Tammy was last seen at Eldon High School at approximately 7:45 a.m. on May 16, 1984. The school is just across the street from her home in Eldon, Missouri. Her mother's live-in boyfriend, Martin Dean "Marty" Priest, said she didn't go inside the building and he pulled up on the curb to find out where she was going. Tammy supposedly told him she was going to skip school and meet friends at Rock Island Park, and Priest said he offered to take her there. She was last seen getting into a blue Plymouth outside the school. Tammy never attended classes that day and has never been heard from again. Tammy has a tattoo of the letter "R" on her left arm, and also a scar on her left arm.