Body found in Tennessee in 1985 identified as 17-year-old Elizabeth Lamotte from Manchester, NH
The remains of a homicide victim found in Tennessee 33 years ago have been identified as a missing teenager from New Hampshire, and police investigated a possible connection to suspected serial killer
Terry Peder Rasmussen, also known as Bob Evans.
According to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, 17-year-old Elizabeth “Liz” Lamotte went missing on Nov. 22, 1984, when she left the Youth Development Center on a furlough to Gill Stadium and never returned.
Her case was discharged from YDC on July 27, 1985, on what would have been her 18th birthday, even though she had still not returned to the facility.
The partially decomposed body of a young female was found on April 14, 1985, along Interstate 81 in Greene County, Tennessee, officials said.
"That would have been about six months after (Lamotte) was last seen in Manchester, New Hampshire, so I'm sure the family has had questions all these years about what they could've done, what could be done to help find her, and now they know it wasn't long after she went missing that she was killed," Senior Assistant Attorney General Susan Morrell said.
Investigators said the death was ruled a homicide and that an autopsy revealed that she died of blunt force trauma to the head about two to three weeks before her body was discovered.
Tennessee officials were unable to determine the identity of the victim, and she was listed as a Jane Doe.
Investigators submitted a sample of the victim's remains to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification in 2006, allowing the center to develop a DNA profile for the victim, which was entered into the Combined DNA Index System.
On Tuesday, investigators confirmed that Lamotte was a match to the homicide victim’s DNA profile
Lamotte was not reported as missing to Manchester police until 2017, after a January 2017 press conference held by the Attorney General's Office, the New Hampshire State Police Cold Case Unit and the Manchester Police Department regarding the
Allenstown unidentified persons cases.
(more at link)
Remains of teen missing from Manchester since 1984 identified because of Bob Evans case
Elizabeth Lamotte case here on WS -
NH - NH - Elizabeth Lamotte, 16, Manchester, 6 April 1984