http://www.uwire.com/2008/01/18/police-reo...iami-u-mystery/
Police reopen 54-year-old Miami U. mystery
January 18th, 2008 by Caroline Briggs
Source: Miami Student
Remains found in Georgia have reopened the cold trail of Ronald Henry Tammen, who mysteriously disappeared from his Miami University dormitory 54 years ago.
The Butler County Sheriff’s Department is working in conjunction with Walker County Sheriff’s Department of Georgia and the Oxford Police Department, according to Butler County’s Sgt. Monte Mayer.
The remains found in Georgia are dated to the same spring as Tammen’s April 19, 1953 disappearance, Mayer said.
“This is certainly a good lead that requires some following through,” he said. “But many cold cases have hundreds, if not thousands of leads. We know it was a body buried in the 50s.”
According to Mayer, Detective Frank Smith, Butler County’s cold case investigator, is handling the case by working with Georgia regarding identification of the remains found, as well as gathering up all known information of Tammen.
More answers may link 1953 cold case to Georgia remains
Miami University student vanished from his dorm room over 50 years ago; now investigators want to find out if skeletal remains are his
RELATED: Cold case reopened | Video | Photos
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By Lauren Pack
Staff Writer
Friday, January 18, 2008
HAMILTON — When Walker County, Ga., Sheriff's Capt. Mike Freeman received a quick "hit" from Butler County on a 55-year-old cold case in his county, he thought right away, "We need a lot more answers."
Through research on the Internet and old clippings from the Walker County Messenger, Freeman learned about both the case of Ronald Tammen, a 19-year-old Miami University sophomore missing since April 1953, and a badly decomposed body found in a wooded area of northeast Georgia in July 1953.
What's Freeman's gut feeling? Are they the same person?
"It's worth a second look. It's worth a third look," Freeman said.
When asked the same questions, Frank Smith of the Butler County Sheriff's Office, who is working the case along with the Oxford Police Department, said with a smile, "There are a lot of similarities."
"We are in the very early stages right now," Freeman said, noting forensic evidence may eventually prove whether the body is Tammen. But first he has to locate a more complete investigation file from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the unidentified body may have to be exhumed from is resting place of almost 55 years.
According to the July 1, 1953, edition of the Walker County Messenger, the body of a white man was found in clump of bushes near U.S. 27 about five miles south of LaFayette.
Freeman noted that in 1953 there was no interstate system, but U.S. 27 also runs through Oxford.
Another reason to suspect a link, Smith noted, "is because of the characteristics of the body."
The body found was described as 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighing 155 to 160 pounds, dark brown hair, long slender fingers, long arms, about 25 to 30 years old. He was wearing a T-shirt and a pair of shorts.
A suitcase of military clothing was found in the vicinity and the man was wearing a pair of "GI" socks, according to the newspaper account.
Tammen, a graduate of Maple Heights High School in suburban Cleveland, was 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighed 175 pounds.
He was last seen about 8:30 p.m. April 19, 1953, when he was issued fresh sheets because someone had put a fish in his bed.
Tammen was enrolled in the U.S. Navy ROTC program, was a varsity wrestler, a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity and played bass in a local dance band.
Theories through the years have ranged from amnesia and foul play to the possibility that Tammen ran away to avoid the draft.
Smith said there is no indication Tammen met his demise in Oxford or Butler County. He just simply vanished into the night, leaving everything behind.
There were no signs of a struggle in his room, and kidnapping was dismissed because there was no ransom note or demands for money.
Despite investigations, including by the FBI, there were never any confirmed sightings of Tammen.
Freeman said if the remains prove to be Tammen's, "I will then have to find out what happened to him. That won't be easy.
"I would love to resolve his demise," he added. "Many people are dead and gone now, but it still matters. It matters to someone."
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2168 or
lpack@coxohio.com.
http://www.oxfordpress.com/n/content/oh/st...foloinside.html
