 3 counties. You may want to check with Bradenburg Public Library and see if they have any information on any news stories from that time. Fort Knox does not have the same amount of personnel that they used to have since most of the units have transferred to Fort Benning, etc. so trying to get information from Ft. Knox may be hard. But try to see CID office, should be listed on the web site. Also, being a murder case, Louisville PD may have been involved as they are larger. But keep in mind, an old sayiing around there is that the military protects its own. So if a soldier was involved, be prepared to argue it out. Keep your head up. Also, the genealogy society for Hardin County may help, they have a web site ( ancestrial trails) and they can see if there are any documents to pass along to you. They will not return long distance calls so you have to call when someone is in the office. Their answering machine will tell you their hours.

Hope this helps.

FYI...SNow Mountain I believe was used back in the 1940-1950 for Air Force.
 
The location where her body was found "Snow Mountain" is actually in Meade County.

Also, being a murder case, Louisville PD may have been involved as they are larger.

It also possible that the Kentucky State Police may have been involved in the case as well.
 
Fort Knox should have someone you can call to talk to that would at least be able to ascertain if the area where your mother was discovered is army property. Since it is described as an area used by hunters in the newspaper link, I wonder if it was. If you call Fort Knox, they should be able to direct you to someone who can answer some general questions like that. So, at least you know if you even have to deal with the Army or if you can just talk to the regular police.

I called Fort Campbell once (not about a murder) and there was such a person I talked to who was able to give me some general information. I do not remember his title, but dealing the public and answering questions was his job (going by his title). While the information was general, it was specific enough to answer what I wanted to know. And he saved me looking through a bunch of stuff to try to find it.
 
I just checked the Kentucky State Police cold cases on line and she is not listed under the Elizabethtown's post and she is not listed. I would call them and see what you need to do to get her information on that site.
 
Not to burst anyone's bubble, but Fort Knox has been down sized since then. Not sure what agencies are still there. But the closest I would say is CID or contact the MP office.

I located some phone numbers, hope they are still good and I hope I can post these.

Fort Knox operator (502)624-1000
Barr Library (502)624-5351
Newspaper - Turrent (502)624-1211
Public Affairs (502)623-2223
Military Police Desk Sgt (502)624-2111
Army Community Service (502)624-6291
Historian (502)624-1495
 
Thank you everyone. I was able to obtain a copy of her autopsy report from the coroner. The area where she was found was on the military base. In fact, according to the report, it was 1/2 mile SW of a large military housing complex, which is where we lived at the time.

According to the report, the case was being investigated by C.I.D. investigators. The coroner included the briefing paper prepared by one of the investigators but did not include any of the results from their investigation.

Quite frankly, to me, there is a very clear suspect in this case. At this point, I'm very curious as to why no charges were brought in the case. What you said about how the military protects its own, sounds about right to me.

I'll try calling Fort Knox on Monday. Thanks 4Sam for listing the numbers!
 
Good luck with your calls, justformom.
 
Welcome, cptmac. Seems like an obvious question. I wondered about that, myself. Interesting timing, too, one year to the date of the last post.
 
I have thought about this over the years. I could never find anything about it. I was in Radcliff this weekend couldn't sleep and something got me to thinking. This time when I searched I found this sight.
 
I remember when this happened. My father and I were deer hunting in the area across Otter Creek from Snow Mountain and had to stop by the check station there to register the deer we'd gotten. When we arrived there were police cars all over the place, but we didn't learn what had happened until a few days later.
 
I have not seen anything reported on this case through NewsEnterprise (based out of Elizabethtown). I know they sometimes will do articles on old cases to see if anyone has heard or learned anything new.
 

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