ALAMANCE COUNTY, N.C. — Alamance County investigators have identified a suspect in a brutal murder that happened more than 40 years ago.
Tammy Sue Aldridge was found murdered on July 3, 1979, near Highway 54. She was 20 years old. Investigators said she went out for a jog near Jim Barnwell Road on June 30 and never came home. Her body was found in the middle of Highway 54 after she was sexually assaulted and strangled.
Investigators said evidence showed that there was a rope around her neck and hands, and her body was still warm. Her shirt and shorts were put on backward.
On Thursday, the Alamance County Sheriff's Office identified a Graham man - Gary Laframboise, who would've been 19-20 at the time - as the person who killed Aldridge. He died in 2020, but the sheriff's office said due to modern-day technology, they were able to match DNA evidence that was found on Aldridge to the suspect.
Laframboise moved from Florida to Alamance County in 1978.
During captivity, she was allowed to call home twice. On the day after, she was kidnapped, and then Monday night, the last time she was able to speak with her family.
A medical examiner ruled her as death by strangulation.
Laframboise lived about 4.5 miles from where Tammy was found in Graham. He was arrested a little more than three months after Tammy was found for something unrelated to this case. He was charged with another kidnapping case and impersonating a police officer.
Sheriff Terry Johnson said that this case was solved years later due to the creation of genealogy.
"Due to the development of modern-day technology relating to DNA, this officer (Detective Dan Denton) was able to take a sperm-mitosis sample, found on Tammy Sue Aldridge, and able to submit it for further investigation," Sheriff Johnson explained.
Detective Dan Denton explained, "finding his name, that is the biggest thing. Once you get a name, once you get a lead, once you get something to go on, that’s kind of what drives you to keep digging and digging to learn as much as you can about this person."
Officers can't confirm if he acted alone in this case. Tammy's family believes there was another person involved in her death.
They spoke highly of her and said she was a straight-A student at East Carolina University.
"She loves flowers and old people," her family said. "She wanted to work with old people."
The family said they are just glad that this case is closed but they still have a lot of questions.
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