Every Town - America’s Highway Horror: The Redhead Murders

Episode Date: May 16, 2025

Today we’re diving into the perplexing cases that are collectively known as the Redhead Murders. A case that has spanned decades, had multiple suspects yet still no ones been linked to everything, which is why you have never heard about them. 👀 Watch This Episode On Youtube: https://youtu.be/H6k-0pZpNXg 👁 Check out our movie AN ANGRY BOY for FREE! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvtlOlODQ8g&t=5238s https://tubitv.com/movies/100029672/an-angry-boy International & Other Ways To Watch: https://www.anangryboy.com/ 💀 MERCH: https://scary-mysteries.teemill.com/ 💀 Free 7 Day Trail on Exclusive Episodes, Podcasts & Perks! https://www.patreon.com/scarymysteries   🎧 Our Other Podcast Scary Mysteries: https://open.spotify.com/show/3ZooEZMoZ421WdsOVJhVkT 👁 X: https://x.com/ScaryMysteries1 👁Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrew.fitzg 👁 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@andrewfitzgerald 👁Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scarymysteriesofficial 👁 X: https://x.com/ScaryMysteries1   🗣 Business Inquiries, questions and comments hit us up at [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you ready to dive into the unknown? Join me, Peyton Moreland, on Into the Dark, the true crime podcast from Ono Media with a hint of horror and mystery. Each week, I dive into a different case, breaking down the facts, and pondering the age-old question, why do people do what they do? Now, sometimes the answer isn't so clear, and that's why I'll also explore conspiracy theories, hauntings, and all things spooky. From the Green River Killer to the Mothman incident, we will unravel all of the questions that keep us up at night. So don't miss out. Subscribe now on your favorite podcast platform.

New episodes drop every Wednesday. Into the dark, where true crime meets the eerie unknown. Every town has a dark side. The bodies of multiple women with red or reddish-brown hair were found discarded along interstates in the mid-80s. Many of them in Tennessee, including one in Cheatham County. The so-called redhead murders remain a mystery,

as does their killer or killers. Some Tennessee high school students believe a serial killer is responsible for the redhead murders. Bodies of several women found in the mid-80s, including one in Cheatham County. Half a dozen red-headed women dumped along the sides of interstates across the country in the 1980s.

On the surface, the highways of the American South and Midwest look like any other stretch of road in the country. long, desolate, and pretty quiet at night. He wouldn't think much about them if you drive across them, though you should. Because for nearly a decade, these roads were some psycho-killer's hunting grounds. It might have been one person, or maybe a few, and we'll get into that later. But whoever this was, they were very active between the late 1970s and 80s.

And it was here along the asphalt that a series of brutal and mysterious murders took place, all with an eerie connection. And the victims were women, their bodies discarded along highways, and each and every one of them had reddish-colored hair. Appropriately dubbed as the Red Head Murders, and the string of killings has left investigators searching for answers for nearly 50 years. Who was responsible, and why were these women targeted? Most disturbingly, how many victims are there really?

Hey, hey guys, it's Andrew. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Everytown. But today we're diving into the perplexing cases that are collectively known as the Redhead Murders, a case that has spanned decades and has multiple suspects, yet still no one's been linked to everything, which is in part why you may have never heard about them. And so let's head on over to a couple of states together now

and see if we can find out what the real story is behind the Redhead killings. In driving along America's highways, it's not uncommon to come across white crosses placed on the side of roads. These are memorials put in the final resting place of a loved one, who most commonly died out there in a traffic accident. However, in six locations along various interstates, and there is an entirely different set of crosses along the road. One's in Arkansas, three are in Tennessee. There's one in Kentucky and one in West Virginia. These crosses are red, and they aren't placed there for victims of traffic accidents.

