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Tammy Sue Rothganger, 15, Disappeared Without a Trace in 1984

Thursday, Nov. 19 2009 @ 11:01AM
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Tammy Sue Rothganger was last seen at her high school.

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Tammy Sue Rothganger, 15, got up and dressed for school as usual on May 16, 1984. The Eldon, Missouri teenager did not have far to go -- Eldon High School was across the street from her home.  Nonetheless, she was last seen at 7:45 that morning getting inside a blue Plymouth in front of the school building.

Frantic with worry when she didn't come home, Tammy's family notified police that afternoon. An inquiry determined that she never attended classes that day, and she has never been seen or heard from again...


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Age progression photo shows how Tammy might look today at age 41.

When Tammy was last seen, she was about 5-feet 7-inches in height, and weighed about 135-140 pounds.  She had sandy blonde to brown hair, brown eyes, and a tattoo of the letter "R" on her left arm. She also had a scar on her left arm, and was described as having several moles on her cheeks and chin.​

During the investigation, detectives learned that Tammy's mother was dating Martin Priest, who lived with the family in 1984.  Priest, called Marty by most who knew him, had quite a history with law enforcement -- one that he was still creating, even after Tammy disappeared.

Priest, it turned out, had been sentenced in 1980 to 25 years in prison for second-degree murder in the death of a 13-year-old girl whose mother he was dating, but was released three years later when the verdict was overturned on appeal.

After Tammy disappeared, Priest was suspected of being involved in a double homicide in Kansas on Christmas Day 1984. He was acquitted of one of the killings but convicted of the other and sentenced to life in prison.

In 1987, while in prison, Priest was charged with murder and aggravated robbery in connection with the shooting death of a 15-year-old girl, also in 1984, whose body was not found until four months after her death.  A jury, however, acquitted Priest of the girl's murder.

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Martin Priest, prime suspect in Tammy Rothganger's disappearance.

According to former Eldon Police Chief Bob Hurtubise, Martin Priest was the last person to see Tammy alive. Priest told investigators during prison interviews that when he saw that Tammy had not gone into the school building, he pulled his car up next to the sidewalk and asked her where she was going.

"He told us he was going to take her to Rock Island Park, that that's where she was going," Hurtubise said recently.

When investigators checked with Tammy's friends at school, they determined that none of them had made any plans to skip school with Tammy to go to Rock Island Park, a populuar teen hangout, or anywhere else that day.

Eldon investigators have interviewed Priest several times in prison over the years, and even offered him a deal in which he would not be prosecuted in Tammy's case if he provided them with enough information to help them close the case, but Priest won't talk. Although foul play is suspected, Tammy's body has not been found and her case remains on the books as unsolved. As a result, despite his criminal history and the fact that he is the prime suspect in Tammy's disappearance, Priest has never been charged with anything pertaining to her case.

If anyone has any information about Tammy Rothganger's disappearance, please call the Eldon Police Department at (573) 392-5611.


Tags: Kansas, Missouri