Pod Insights Criminology Tracey Neilson About this episode College student Tracey Neilson was murdered on her 21st birthday in Oklahoma in January of 1981. She was a bright student and a newlywed who had been married less than 6 months when she was killed. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss the murder of Tracey Neilson. There were several eyewitnesses and two crucial pieces of evidence. One was Tracey's keychain which spelled out her name in big yellow letters was missing. The other was a repair ticket from that day. But the police had to try to make sense of what little they had to go on. You can help support the show at patreon.com/criminology An Emash Digital production
Transcript 10,373 words · 3 speakers
0:00 Speaker 00 Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised.
0:37 Speaker 01 Hello everyone and welcome to episode 346 of the Criminology Podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson.
0:43 Speaker 02 And this is Mike Morford.
0:45 Speaker 01 Mr. Mike Morford, how you doing, buddy?
0:47 Speaker 02 I'm doing pretty good. How you doing?
0:49 Speaker 01 I'm doing great. This is the second time that I've gotten to talk to you this week. You actually joined us on True Crime All Time Unsolved for a little Zodiac talk. It was fun.
1:01 Speaker 02 Yeah, anytime I can jump on and talk Zodiac, I'm happy to.
1:05 Speaker 01 We had a little technical difficulties. For some reason Gibby couldn't hear you through his headphones, but other than that, I always enjoy talking Zodiac with you because I know you stay up to date on it.
1:16 Speaker 02 Yeah, there's a lot of, you know, always new documentaries, new developments and rumors and everything else. So it's good to try and stay on top of it.
1:24 Speaker 01 Yeah, it's been what, six, seven years since you and I covered Zodiac? So it was kind of fun. It was a little bit of memory lane.
1:33 Speaker 02 Yeah, time flies for sure when you're having fun.
1:36 Speaker 01 Let's go ahead and do our Patreon shout outs. We had Melissa B, Pascal Dion and Nino Reyes. So a lot of great new support. We really appreciate it.
1:47 Speaker 02 Yeah, thank you so much for that support. It really helps out the show for anyone else that would like to, you can head over to patreon.com/criminology to get started.
1:56 Speaker 01 All right, let's go ahead and jump right into this week's case. You know, it's always tough to cover murder cases because, you know, we're talking and telling the story of what happened. It's sort of sets in that the person we're talking about is gone. They've lost everything. It doesn't matter who that person is, what their background is, or what walk of life they come from. It's just difficult. But what's especially hard is talking about murders of younger victims because they have their entire lives ahead of them. And when they die, their complete futures are robbed from them. And that's what we're dealing with in this week's case.
2:38 Speaker 01 We're talking about the murder of a college student named Tracy Nielsen, who was murdered on her 21st birthday in Oklahoma in January of 1981. She was a bright student and a newlywed who'd only been married less than six months when she was killed.
2:58 Speaker 02 Tracy Diane Nielsen was born in the town of Canadian, Texas on January 5th, 1960. Parents, James and Sandy Waterfield. She had an older brother, Richard, and a younger sister, Cindy. The family lived in the town of Canadian in North Texas, not far from the border with Oklahoma. It was a town of about 2,000 people. Tracy attended high school at Canadian High School. While there, she was active in sports. She played golf and basketball and ran track. She was also a cheerleader. She was active on her school's newspaper and was a gifted writer and editor of the paper. She was also a member of the Honor Society. Tracy graduated in 1978, earning the second highest grades in her class.
3:41 Speaker 02 It's clear that Tracy stayed active and involved in just about everything in high school and was friendly and outgoing, a people person. Her principal, Sam Scroggins, told the Fort Worth Star Telegram that Tracy was an all-American girl who never met a stranger. After graduating, Tracy headed for college at Oklahoma State University, where she would study physical therapy. It was her goal to use her education to help people with disabilities.
