2 Tennessee high school students are reviewing cold case killings

ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. — In addition to the usual English, math and science classes at Elizabethton High School, some students have worked hard at solving a cold case that is older than their parents.

Elizabethton students in Alex Campbell’s sociology class began reviewing a series of unsolved murders in the spring of 2018, referred to as the Redhead Murders because the victims were young women with red hair. The murders had taken place around Tennessee from the late ’70s until the ’90s. Prior to the work of the students, there had never been any consensus by law enforcement that the murders were related.

This week, two students, Marlee Mathena and Reiley Whitson, joined with Campbell to present the culmination of five years of investigation into the Redhead Murders. Local media outlets, as well as media outlets and law enforcement officers from the areas where the murders had been committed were invited to attend the research presentation.

Mathena and Whitson have been conducting their research this year as an extracurricular activity led by Campbell. The students heard about the previous work done by Campbell’s sociology students. Mathena and Whitson expressed a desire to begin a criminal psychology course. However, that could not take place until the following academic year.

Still, they decided they wanted to research the latest developments in the cold cases since the previous class’ work. They met with Campbell before school in the morning to share information. The students did the work on their own time, and they met weekly to discuss the progress.

According to the project narrative, as Mathena and Whitson continued their work, they realized that so much new information had come to light that drew an even stronger connection between many of the original victims, while excluding a couple of them, and bringing others into the work. Once Mathena and Whitson felt they had uncovered enough information, they once again sought out the help of experts in various fields including: forensics, knot forensics, behavioral analysis, criminal investigation, and criminal prosecution.

Once they felt they had uncovered information that could be useful in the cases, Mathena and Whitson wanted to share their work with as many experts in the field as possible. They were not able to gain an audience with many of the law enforcement agencies involved in the cases. The students felt that using the media to draw attention to the cases would generate new interest and information that could help identify unnamed victims and bring resolution to families. In addition, many law enforcement agencies outside of the state were unaware of the recent information.