Tigard Family History & Genealogy

On April 18, 1980, some fishermen were making their way to a favorite fishing hole along the North Canadian River outside of Jones, Oklahoma.
Before casting a line, they would stumble onto what would become one of the most infamous cold case murder mysteries in American history.
The fishermen discovered a young woman who appeared to have been murdered. Her body was coated in a substance called "quicklime," which under normal conditions should have increased the rate of decomposition. In-stead, with the help of the water from the North Canadian River, the lime was a preservative.
Authorities were stumped. The Oklahoma County medical examiner reported the woman had been shot three times with a suspected 45-caliber pistol. Neither the suspect nor the murder weapon have been identified.
The mystery woman would go down in the annals of cold case crime lore as "The Lime Lady."
Fast forward nearly 40 vears and a random DNA test would finally reveal her true identity.

'Gone without a trace'
At the time of her death, Tamara "Tammy' Lee Tigard was not believed to have any living relatives. The 21-year-old had lost both of her parents, and forensic technology in the early
1980's was nowhere near what it is today. Because Tigard's body was so well preserved from the lime, investigators were successful in acquiring a viable DNA sample.
Tigard's disappearance from her Las Vegas home was also puzzling, All authorities could
confirm was that Tigard had left her home for a walk and reportedly wasn't seen again. An estimated 10 days later, the fisherman spotted her body along the bank of the North Canadian River northeast of Oklahoma City. Her arms were stretched above
her head, giving investigators the indication she had been dragged to her final resting place.
Then-Captain Bob Green of the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office told the Associated Press in 2020 that he "always just wanted to bring dignity to the victim in this case. All of these years she has been gone without a trace, with none of her family or acquaintances knowing what happened to her."
At that time, investigators believed Tigard had no living family members. Nor did she have an identity.
For nearly 40 years, she lay in an unmarked grave in an Ed. mond, Oklahoma, cemetery, until a connection was finally made.

'The ties that bind'
In 2019, Kylie Tigard was attempting to build a family genealogy chart for her niece, Cierra.
Kylie, her brother Conan and Cierra were believed to be the last three of their Tigard family tree, but Kylie wanted her niece to know more of their family's history.
Kylie Tigard submitted her DNA test to the online registry 23&Me. It would not be long before she received a phone call that would change her world. Little did she realize that a woman missing for 40 years, whose DNA also had been logged in the DNA Doe Project, had similar markers.
The woman who had been missing for 40 years was Kylie Tigard's cousin.
"I'm not sure if it was her first or me first, but about a month later my DNA was flagged," Kylie Tigard said. Open and shut? Not even close.
"We knew she had gone missing, but we were told she was in witness protection," Kylie Tigard said. "At that point, it becomes not missing: "When I got the call from Oklahoma, it was shocking." Kylie Tigard said the call from Oklahoma authorities was, in a sense, both heartbreaking and gratifying.
"She had been unidentified for so long, and just laying (in a grave) with no name," Kylie Tigard said. "I'm so grateful to the people in Oklahoma for stepping in and taking her case, and for the DNA Doe Project for not giving up. "It's hard when people say,
'Oh, you're the Lime Lady's cousin, and that's her name, Kylie Tigard said. "She'll be
known as that forever, but a lot of people worked very hard to give her back her real name."
Her name is Army Specialist Tamara Lee Tigard. She would have been 63 years old this month.

Let's throw a party
The day Tamara Tigard's body was found, April 18, 1980, would have been her 21st birthday. Monday, on her 63rd birthday, she will be laid to rest next to her mother and father, who are both buried at Valley View Cemetery in Sutherlin. She will finally be reunited with them, with her newly-discovered family there to celebrate her return.
All military personnel, both active and retired, are invited to celebrate her life at Valley View Cemetery to "throw a party," for Tamara, Kylie Tigard said.
The Patriot Guard Riders have accepted an invitation to take part in a processional for Tamara Tigard. The service is scheduled for 11 a.m.

By Donovan Brink The Spokesman-Review • Page c4
Thursday, April 14, 2022 Spokane, Washington

Sutherlin, Ore. — It's Monday morning east of Sutherlin, and the wind from the southwest is bearing down, giving advance notice of worse weather to come. Near the top of the hill, several men and women in uniform are gathered, prepared to pay respects to one of their Own.

