Saratoga Springs Girl Still Missing 34 years Later

The mystery and uncertainty of what happened to a 13 year old girl 34 years ago continues to cast wonder and questions of what happened to her and where she went on the day she disappeared. Her name is Tammie Anne McCormick. She was last seen hitchhiking on April 29th 1986.

She missed the bus

On the morning of April 29th 1986, Tammie McCormick of 5 Deerlap Place was last seen in her Geyser Crest Neighborhood. She had missed the school bus that morning and she told her sister, Jennifer, that she would hitchhike to school. She was seen doing so during the morning.

All reports indicate that Tammie never showed up for any of her classes and also didn’t return home that night. Her mother, Nancy Hieber, was initially unconcerned by her absence. Tammie was known to stay with friends so she naturally assumed she did this. She would sometimes spend the night with a friend and would call Nancy the next morning to let her know she was alright.

When Tammie didn’t come home two days later and her parents found she hadn’t attended school in those days, Nancy filed a missing persons report with the Saratoga Springs Police Department. No one ever saw or heard from the brown haired teenager again.

Runaway to Florida

It was initially rumored and considered that Tammie had voluntarily run away from her home in New York. Before she went missing, Tammie told numerous school friends that she was going to run off to Florida.
Some reports even state that Tammie was planning on leaving with a friend to go there and that she was actually last seen walking to a friends home later in the day. This is untrue since Tammie never made it to school and was not seen by anyone after morning.

Nancy does not believe her daughter ran away. She noted that Tammie took no additional clothing and was also wearing her most worn pair of jeans and blister prone boots. Investigators also doubt she left. Some news reports say that Tammie ran away when she hitchhiked.

There have been multiple possible sightings of Tammie throughout the United States in the years after she disappeared. Some investigators even traveled to Jacksonville, Florida to interview persons who possibly saw her in the area. None of the sightings were ever confirmed.

Serial killer victim?

Child killer, Lewis Lent, has been investigated for possible involvement in McCormicks case. He was convicted of murdering Massachusetts child, Jimmy Bernardo, a 12 year old boy who was murdered in 1990 and was also charged with killing 12 year old Sara Wood who was abducted and killed in New York in 1993. Her body has never been recovered.

Investigators have attempted to see if Lent could be involved in other cases. He’s a suspect in the 1992 Massachusetts disappearance of 16 year old James Lusher who disappeared while riding his bike to his grandmothers home. Lent has since confessed to the crime and led investigators to a pond where he allegedly disposed of the body. James has not been found.

Lent is also considered a possible suspect in the 1985 New York disappearance of Karen Wilson, the 1986 Maine disappearance of Kimberly Moreau, and the 1990 possible abduction of Monique Santiago who disappeared from New York. Lent is considered an unlikely suspect in Tammie’s disappearance but he has not been ruled out.

Cold case gets a fresh look

In 2011, investigators decided to reopen the decades old case of Tammie and felt she was no longer alive. Now, investigators believe that Tammie was murdered on the day she disappeared. They have also named a person of interest who is believed to be responsible for what happened to her.

The person according to news reports, is a former corrections officer whom Tammie knew before her disappearance. His name was Arthur Mason Slaybaugh II. He had previously served as a mentor to one of Tammie’s friends and she admired him and saw him as a mentor.

Slaybaugh has since passed away. He died of a heart attack in January of 2001. Police indicated he was always a person of interest since the investigation started.

Witnesses who had information came to investigators after Slaybaugh’s death. They said they were too scared to reveal the information while he was alive. Based on the accounts, investigators believe that Tammie was heading for his apartment on Brown’s Beach near Saratoga Lake that morning.

Investigators have conducted several searches for Tammie’s body. They have searched many locations based off of statements given to them by friends of Slaybaugh and a former girlfriend.

The most recent search took place in November of 2017. A field property owned by a relative of Slaybaugh’s was searched but no sign of Tammie was found at the scene.

Hope is endless

Nancy and her loved ones continue to hope that the mystery of her youngest child will one day be solved. Investigators believe that recovering Tammie’s body is the only way the case will be solved. Her father passed away in 2017.

Nancy has since moved away from the area but her siblings still live in the same area she went missing from.

Tammie McCormick

When she disappeared, Tammie was described as a white female with light brown hair and hazel eyes. She had a homemade tattoo with her initials “T.A.M” on her upper left arm. Her ears are pierced and she was last known to be wearing A denim jacket, a yellow striped shirt, worn black corduroy pants and beige boots. Tammie was also carrying a shoulder bag that morning.
If alive today, Tammie would be 47 years old. Anyone having information about the disappearance of Tammie Anne McCormick is urged to call the Saratoga Springs Police Department at 518-584-1800.

For more information about Tammie and other missing persons, visit the Charley Project, the Doe Network, NamUs, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.