4:07 Speaker 01 And you said more of that her principal told the paper and Tracy was an all American girl and she sounds like it. I mean, just, you know, into everything, a people person, never met a stranger, loved sports, loved activities. I'm sure that description would fit so many other high school students, but she was also obviously very intelligent and receiving the second highest grades in her class.
4:39 Speaker 02 Yeah, she seems like one of those people that is constantly busy, constantly trying to take on the next task and excel at it and, you know, be good at it. And in the process, you're friendly with everyone and outgoing.
4:54 Speaker 01 It was while attending college at Oklahoma State University as a freshman that Tracy would be set up on a blind date with her future husband, Jeff Nielsen. The two hit it off immediately and the chemistry was undeniable. Jeff was studying to become an orthopedic surgeon at the University of Oklahoma. They began dating and were head over heels in love with each other. Tracy's sister Cindy would tell Amarillo.com of their relationship. It was instant. She was just so happy with him. Her family loved Jeff too. And just as quickly, Tracy's mom Sandy said, we fell in love with the Nielsen family. Jeff was
5:37 Speaker 01 just everything we wanted for Trace. Jeff and Tracy got married at a big ceremony in Canadian on July 26, 1980. And more if you haven't gotten to this point yet in your life, your, your kids aren't old enough, mine are where you they are starting to talk about settling down. And that makes me feel old, but.
6:04 Speaker 01 You know, it is very important that you like the person. Well, I say it makes it a lot easier for sure. This person's going to be in your life, they're going to be, you know, in your home. And we're actually very fond of my oldest daughter's boyfriend's family as well. So it just, it just makes things easier.
6:29 Speaker 02 Yeah, and it sounds like, you know, for Tracy's family there where you are, they're very happy with, with Jeff and excited about the future for them. Once married, Jeff and Tracy decided to move from Stillwater, Oklahoma to Moore, Oklahoma, presumably to be in a location that was central to each of their campuses. They moved into what's been described as an apartment in Jamestown Square at 1104 Northwest 10th Street, Unit C. But on Google Maps, it looks like it could be a series of small bungalow type homes and duplexes that are built around a main office. For the first five months of their marriage, everything was going great for the young couple. But on January 5th, 1981, Tracy's 21st birthday, their fairy tale would turn into a nightmare.
7:15 Speaker 02 That morning, which was a Monday, Jeff left home early to attend classes. It was his first full day back to university after the winter break. Tracy's classes at her university were not back in session yet. So she went about her day at home. Around 10 that morning, she spoke to her grandma on the phone. Later, she was spotted running various errands before returning home right around noon. Tracy's family members and friends tried to call her that day to chat and give her some happy birthday wishes, but she didn't answer any of them. In 1981, this wasn't as unusual as it might be today. This was before cell phones, so those who called and got no answer, just figure that she wasn't at home and she checked her messages later when she came home.
7:58 Speaker 01 After a full day of classes, Jeff headed to Oklahoma City to do some quick shopping since it was Tracy's birthday and he didn't want to come home empty handed. By the time he got home, he had a card for her and also a gift of perfume, some expensive brand she had once pointed out to him. Jeff got home just after 5:00 PM and entered the apartment. The TV was on in the living room and the ironing board was set up in the living room near the door. The iron was resting on top of it. It looked like Tracy had recently ironed or was planning to because she usually watched TV when she ironed or folded laundry.
8:40 Speaker 01 When Jeff made his way to the bedroom, he found Tracy dead. She was lying on her back across their bed. The scene was bloody and he knew instantly that Tracy was dead. In shock, he called the police who arrived there quickly. A closer examination by first responders told them that Tracy had been stabbed many times in her upper body and her throat had been slit. She was fully clothed, though barefoot, in a pair of jeans and a plaid t-shirt. And more, if we talk often about people stumbling across a dead body, maybe one that's skeletonized.
9:22 Speaker 01 You know, they're out hiking and that would be shocking, but this is a very grisly scene, especially for, you know, a husband to walk in and find his wife dead and dead in this way, murdered, stabbed with her throat slit. I mean, I can't even imagine the emotions that would have been running through Jeff's mind.
