AZ AZ - Cheri Tyra, 23, Tucson, 1 July 1988

It was July 2, 1988 when the remains of 23-year-old Cheri Tyra were found in the desert area. Detective Kelly Anderson says, "She was strangled to death and then left in the desert area."

Possible motive for her murder, the detective says, "The victim had gotten herself into cocaine use and they were possibly some debts involved with her cocaine use."

In one of the boxes of evidence, the detective found items that had DNA. In 1988 they didn't have DNA testing so it was a lucky break the detectives back then gathered items that contained DNA. They were sent to a lab that came back with a profile.

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Tyra's nude body was discovered in the desert July 2, 1988, by teens riding ATVs near West Valencia and South Mark roads. Police estimated she had been strangled between 24 and 36 hours earlier. She was identified by a tattoo on her hand.

A neighbor saw Tyra leave her apartment in the 400 block of West Miracle Mile in the early afternoon of July 1, 1988, a Friday, with a man described as a "good-looking," well-tanned Anglo with "piercing eyes." The man was estimated to be in his mid-30s, standing 5-foot-9 and weighing between 160 and 180 pounds. He was stocky, clean cut and had light brown hair.

The pair left in the man's gold-color Jeep pickup with a striped serape draped across the bench seat and a white utility box behind the cab.

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