CAMPBELL COUNTY – The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has partnered with sociology students at Elizabethton High School to raise awareness about a cold case out of Campbell County.

It’s been forty years since the skeletal remains of a young girl were found in a remote part of the Elk Valley community of Campbell County. At the time, investigators weren’t able to determine her identity, and she became affectionately known as ‘Baby Girl.’

In 2022, through the use of forensic genetic genealogy testing, TBI agents positively identified ‘Baby Girl’ as Tracy Sue Walker from Lafayette, Indiana. She was reported missing in 1978, at the age of 15. Her parents were no longer living, so agents reached out to her brother to share what they had confirmed.  

“When Brandon called me with that information a couple of years ago, it was the happiest day of my life,” said Randy Walker. “I never did forget about her. It was so hard not knowing.”

It’s a case that sociology students at Elizabethton High School (EHS) have extensively researched as part of a class project, and one they are determined to help solve.

“When my classmates and I think about Tracy, we think about how scared she must have been,” said Elizabethton High School Student Shelby Edmonds. “She was just a girl like me. She had a whole life ahead of her — dreams, hopes, maybe siblings like we have — and that was all taken away. She didn’t deserve what happened to her.”

TBI agents investigating the case believe someone in Campbell County holds the key to determining who is responsible for Tracy Sue’s death. In an effort to develop new leads, students are working with the TBI to help raise awareness about the case and to ensure everyone in Campbell County and surrounding areas hears Tracy’s story.

“In cold case homicides, we often find that relationships and relationship changes are the key to solving a case,” said TBI Special Agent Brandon Elkins.  “I believe those types of changes may now make it possible for people in this community to speak up and give us the clues we need in Tracy’s case. Someone out there is Tracy’s hero, and I just hope they have the courage to come forward.”

In addition to designing yard signs, handing out flyers, and creating postcards to direct mail to residents in Campbell County, students also designed and worked with a business in Elizabethton to have a car wrapped with Tracy’s photo. The idea is to get residents to scan the QR code or visit the website displayed on the vehicle.

“We hope that by sharing her story now, someone who knows something will come forward,” said EHS Student Andrew Barnett. “There are still people out there — even in Campbell County — who haven’t heard her name or what happened. We want to change that. We want her story to be heard everywhere, in hopes that someone will come forward with the information the TBI needs to help solve this case.”

Investigators know that in the last week of July 1978, Tracy Sue Walker was abducted from the Tippecanoe Mall in Lafayette, Indiana. Her night began in the early evening when she was dropped off with a friend at McDonald’s and ended outside JCPenney, where she was last seen getting into a car with a group of older men. These men are believed to have been temporarily working in the area. After they abducted Tracy in Indiana, they left the state with her. She later ended up in the Elk Valley, TN area, where she was murdered. Facts of Tracy’s abduction and work by investigators have led agents to believe that this group of men may have been well organized, and that Tracy might not have been their only victim. Investigators are hoping anyone who has information or may have encountered this group of men in and around this time period will come forward.

Last week, in response to a request from 8th Judicial District Attorney Jared Effler, Governor Bill Lee issued a reward of $10,000 for information leading to the apprehension, arrest, and conviction of the person or persons responsible for killing Tracy Sue Walker.

“We are determined to bring justice to Tracy Sue’s case,” said District Attorney General Jared Effler. “Through the vital efforts and commitment of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, it is our sincere hope that someone, somewhere, holds the crucial piece of information to bring her killer to justice.”

To learn more about Tracy Sue Walker’s case, visit Justice4TracySue.com. Anyone with information or knowledge about individuals Tracy may have been with before her death is asked to call 1-800-TBI-FIND.