9:50 Speaker 02 And Jeff is a doctor, has, you know, probably studied, working on bodies and he's seen blood and he's probably used to that kind of stuff, but I don't think anyone could ever. Be prepared enough to see that kind of scene for their loved one, especially his young wife of less than six months. It had to be something that he'd never forget. Jeff was taken aside so that investigators could process the scene. Police set out to talk to any neighbors which might have witnessed anything unusual. While none reported hearing any screams or commotions, multiple witnesses did say they saw a man who looked out of place. One witness said the man they saw was in his early 30s with short black hair and a
10:33 Speaker 02 light complexion, and that he was about five foot six, weighing between 150 and 170 pounds. He was wearing dark pants and a black waist-length jacket. Another neighbor said the man they saw went inside the Nielsen's apartment, but that it looked like Tracy knew him and let him in. Authorities wound up releasing two composite sketches of the man, or men, seen by the neighbors. It's not clear whether these two different witnesses saw the same man, or two different men, but in multiple early articles, it was mentioned that two men were being sought for questioning. There was no sign of forced entry into the apartment. Jeff didn't notice anything off, other than the fact that the door wasn't locked, which he usually
11:14 Speaker 02 was when he came home. Two lobster tails sat on the counter, waiting to be prepared for Tracy's birthday dinner. Investigators found no evidence that Tracy had been sexually assaulted, despite being found on the bed. This seemed like a rage killing or a crime of passion, given the amount of stab wounds Tracy had suffered. It was estimated that she had been killed around noon or shortly after. There were no telltale signs of any struggles, like lamps or tables being knocked over, and there was no sign of robbery. No drawers had been rifled through, and nothing valuable had been taken.
11:45 Speaker 01 So as we, you know, have kind of set the scene of this murder of Tracy Nielsen, there are a couple of things that jump out at me. One is that, you know, a couple of men, one or maybe two men, were seen either around the apartment, or maybe even entering the Nielsen apartment. My thought is more, whoever committed this crime, with the number of stab wounds, and the fact that her throat was slit, you would think that they would have to be covered in blood. So it's just strange to me that a person could leave that crime scene, and someone wouldn't notice that.
12:31 Speaker 01 And that's always something that kind of runs through my mind when we talk about these types of cases. And then the other one is that, you know, what's the motive here? Because I think you're, you're kind of ruling out a lot of different things.
12:48 Speaker 02 Yeah, I think police got lucky in the fact that witnesses saw a man or two men, whatever it turns out to be at all, but they just didn't see them, as you mentioned, covered in blood, maybe leaving the scene. That would have really jumped out to them. And maybe enough so they might have called police or whatever. But unfortunately, that didn't happen. But it, just like you said, if robbery doesn't seem to be the motive, and she wasn't sexually assaulted, those are two major motives that police can probably rule out. So what is the true motive here? Maybe that would help them figure out who did this if they could figure out what the motive is.
13:30 Speaker 01 Well, and then you have the fact that it does seem, or, you know, at least appear as though Tracy may have known her attacker. And I think police have to, you kind of grapple with that as they go through the investigation as well. Although robbery didn't appear to be the motive, one item was taken from the apartment, which police chose not to share early on. And that was Tracy's keys. The set she usually carried was on a distinctive keychain that had her first name on it. It was a big keychain, about an inch wide and four inches long, bearing the name Tracy in yellow capital letters. Investigators believe
14:13 Speaker 01 that whoever killed Tracy likely stole the keychain as a trophy or a reminder of the act. Investigators were able to lift one fingerprint from the scene that did not belong to Tracy or Jeff. To this day, no match has been found. The killer hadn't just taken Tracy's keys, they had left something behind as well. Something police would not share for years.
