CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – A teenager whose skeletal remains were found in the early 1980s in Cheatham County has finally been identified, and it’s a girl who apparently disappeared from Clarksville and Cunningham: Linda Sue Karnes.
Special agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation are now asking for the public’s help to determine who killed her.
Body found in landfill
On Oct. 21, 1981, skeletal remains were discovered at what was then the county’s old landfill, on Highway 249 in Ashland City, according to a TBI news release Wednesday afternoon.
TBI agents worked alongside the Cheatham County Sheriff’s Office to investigating the death. Forensic anthropologists at the University of Tennessee determined that the skeletal remains were those of a young, white female, originally estimated to be between 14 and 17 years old. According to the UT Anthropology Department, the girl was estimated to have been deceased for three to nine months. After exhausting all leads, investigators could not determine the victim’s identity, and she was classified as a Jane Doe, the TBI said.
NEWS ALERTS: To get free breaking news alerts on your phone, text the word NEWS to 43414.
It would be many years later before DNA technology would catch up and aid in providing information in this case.
In 2007, the UT Forensic Anthropology Center submitted a sample of the woman’s remains to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification (UNTCHI). A DNA profile was developed and entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) and the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System in hopes that the girl would eventually be identified.
New attempt with DNA matching
In December 2022, as part of the Unidentified Human Remains DNA Initiative, TBI agents submitted a sample of the girl’s remains to Othram Inc., a private lab based in Texas, for forensic genetic genealogical DNA testing. Scientists provided information about possible relatives connected to the girl. A TBI intelligence analyst used that information to locate potential family members in Middle Tennessee and Florida. Agents made contact with several of those family members and confirmed they had a family member they had not heard from in more than four decades. Agents were able to obtain a DNA standard from family members to be compared against the victim’s DNA.
NEWS TIPS: Do you have a local news tip? Email news@clarksvillenow.com or call us at 931-648-7720.
This month, Othram positively identified the woman as Linda Sue Karnes, born Aug. 10, 1965. Linda was originally from Cleveland, Ohio, but grew up in Cunningham. Prior to her death, she spent time in the Montgomery County Girls Home in Clarksville. She would have been 15 or 16 years old when she was killed.
TBI special agents are hoping the public can help provide information that may help solve her murder. If you have information about this homicide, specifically any knowledge about individuals Linda may have been with before her death, please call 1-800-TBI-FIND.
Correction: The sample was given to Othram in December 2022. The article has been updated.
