A couple of years ago, Laurel Nowell a high school friend of Tammy Jo Alexander decided to look her up and see how she was doing. She could not find information on her friend and finally called the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office to report her as missing on August 14th, 2014. According to the Sheriff’s Office, Nowell said Alexander, who attended Hernando High School, went missing sometime between 1977 and 1979. The Sheriff’s office followed up with Tammy Jo’s family and was able to determine that while there was no missing persons report filed, she had gone missing sometime between between 1977 and 1979.
On January 7th 2015, the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office was notified that a previously unidentified female found murdered in Livingston County, New York had been matched to Alexander. The unidentified female had been found in a cornfield on November 10th 1979 and was matched to Tammy Jo via mitochondrial DNA.
Tammy Jo worked at her parents restaurant, the L&M Truck Stop, during the time of her disappearance and is said to have had a history of running away. A friend reported that she and Tammy Jo had once traveled to California by riding with truckers.
Tammy Jo’s mother was Barbara Alexander Barnes Jenkins and her stepfather was Lloyd C Jenkins. Lloyd was Barbara’s third husband and they married in 1974 in Pasco County.
Lloyd purchased the L&M Truck Stop on January 6, 1964. Eerily, Tammy Jo’s murder was not the only murder linked to the truck stop. A previous wife of Lloyd’s was killed while working at the L&M Truck Stop.
On Friday July 17, 1970 truck driver James H. Dearman entered the truck stop looking for his wife Geraldine, who worked as a waitress there. He was apparently upset about being served with divorce papers earlier in the day. Mr. Dearman told his wife that he wanted to speak with her and she told him that she had to wait on her customers first. During the ensuing argument, it was said that Mr. Dearman turned and shot and killed, for no apparent reason, Sarah Nelson Jenkins, 33 owner of the truck stop. He also shot at a cook, but missed. He then fired back into the restaurant as he left.
Following the shooting Dearman grabbed his wife and forced her into Mrs. Jenkin’s pale blue 1968 Cadillac coupe. He then drove north on 98 and turned on Citrus Way heading toward Lecanto. He then turned around and returned to the truck stop, when he attempted to get out of the car a deputy on the scene fired at him. Mr. Dearman then put a gun to his wife’s head and demanded to see his children.
Hernando County Sheriff Sid L. Lowman and his deputies were joined by Pasco Sheriff Basil Gaines and deputies from Pasco and Citrus. The deputies evacuated the Dearman children and their grandmother from the home in Spring Lake. Other deputies trailed the Cadillac as it traveled around the county at one point stopping at the Tiki Lounge. The deputies were unable to intervene since Mr. Dearman kept the gun trained on his wife.
When Mr. Dearman arrived at his house in Spring Lake his car was encircled by deputies from the three counties. There were negotiations and Mr. Dearman refused to surrender. Finally as Mr. Dearman leaned out of the car while talking to the deputies, Deputy Cliff Batten saw an opportunity to end the standoff and shot Mr. Dearman. Mr. Dearman was pronounced dead less than a half hour later at Lykes Memorial Hospital.
The murder of Tammy Jo Alexander has not been solved. It took over 30 years to identify her as the victim, so the trail has grown cold. The story of the previous murder at the truck stop will hopefully rekindle interest in Tammy Jo’s murder. If you have any information about the murder of Tammy Jo please contact Det. George Loydgren at (352) 754-6830.