14:40 Speaker 02 It wasn't until 2015, 34 years after Tracy's murder, that authorities released more information about the case, including the missing keychain and also what had been left behind by the likely killer. One of the most puzzling pieces of this case is potentially the most important clue. Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Director Stan Florence would tell The Oklahoman in 2015, "This is a crucial piece of evidence for us in this case." He was referring to a ticket book listing reports of cable trouble and the repairs made that was found in the Nielsen's apartment. It didn't belong to either Tracy or Jeff. Jeff Nielsen confirmed that they did have cable television, but he couldn't remember experiencing or reporting any issues with their cable
15:25 Speaker 02 or their phone line. And he couldn't remember Tracy telling him about any issues or needing a cable repairman to come out.
15:32 Speaker 01 So this is big information, right? In a case, I get it. Police early on, they have to make a decision. You know, what do we disclose? What do we hold back? So they didn't disclose the keys. They didn't disclose this ticket book, which most likely reports to, you know, possibly some type of repairman. The question I have, Morph, is why wait 34 years?
16:03 Speaker 02 Yeah, I agree with you. I think if you want to identify that and there was handwriting on it and we'll put that up on social media so listeners can see it. If you want people to recognize that writing or come forward with tips of who that might have belonged to, why not do it right at that time? Maybe somebody had a friend or a family member that was working for the cable company and would recognize that handwriting and come forward right away.
16:34 Speaker 01 Well, because we talked a little bit about it appearing as though Tracy knew her attacker and, you know, let that person in. Well, when you get into the area of, let's say, a cable repairman, well, maybe you don't know that person, but you let them in because it's on the pretense that they're there to fix something, upgrade something, you know, something along those lines.
17:05 Speaker 02 And this person could have had a, you know, some kind of ID or a uniform that made them look official and Tracy let down her guard and he was able to get inside.
17:17 Speaker 01 The Nielsen's apartment apartment seat was listed on the last entry in the ticket book. The time was listed on the ticket is 11:51 a.m., but it's unclear whether that is the time that someone from Tracy's apartment supposedly called about the trouble, the time that the ticket was assigned to an employee, or if it was the time the work was supposed to have been done. Most people seem to interpret the time as when the work was finished, since the box at the bottom of the ticket indicating that the job had been completed was checked. There are photos of this workbook, and like you said, Morph, we'll post it on social media.
18:02 Speaker 01 And just like you talked about with cell phones, you know, we are talking about a time in the 1980s where things were done just so much differently than they are today. You know, if you have an appointment, a doctor's appointment, a dentist's appointment, even some type of an appointment to get something repaired, most likely, you're probably going to get a text today saying, hey, reminder, you have an appointment. Well, obviously, that was not the case in the 1980s. You weren't even going to get an email after the work
18:43 Speaker 01 was completed. So they used some type of, you know, paper system, manual ticket book.
18:52 Speaker 02 Back in the 1980s, when you called your cable company, they would take your name and address and phone number down and tell you that they would get someone out there, but that's probably about it. If you were lucky, you got a window when they would be out. And many times the guy that would come out wasn't a direct employee for the cable company, but rather a subcontracted worker who did work for multiple cable companies. And in these repair books, they would jot down information about what needed to be done and where.
19:19 Speaker 01 Now, some of that has not changed that much today. You know, a lot of times they still give you a window. Sometimes that window is quite large and then they don't even always show up during the window. What's interesting is that the time on the ticket was 1151, which would have been just minutes before friends and family started calling Tracy to wish her a happy birthday, but got no answer. It's also close to the estimated time of Tracy's death. And there are a couple of thoughts about this cable ticket book. One thought is that it actually belonged to the killer and then he dropped it when he came to do some kind of real repair.
20:02 Speaker 01 And for some unknown reason, decided to attack Tracy while he was there to make that repair. Another possibility is that the killer didn't work for the cable company and maybe use the ticket book as part of a ruse to gain entry into the apartment. A third possibility is that the ticket repair book is some sort of red herring. Maybe a real repairman did come out, did some real work and then left, forgetting his book. And the actual killer came along after that.