After nearly 42 years, a U.S. Army specialist finally will get her proper burial.
Close to 100 military veterans and civilians joined remaining family members gathered to remember the life of Tamara "Tammy" Lee Tigard, who was ultimately laid to rest alongside her parents at Valley View Cemetery.

The burial ended at least one part of the story for the woman who for nearly four decades was known simply as "The Lime Lady, on what would have been her 63rd birthday. The memorial came 42 years to the day after the body of Tigard, an apparent murder victim, was discovered along a riverbank east of Jones, Oklahoma.

Tigard is suspected to have been murdered in late March 1980, her body found in a bed of weeds on the banks of the North Canadian River On April 18, 1980 — which would have been Tigard's 21st birthday - of fishermen discovered her body and reported it to authorities.

The body was reportedly heavily coated in a hydrated lime powder. Investigators believe the killer or killers would have likely thought that lime would expedite decomposition. Instead, the body had been preserved, allowing investigators to retrieve evidentiary dots which would take decades to connect.

One of the most puzzling cold cases in Oklahoma history was under way. With no way to identify possible living relatives, detectives in Oklahoma County were unable to establish an identity of the woman they were investigating.

Tigard's remains instead were buried in an unmarked grave in a cemetery in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Her remains would lay there for more than 38 years. No one would know who she was.
In early 2000, a woman from Sisters, Oregon, got a telephone call from someone stating they were from the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office. The caller was looking for Kylie Tigard. The call was left to go to voicemail.

Kylie Tigard and her partner, Lisa Baker, a retired law enforcement officer, were working in the garden outside of their Sisters home at the time of the call. "(Lisa) said to call back on
speaker to see if it was legitimate!" Kylie Tigard said.
'In an unexpected twist of fate, a DNA test Kylie Tigard had submitted in 2019- while
searching her own family tree - matched up with a sample filed with the nonprofit DNA
Doe Project. The potential match turned out to be Kylie's cousin, Tamara "Tammy" Lee Tigard.

After learning Tammy had served in the Army, military dental records were able to confirm her identity. It was then the effort began to get her home. Not to her geographical home of Las Vegas where she was last seen in 1980 — as there was no record of her living in Oregon — but rather back to her parents.

James "Jimmy" Tigard and Patsy Tigard relocated to the Sutherlin/Oakland area in the mid-1980s, although Kylie Tigard couldn't nail down an exact year.

Patty died in 2001 at age 67 and Jimmy followed in 2006 at age 70. Neither would ever know the fate of their missing daughter.

Monday, they welcomed her "home," as Tammy's ashes were buried next to her parents on that grassy hillside east of Sutherlin.

The Tigard family expressed their gratitude to an "unbelievable" number of people who came out to support a veteran they didn't know.

"We're such a small family," said Kylie Tigard, who in an earlier interview mentioned the only known living Tigards were her brother. Conan, and niece Cierra. "To have all these people show up, embracing us... this just opens the door to a new chapter."

The Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office continues to work with the Clark County, Nevada, Sheritf's Office and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department continuing to search for the killer of the woman who no longer shall be known merely as "The Lime Lady."

After 42 years, she has her name. She has her family. And, finally, she has her final resting place.

By DONOVAN BRINK The News-Review, Roseburg, Ore.
The Daily Herald • Page A3 Wednesday, April 20, 2022 Everett, Washington

Sgt. Austen Poland, of the Oregon National Guard, presents an American flag to Kylie Tigard, cousin to Tamera "Tammy" Lee Tigard, during a burial in Sutherlin, Oregon, on Monday. The service with full military honors was the final chapter for the US Army Specialist whose death remained a mystery for more than four decades.

Photo printed along with the Home at Last article in The Daily Herald on Wed, Apr 20, 2022.

Tigard family

Cindy, Tammy, and grandmother

Tigard children and family

Tigard children and their grandmother

Tigard cousins and grandmother (Cindy on right)

Tigard cousins and grandmother (Tammy on right)

Cindy (Left) with sister Tammy and family member

Tigard family (Tammy on far right)

Jimmy Tigard with wife Patsy and their two children

With daughter, Tammy

Cindy

SPC