A man was arrested in Albany, Georgia, in connection to a 33-year-old murder case in Illinois.
WALB out of Albany reported Jessie Smith, 64, was taken into custody by Worth County deputies who tracked him to that city, according to Chief Deputy Raymond Drennon with the Worth County Sheriff’s Office.
Drennon said Smith, who is from Mississippi, was tracked by authorities to Georgia due to new evidence in the case.
The case is a murder investigation of 19-year-old Tammy Tracey.
Tracey, a dental assistant, disappeared from Rockford, Illinois, on May 27, 1987.
WTVO out of Rockford reported her remains were found over a year later on April 15, 1988, in the Sugar River Forest Preserve. Police said she was shot and stabbed.
Authorities looked for her killer for weeks, then months and years.
According to the Rockford station, Tracey’s family put up billboards in the area as of May 2020 in an effort to find new information in the case.
Stateline authorities searching for her killer but weeks turned into months, which turned into decades.
The Tracey family put up billboards around Forest City, Illinois, as recently as May 2020, hoping to obtain new information on the crime. At the same time, Tracey’s mother, Linda Tracey, offered a $15,000 reward for any information leading to charges against the person who killed her daughter, according to WIFR out of Rockford.
Winnebago County State’s Attorney Marilyn Hite Ross said Smith was taken into custody in on $5 million bond. He will be brought back to Illinois to face charges, WREX out of Rockford reports.
“The filing of these charges is the culmination of the tenacious efforts of all of the law enforcement agencies who worked on this murder investigation,” Hite Ross said in a statement. “The patience of the Tracey family during this time period is to be commended.”
About the Author