20:38 Speaker 02 And getting back to what we talked about earlier, this is why I think mentioning that ticket book publicly at the time might have helped because maybe a, the guy that had that book and had done some work, maybe he would have come out if they knew they were looking for, looking for him, maybe he would have come forward. Or maybe someone else that worked at the cable office might have, that might have clicked with them that so and so did some work, but to wait 30 some odd years later, you missed that opportunity. People forget, they pass on, they switch jobs. And you know, oftentimes they don't remember what happened 30 something years ago.
21:19 Speaker 01 Or records get destroyed.
21:22 Speaker 01 I get it, right? Police have to hold things back. You know, if somebody comes in to confess to a murder, they have to have something that is able to corroborate what the person is saying. So, early on, or for however many weeks, months, years, I understand that part. But at a certain point, when a case goes so cold, I don't know, 34 years just seemed like a long time to hold on to that information.
21:53 Speaker 02 And the same with the key ring that said Tracy on it because had they put that information out immediately, maybe somebody would have called, seeing someone with that keychain, and it would have clicked in their head and they would have called in a tip that, hey, I saw so-and-so with that exact keychain.
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23:28 Speaker 02 Investigators felt strongly that this book was left behind by Tracy's killer. And over the years, they put a lot of effort into seeing if this cable repair book could lead them to Tracy's killer. Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Steve Tanner told Amarillo.com in 2015, "We did determine back during that time, there wasn't any work that was supposed to be done, either by a cable company or a telephone company. There's no company name on the ticket book, but there were initials and an employee number jotted down. For many years, authorities were not able to figure out which company the ticket book belonged to. But in 2015, this changed. Apparently, the ticket book belonged to someone working for the telephone company, Southwestern
24:12 Speaker 02 Bell, which we now would all know better as AT&T. No Southwestern Bell records have been found regarding the employee number written on the ticket book. It seems possible that this ticket book was lost by a real employee or stolen from one, and the killer used it as a prop in order to get Tracy to let her guard down."
24:31 Speaker 01 And I don't want to harp on it, Morph, but you know, think about what could have happened if they had released that information about the ticket book early on. How hard would it have been for somebody to recognize that, oh, well, that's a Southwestern Bell ticket book? And then, you know, maybe early on, it's much easier to figure out who that employee number belonged to. Think about the number of records that, you know, get destroyed, get lost after 30, 40 plus years.
25:10 Speaker 02 And there's no guarantee that it would have led to them. I mean, that employee number that was written on there could have been a fake number, just made up number that the killer used, but it's still probably the best lead, the best clue that police had to work with.
25:25 Speaker 01 Whatever the scenario is with that cable repair ticket, police feel it is their best clue. Former Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Director Stan Florence told the Oklahoman, "We want help in identifying those three letters, identifying who that person was who wrote in that book. You can look at the signature or the initials on that ticket and go down a rabbit hole, debating what name is written. Some people see Laut, others see Joe, or even Bruce. And even if you knew the name that was written, it could have been a fake one used by the killer, and it's not even, you know, his real name."
26:09 Speaker 02 According to the Norman transcript, in 2011, confidentiality law in the state was changed, allowing information to be made public in order to help develop leads that might be necessary to bring a case to conclusion. This allows what's been keeping the ticket book private all those years. Former Oklahoma State Bureau Investigation Director Stan Florence said, "Once 2011 came around, we began to explore the idea of doing things of this nature." He added, "We pretty much exhausted our efforts there. So this is the time for the public to help us with this." Not even Tracy's family knew about the ticket book until 2015. In the past decade, many tips have come in about the ticket book, and multiple former
26:52 Speaker 02 Southwestern Bell employees were interviewed. But as of this recording, it hasn't resulted in an arrest.