These six people suffered a much darker fate, and they were all murdered. While the victims vary in age, height, and appearance, there are some similarities that connect them. Most notably, each victim has red hair. And so then, how did this all come to be? On September 16th of 1984, the body of a young female was found by a hitchhiker, near the exit ramp of Interstate 40, near West Memphis, Tennessee, though, in Arkansas. Her body had been severely brutalized, and when she was found, she was wearing only the remains of a knit top. The autopsy later confirmed her cause of death. It was strangulation.

For nine long months, she was a Jane Doe, and then in June of 1985, fingerprint analysis, finally gave her a name, 28-year-old Lisa Nichols. Unfortunately, Lisa was estranged from her family for some time before her murder, and not a lot of information is known about her. And what we do know, though, is that Lisa was a local transient lady of the night, and commonly known to those in the streets as baby doll. After Lisa's identification, investigators struggled to locate her family, and they knew she had siblings somewhere in West Virginia, where she was originally from. When they finally notified her brothers, well, neither of them. even bothered to come and claim her body. And seeking answer as investigators,

reached out to Lisa's pimp. And he said that just four days before her body was found, he had last seen her climbing into a semi-truck outside a truck stop in Cheryl Arkansas. And the autopsy suggested she had been murdered within 24 hours of that encounter. And by the time Lisa was identified, investigators had already begun to suspect a serial killer

actually might be working in the area. And that's because, in the nine months that Lisa remained nameless. At least eight other women had been found murdered under eerily similar circumstances. One detail stood out among the mall. I like Lisa,

every single one of the victims had red hair. You know when a new shirt just instantly becomes your favorite? That's exactly what happened when I picked up a few pieces from Quince. I grabbed their organic cotton-soaked polo and a pair of European linen beach shorts and I'm telling you,

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the body of Tina Farmer was discovered bound and wrapped in a blanket at the bottom of an embankment on the south side of Interstate 75 in Jellico, Tennessee. She was found fully clothed, but was in an advanced state of decomposition. It was believed she had also been murdered by strangulation, with her body having been dumped just 72 hours before it was found. And Tina, though, remained unidentified for decades after her body was discovered, and her case was eventually cracked through a blog post in 2018 of all things. A Tennessee Bureau of Investigation came across a blog focused on cases of missing persons,

one of which was Tina Farmers. In it, the description of Tina matched that of the description of the unidentified woman found in Campbell County. An intelligence analyst was able to track down a fingerprint card from the early 1980s, which was then compared to the post-mortem prince of the Campbell County Jane Doe. And to their surprise, it was a match. And Tina Farmer, who was just 21 years old at the time of her death, was finally identified. And Tina was originally from Indiana, and at last been seen in Indianapolis with a trucker. Her family had reported her missing, but at the time, Indiana had no law requiring unidentified bodies or missing persons to be entered into a national database.

base, which is in part why she remained unidentified for so long. With renewed interest in Tina's case, now that they had a name, though, DNA testing was further conducted on her clothes, the blanket, and other evidence found at the crime scene. And there they found a man's DNA in 2019, a guy named Jerry John, who just so happened to be a trucker from Cleveland, Tennessee. As it turns out, Johns had been arrested just two months after Tina's body was found, and it was for a pretty bad reason. See, in Knoxville, a red-headed woman named Linda Shack, had been left for dead in a storm drain under Interstate 14 near Watch Road, and she had been strangled with a piece of cloth torn

from her own t-shirt, and then bound and dumped, miraculously, though, she survived. When she recovered, Linda quickly led investigators two Johns. She said the two had met at the catch-one club where Linda was. worked. After that, they went back to his hotel room, and Johns pulled a gun on her. The crime rolled out from there. He was tracked down and arrested, and as you can imagine, the authorities had some questions for him. Thinking he could most definitely be a serial killing truck driver, they asked about 20 other unsolved murders that happened all across the Bible Belt, and Johns seemed to take pleasure in being considered a serial killer. In an interview from his

