North Carolina authorities have announced that they have successfully solved the cold case of a former East Carolina University student who was kidnapped and tragically murdered almost 45 years ago.
During a press conference held on Thursday, the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office identified Gary Lane Laframboise as the person accountable for the tragic death of Tammy Sue Aldridge in 1979. It is important to note that Laframboise passed away in 2020.
On June 30, 1979, authorities reported Aldridge, 20, missing after she failed to return home from a jog. Investigators found her body in the middle of a roadway in Graham, North Carolina, three days after her disappearance. Investigators discovered evidence of rope tying her ankles and binding her neck and hands.
At the press briefing, Sheriff Terry Johnson stated that her body was still warm when discovered. According to Johnson, the victim’s garments were put on backward, indicating that she was dressed after her death.
He also claimed that Aldridge suffered sexual abuse while still alive, and medical examiners concluded that strangulation was the cause of her death.
During her captivity, Aldridge had two opportunities to communicate with her family. Those were the last times her family heard from her.
Aldridge called “to let her family know she was OK and that she would hopefully be coming home,” according to investigator Dan Denton.
The identification of Laframboise comes after a different man was charged with Aldridge’s disappearance but found not guilty, leaving the case unresolved.
Officers reopened the case in 2020 after receiving a DNA sample from a family member of a person of interest, which helped them identify Laframboise as a suspect, according to Johnson.
Laframboise, who lived about 4 1/2 miles from the site of Aldridge’s body recovery, would have been 19 or 20 at the time of the murder.
Johnson claims that three months after Aldridge went missing, they captured Laframboise in an unrelated kidnapping. He pleaded guilty in that case and served a prison sentence from 1980 to 1982.
Aldridge’s family members are relieved that the case has been closed, but they still have lingering questions, as reported by local CBS affiliate WFMY. They fondly remember her as a dedicated student who excelled academically, with aspirations of working with the elderly.