26:59 Speaker 01 So that sheds a little more light on why they didn't release the ticket book information. It sounds like they were bound by law not to, up until, you know, many years later. On the day Tracy turned 21, she should have been celebrating a fun birthday. Instead, her family got the news she had been brutally murdered and would have to make funeral arrangements. About 500 people were at her funeral in her hometown of Canadian, Texas. She was laid to rest at Edith Ford Memorial Cemetery. Tracy's loss devastated her entire family and her husband Jeff was left a widower
27:44 Speaker 01 less than six months after getting married to Tracy. As if her murder wasn't hard enough, some people, even investigators, would wind up suspecting Jeff of being involved in his wife's murder, especially early on.
28:00 Speaker 02 Even though Jeff had been in classes all day, it didn't completely alibi him in the minds of some. The couple was young and the marriage was new. Maybe there was some trouble in paradise that friends and family didn't know about. However, detectives were quickly able to verify his alibi. He couldn't have killed his wife because he was in class that day, specifically after Tracy returned home from doing her errands. She was seen at the store that morning and neighbors recall seeing her after she got home. No one remembered seeing Jeff that day outside of teachers and classmates at the university where he said he was.
28:35 Speaker 01 Jeff told People Magazine of Tracy's murder, "It was a horrible day. The gruesome and gory things he saw at medical school didn't come close to finding his college sweetheart brutally murdered in the bed they shared." He said, "During my first years at medical school, I was dissecting cadavers, but nothing prepares you for that. It was absolutely horrible." In interviews Jeff has done over the years, he always sounds legitimately shattered. He never returned to the apartment that day after finding Tracy's body and running outside. Loved ones moved their belongings out for him so that he didn't have to step back into
29:20 Speaker 01 the place Tracy died. Both Jeff and Tracy's families never thought for a second he was involved in her murder, but it was of little comfort to Jeff, knowing that the real killer was out there someplace. Moore Police Lieutenant Ray Homer told the Sepulpa Daily Herald, "It's a very senseless killing so far," adding, "It's baffling to everybody as to why this occurred." Jeff Nielsen told the Norman transcript of Tracy's murder, "I really think in all likelihood, it was a random event." And we know that the spouse is always going to be looked at.
30:03 Speaker 01 There are people who are gonna say, "Well, you know, obviously he must have been involved." So as if it's not horrible enough to find your new bride murdered in such a horrific way, then on top of that, you have people suggesting that you had a hand in it. This had to be just an extremely tough time for Jeff.
30:32 Speaker 02 Yeah, there's probably some conspiracy theorist types that would say, "Well, he still could have done it. That's not an absolute alibi." But you know, the one thing police didn't have back then, which they have today are, you know, cell phone towers, navigation systems in cars. All that stuff could have definitively helped clear Jeff had they had access to that. But you know, what they did have was enough witnesses at his college to say, "Yeah, he was in classes all day. He couldn't have done this." So we know Jeff wasn't involved in his wife's murder. But was this just a one in a million stars have aligned type of situation? And the killer got really lucky coming on the day Jeff wasn't there?
31:17 Speaker 02 Or did someone specifically know that Tracy would be alone that day? Because Jeff would be in class after winter break ended and she wouldn't. If so, they didn't have much time. Tracy's class is started on Wednesday, January 7th. If the killer knew Jeff and Tracy's schedule, it seems to show a familiarity with the couple. So perhaps someone that they knew could be the killer. At the same time, would someone they knew need to use a cable repair book ruse to get into the apartment? If that's what happened?
31:46 Speaker 01 With no sign of forced entry, it's possible that Tracy knew her killer and felt comfortable enough to at least open the door for them. If not, actually invite them inside. Maybe if he was wearing a cable repair type of overalls or uniform, it may have caused Tracy to let down her guard. Whatever the case, it doesn't seem random. When you look at the crime scene, Tracy's killer went to the apartment specifically to kill her that day. There was no sexual assault, no robbery. The killer was in and out pretty quickly and without leaving much evidence behind.