prison, Sally said, apparently I fit the mold of what they're looking for. You can't blame them. They've got a lot of unsolved cases all over the country. But they can try all they want. It won't work. I didn't do it. But he definitely did do it to Linda and Tina,

though they wouldn't know that for sure until decades later. So what else had he really done? Sort of, unfortunately. John's died in prison in December of 2015, so there was no getting to rest. answers from him after that. But detectives could go back on older cases and see

what dots they could connect. Back in March of 1985, the remains of a red-haired female were found along I-24 westbound and Pleasant View in Cheatham County. Her body was there for a while until a driver stuck on the side of the road

discovered her. A couple had pulled over because their radiator overheated. They needed water to cool it down, so they ventured into the woods right there on the side of the road looking for a stream or some water. Instead, though, they stumbled upon the skeletal remains of a human being. It was estimated that the victim had died somewhere around three to five months earlier. The exact cause of death could not be determined, but one detail stood out,

and this was yet another red-haired woman. And the victim was fully clothed, and the investigators noted another significant detail. a piece of cloth was tied around her neck in a knot, strikingly similar to the one used in Linda Shack's case. This, of course, raised the likelihood of a connection to suspected serial killer Jerry Johns. But once again, the investigation at the time was hampered because for 38 years, this victim remained unidentified.

In July of 2023, though, investigators finally confirmed her identity his 23-year-old Michelle Inman, a Nashville Tennessee native. Michelle's brother told authorities that he hadn't heard from her more than 40 years. Investigators determined that her last known contact was in December of 84, and her remains were discovered in late March, aligning with the estimated time frame of her death. And then the very next day, on the 1st of April, yet another body was discovered.

And this time the discovery took place in gray Tennessee, along Route 25. And the victim, long known only as Kentucky Jane Doe, was finally identified in 2018 as SB Pilgrim of North Carolina. Now her story was unique, in the sense that she was found nude and inside a large white admiral refrigerator. Her cause of death was determined to be suffocation, but intriguingly the coroner found no marks on her body, so no signs of strangulation or asphyxiation, but she too had red hair. What many believed might have happened in this case was that S.B. had actually escaped her attacker, fleeing off into the woods, unclothed, before coming

across the abandoned refrigerator. She then jumped inside to hide, only she may have become trapped, which ultimately led to her suffocation. So, from one terrible situation to another. This theory remains unproven, as the coroner at the time didn't conduct tests. and the refrigerator's seal to determine whether it was air-tight enough to cause suffocation. Still, though, a clear male footprint was found close to the scene, and possibly, and likely, belonging to her attacker. And maybe he put her in there, or found her, and then just waited it out until she slowly faded

away. S.B., as it turns out, may have last been seen using a CB radio to solicit a ride from North Carolina. She had five children. The youngest, Elizabeth, was just six years old when her mother disappeared. Decades later, it was through these children that Espy was finally identified. And then just two days after Espy's discovery, on April 3rd, yet another set of remains was found. This time by a hunter, about 200 yards off Big Wheel Gap Road in Jellico, Tennessee. Now, notably, this was the same area where Tina Farmer had been discovered just

four months earlier. Unlike previous cases, only partial remains were recovered, a skull and 32 bones in total. Due to the level of decomposition, the victim's hair color was unknown at the time. The medical examiner estimated her age to be between nine and 15 years old, much younger than the other victims. Because of her age, she was given the nickname Baby Girl. Forensic analysis suggested that she likely was an original. from Tennessee and may have come from the Midwest. This was confirmed in August of 2022 when authorities were finally able to identify her as 15-year-old Tracy Walker from Indiana.

And Tracy had disappeared in 1978. Her mother reported her as a runaway and so likely she was hitching rides trying to get to wherever she was going. It's very possible she had been dead for around six years by the time she was found. But interestingly, it was only after. her identification that it was confirmed she had red hair, officially making her a possible victim of the redhead killer. And so far, these five women, Lisa, Tina, Tracy, Michelle, and Espy are all considered linked to the redhead murders, believed to be victims of the same unidentified serial killer.

