Decades have passed since a terrifying series of murders, infamously known as the “Redhead Murders,” gripped the nation. Yet, frustratingly, many of these chilling cases remain unresolved.
This string of crimes is thought to be linked as the victims, all women found near major U.S. highways, shared a common characteristic: their reddish or strawberry blonde hair. Now, the cases are back in the spotlight thanks to a group of Tennessee high school students who have taken on the challenge of solving these mysteries as part of a class project.
Their determined quest is the focus of Prime Video’s gripping docuseries, Murder 101. The series provides an in-depth look at the considerable hurdles investigators have faced while trying to unravel these cases that are still shrouded in mystery decades later.
Here’s a comprehensive overview of the Redhead Murders and the current state of these investigations:
What Are the Redhead Murders?
The Redhead Murders refer to a series of homicides that occurred during the late 1970s and 1980s. In numerous instances, according to Knox News, young women were strangled, with their bodies discovered along highways and interstates across Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi, and West Virginia. The fact that many victims shared a striking feature—reddish or strawberry blonde hair—led authorities to speculate that a transient serial killer might have been targeting them.
“The speculation came that there could be a truck stop connection to it, or a truck driver,” then deputy-director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Steve Watson told the outlet. “But without any identification (of the victims), you couldn’t put them anywhere.”
In April 1985, law enforcement officers from five different states joined together to create a special task force to examine the murders, yet most of the victims were unidentifiable, making any investigation a challenge.
For years, the murders remained unsolved.
Who Is Jerry Johns and How Is He Connected to the Redhead Murders?
In 2019, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) announced it had tied one of the murders to convicted felon Jerry Johns.
The remains of Tina Marie McKenney Farmer were found along Interstate 75 in Campbell County, Tennessee on Jan. 1, 1985, according to the TBI, but for years she was considered a Jane Doe.
In November of 2016—with Farmer’s identity still unknown—TBI Special Agent Brandon Elkins resubmitted the victim’s clothing and a blanket used to wrap her body for DNA testing, the TBI said. They discovered semen on the items matched Johns, who died in prison in 2015 while serving time for another violent assault.
In that case, Linda Schacke—a young dancer with red hair—had been propositioned by Johns at a Knox County club, according to A&E. However, Johns drove her to a wooded area near I-40 and strangled her, according to court records obtained by the outlet.
She managed to survive the violent encounter and her testimony helped convict Johns of aggravated kidnapping and assault in 1987, A&E reported.
“The woman resembled Tina Farmer,” the TBI noted in their press release about the case, “and the circumstances in both cases were strikingly similar.”
However, it would be several decades until Johns would be tied to Farmer’s murder. Law enforcement authorities were able to positively identify her in August of 2018 after they noticed her listed on a missing persons blog and, noticing the similarities to the 1985 murder victim, used a fingerprint card from the early 1980s to confirm her identity, the TBI said.
“Once he was identified as the killer, agents began conducting interviews with potential associates of Johns,” TBI spokesperson Leslie Earhart told Oxygen. “The investigative findings were presented to the Campbell County Grand Jury in 2019, which is when we were able to publicly announce the information gathered about Jerry Johns.”
The grand jury concluded that had Johns been alive, he would have been indicted on first-degree murder charges, authorities said.
What Role Have the Elizabethton High School Students Played in the Redhead Murders?
Investigators got some unexpected help in the case from Elizabethton High School students, who began looking into the murders as part of a sociology class in 2018, according to People.
Their teacher Alex Campbell was looking for an innovative way to get the students’ involved.
“I had never heard about the murders even though I’ve lived here my entire life,” he told the outlet. “They had these murders, but nobody had ever come to a consensus whether there was a person responsible for more than one of them, was there a serial killer active?”
Their work—first chronicled in the podcast Murder 101 and now profiled in the Prime Video docuseries of the same name—ultimately helped authorities identify Farmer, People reported.
The students also concluded that there was evidence to suggest the person who killed Farmer could have also been linked to the murders of Lisa Nichols, Michelle Inman, Elizabeth Lamotte, Tracy Walker and an unidentified Jane Doe found in Mississippi’s DeSoto County, People reported in 2024.
When interviewed in connection to Schacke’s case, Johns never admitted to any murders, per A&E.
TBI Says Jerry Johns Has Only Been Linked to One Murder
Earhart told Oxygen that to-date, Farmer is the only victim that has been positively linked to Johns.
“At this time, there is no evidence to indicate that Jerry Johns is responsible for the death of Elizabeth Lamotte,” Earhart said. “Michelle Inman was identified in 2023, so at this stage, agents are still pursuing leads and gathering information about who she may have had contact with before her death.”
Lamotte, then 17, disappeared from her New Hampshire home in November of 1984. Her body was discovered along Interstate 81 in Greene County near Exit 44 in April 1985, according to a statement from the TBI, however, she wouldn’t be positively identified until 2018.
In addition, Inman’s skeletal remains were found in March 1985 along Interstate 24 in Tennessee’s Cheatham County, authorities said.
Earhart added to Oxygen that Walker’s death “is not connected to Jerry Johns.”
Walker was abducted from the Tippecanoe Mall in Lafayette, Indiana after she was last spotted getting into a car with a group of older men. Earhart said it is believed the men took her to Elk Valley, Tenn. 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,” Earhart said. “Investigators are hoping anyone who has information or may have encountered this group of men in and around this time period will come forward.”
In 2022, De Soto County Sheriff’s Department positively identified the remains of a Jane Doe with light red to blonde hair found by a truck driver along Highway 78 in January of 1985 as Lorie Ann Mealer Pennell, according to DNASolves.com.
Her death—which was ruled a homicide—also remains unsolved, according to the news outlet.
Oxygen reached out to the sheriff’s office for additional comment, but did not receive an immediate response.
Nichols, who was also said to have strawberry blonde hair, was discovered strangled to death along Interstate 40 in West Memphis, Arkansas in September 1984, A&E reported. Authorities believe she may have been trying to hitchhike when she disappeared, WBIR reported.
Oxygen reached out to the Crittenden County Sheriff’s Office to learn more about her case, but did not receive an immediate reply.
FBI Launches Highway Serial Killings Initiative
After noticing a large number of murdered women being dumped along highways across the country, the FBI announced in 2009 the Highway Serial Killings initiative to increase awareness among law enforcement officers and the public about the unsolved crimes.
“The victims in these cases are primarily women who are living high-risk, transient lifestyles, often involving substance abuse and prostitution,” they noted at the time. “They’re frequently picked up at truck stops or service stations and sexually assaulted, murdered, and dumped along a highway.”
The FBI said investigation into the crimes could often be difficult because of the mobile nature of the suspects—often believed to be long-haul truck drivers—multiple jurisdictions involved and the scarcity of forensic evidence left behind.
Former FBI Assistant Director Frank Figluizzi told WXIX in 2024 that the initiative remained active as authorities looked for potential patterns among killings.