However, there are several more potential victims with similarities that are pretty hard to ignore. On May 25th of 1981, the body of Karen Nippers was discovered off Highway M.M. near Dixon, Missouri. Her cause of death was determined to be strangulation, with a pair of panty hose found tied around her neck. Her clothing appeared to have been hastily put back on, and her jean pockets were pulled out, suggesting someone had deliberately emptied them. She was also a redhead. On the 13th of February of 1983, an elderly couple discovered, would appear to be a mannequin lying off the side of the road along Route 250 near Littleton, West Virginia, an area known for illegal trash disposal.

In curious, they stopped their vehicle for a closer look, only to discover it was the naked body of a woman. Now, this victim, who became known as the Wetzel County Jane Doe, was believed to be between 35 and 45 years old, standing about 5'5 foot 6, and weighing around 135 pounds. And she had reddish, auburn hair, and had been dead for about two days before being found. And snow had actually covered the ground, but not the body. And footprints were visible in the frost, suggesting she had been killed elsewhere and dumped just before the couple discovered her. Although the exact cause of death could not be determined, and strangulation was ruled out due to the absence of bruising or ligature marks on her neck, suffocation could not be excluded.

A year later, another woman was found along Highway 78 in Olive Branch, Mississippi. Still unidentified to this day, she is known as the De Soto County Jane Doe. She was a white female, estimated a be between 20 and 35 years old, and she had red or strawberry blonde hair. Her cause of death was confirmed as asphyxiation by ligature strangulation, and her death was ruled a homicide. The FBI issued a request for information asking the public if they knew of a woman matching Jane Doe's description who went missing after New Year's Day in 85. Unfortunately, nobody did, though. And the list goes on. An ex-potential victim was discovered on March 29th of 85, placing her within the peak period of the confirmed redhead murders. And 27-year-old Priscilla Blevins, skeletal remains were found along Interstate 40 and Wayne.

New Bainesville, North Carolina. Authorities have never confirmed her cause of death, but she did have reddish hair. On April 20th of 85, the skeletal remains of another red-headed woman were found in Ritzville, Arkansas. As she remains unidentified to this day, what was estimated to be about 30 to 40 years old, and was found a quarter of a mile south of Rivel Park Road near the Arkansas River, not next to the interstate. Her connection to the Redhead murders is based on her red hair, though there is little other evidence to link her definitively to the case. In late 1988, the body of Stacey Chorrie was found on the east side of northbound Interstate 59 near Rising Fong in Dade County, Georgia. Now, Stacy had been strangled, and she was reported missing by her mother in January of 1989, just four months after losing contact with her family.

However, it wasn't until March of 2022 that her body was identified with the help of DNA testing. And Stacey had told her family that she was planning a hitchhike from North Carolina, where she had been staying back home to Michigan. However, Stacey never made it there, and she instead ended up in Georgia where she encountered her killer. In September of 2022, her killer was definitively identified as a man named Henry Frederick Wise. Now, he was a truck driver from Western Carolina Trucking Company. Investigators managed to find DNA from an unknown male, which they suspected belong to Stacy's killer. Once her identity was confirmed, their next task was identifying him.

At the time of Stacy's murder, Wise was 34 years old. However, he died in 1999 in a car accident at the Myrtle Beach Speedway in South Carolina, where he burned to death. As a result, there will be no trouble. trial, so he'll just remain the prime suspect officially. Wise had a long criminal history in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina, with charges ranging from theft to assault and obstruction of a police officer. Although investigators couldn't link him to any other of the Redhead cases directly, it's worth noting that his trucking route did take him along several interstates where Redhead

murder victims were later found. And so could Wides have been responding to him. for more of the murders. Well, it's certainly possible. Maybe two guys who liked killing also just liked redheads. Outside of Wise Ann John's, only one other suspect has ever been mentioned. He was a 32-year-old trucker from Pennsylvania, who remains unnamed. He was questioned after kidnapping and assaulting a young woman in Indiana. However, he was eventually cleared after being questioned by the Tennessee police. first group of Elizabethton high school students, under the guidance of their teacher,

developed a profile of a serial killer who could be responsible. In September, more students joined in. An Elizabethan high school teacher and his students could be on to a major break in this case. The bodies of multiple women with red hair were found discarded along interstates back in the mid-80s. In 2018, an interesting high school project came up for some students in Tennessee. They analyzed the behavior of the red-head killer or killers for an entire semester, and they may have actually cracked the case. Using criminal investigation techniques in the Doe Network website, these students were able to establish a potential connection between several of the victims.

Although these connections were discussed for years, solid evidence had been lacking, and it was mostly seen as speculation. The student's findings, on the other hand, were so impressive that an FBI, profiler even validated them, and they were invited to present their findings to special agents at the FBI's Knoxville Bureau. The students presented their findings to FBI behavioral analysis and other criminal justice experts who all agreed the suspect fit the profile of the other killings. The students speculated that six victims, including Lisa Nichols, Wetzel County Jane Doe,

Tina Farmer, Michelle Inman, and SB Pilgrim were like. all killed by the same person. The knots and the ligatures were definitely a big breakthrough because we were able to tie the knots in the Tina Farmer case to newly identified victims. It was really inspiring to be like, oh my gosh, like we're doing this. Like this is real, this is a real case. Like it really clicked then, like, I'm doing work to help people.

The student's profile suggested that killer was a male born between 1936 and 1962, a likely between 59,000. and 62 years old at the time of the murders. They theorized that he was a truck driver who lived in or near the Knoxville area and frequented the I-40, I-75, and I-81 quarters. They also speculated that he had an above-average IQ was right-handed and came from an unstable home

and was likely a mission-oriented killer. Someone who believed they had a divine purpose in eliminating certain groups of people, like young women or apparently redheads. And the students believe the killer likely stopped his killing spree because he stopped driving and not because he was actually caught. And while this was just a school project, the FBI found the profile insightful

and raised public awareness of the case. And this actually likely contributed to the eventual identification to some of those Jane Doe's, which is a very positive thing. In the end, it's clearly hard to say for sure who was responsible for killing whom when it comes to this whole case. There's a lot of victims here, so if it was the work of one person, then they were extremely prolific. And the biggest issue with this case is twofold.

One, the murders happen around 40 years ago. The longer a case sits cold on a shelf, the harder it is to warm it back up again. And two, a lot of these women were from the lower rungs of society, so to speak. And that's a tale as old as time. The more important you are, whether that celebrity status or just having money, well, the more the system works to solve your case. An upstanding citizen's life is more of an injustice somehow when it's lost and deserves more scrutiny, I guess. If you come from a broken family and spend time hitchhiking or performing naughty acts for money,

oh well, it's too bad you're gone, but how much effort is a detective or the DA going to put into your case when you're dead, when no one seemed to even care about you when you were alive. And that's, unfortunately, how our society is set up at the moment. And make no mistake about it, real criminals, the ones who get away with murder, know just this. It's a big part of how they choose their victims. They want to get away with it, so they can do it over and over again. The best chance of achieving that is picking out individuals that no one's going to kick up much fuss about. And so the next time you head on down the highway and you see a red cross off the side of the road.

Just remember that. That's going to do it for this week's episode of Everytown. Hope you all enjoyed it. And if you like this kind of work, we do and you want more, check out some of the links down in the description. The more podcasts and videos from us to go through is merch and our movie and Angry Boy is also available. I appreciate you all very much, so thanks for tuning in. remember to come back next week for another episode of Every Town

filled with scary, strange, and mysterious stories. Because you never know. Maybe your town will be next.