32:27 Speaker 01 Authorities believe the killer brought the murder weapon with them. The knife used to stab Tracy was not taken from the apartment. This also points to murder being the only motive here. So you have to wonder, who could have had enough anger towards Tracy to go to her house with the sole purpose of slitting her throat? And who, if they hated Tracy that much, would she still feel comfortable with enough to let in? The fact that the killer brought their own weapon with them to the scene shows some premeditation. Then again, it could be a scenario where the killer was trolling
33:06 Speaker 01 for any random victim and just happened to see Tracy pull up that day after running errands and decided to target her. I think in a case like this more, you have to keep all possibilities on the table.
33:21 Speaker 02 Let's go back and reexamine the clues from the crime scene, starting with the apartment itself. As we mentioned, there was almost nothing in the way of a fight or resistance from Tracy. We know she was athletic and played a lot of sports. So it seems likely she would have been able to mount some kind of defense. Yet it seems like she just laid down on the bed to be stabbed without struggling. Was this such a quick attack that she was caught completely off guard? Or does that indicate trusting the person fully because she knows them? Or could it mean that she had her back turned to someone she thought was a repairman and she was leading the way back to the cable box? This lack of a fight is one of the most puzzling pieces of the case.
34:00 Speaker 01 Next, we have to talk more about this cable repair ticket book. First off, if you look closely at it, there's a box checked off indicating that the work is complete. That's presumably something you would give to the customer or turn back into the office after the work was complete. If you were a killer who had only used the book as a ruse to get into Tracy's apartment, why would you complete that form after she was dead? Does this strengthen the possibility that a real repairman came, did work, and then left, and then the real killer came in after?
34:41 Speaker 01 Or could the killer, if he was a repairman or pretending to be one, go back after leaving, using the excuse he forgot to give Tracy the ticket? Or maybe he said he forgot a tool or something, so Tracy wasn't worried about him since he'd already been in there? Another possibility is that the killer left this cable repair booklet behind on purpose to misdirect police. There is no doubt investigators have invested a lot of resources on trying to track down its origins and owner.
35:16 Speaker 02 And I have one final question about the cable repair booklet. Did police recover any prints from it? It seems likely that if it really belonged to a real repairman at any point, that that repairman would have handled it without loss, and it would likely have some prints on it. If they found prints, even if not from the killer, it may at least give police a direction to go in, maybe figuring out who the book belonged to. It may also yield DNA, both of which could be very helpful. We know that one mystery print was found in Tracy and Jeff's apartment, but we don't know where it was found. So maybe it did come from this booklet. Either way, as we mentioned, that print hasn't been linked to anyone yet.
35:57 Speaker 01 So we've talked about this repair book kind of a lot. And partially it's because it's one of the very few clues that police had to work with. It doesn't sound like even though they extensively researched it, they were able to to really figure much out about it. And you just wonder, you know, does it play a role in the murder? Because if not, then they probably wasted a lot of time and effort on it. But I'm not sure more for what else they had to go on.
36:33 Speaker 02 Yeah, I don't blame them at all for using resources to try and track that down because, you know, it had the time and date and the, you know, their apartment listed there. So one way or another, it seems that somebody came to that apartment that day with that booklet, specifically interested in getting in there and whether that was a legit repairman or the killer. I think that's why police have been looking for them so long to try and answer that question.
37:03 Speaker 01 But if Tracy's murder wasn't purely random, perhaps the key to solving the case lies within finding the motive. Did someone have a gripe with her? Something that was so bad it caused them to do this? Let's look at a possible suspect. We mentioned that there was no evidence Tracy was sexually assaulted. She was found fully clothed. That combined with the fact she was stabbed has led to some asking the question, could it have been a woman who killed Tracy? It turns out that there are rumors of a sorority sister who was more possessive than friendly
37:43 Speaker 01 when it came to their relationship. Tracy and her younger sister Cindy both joined the sorority Pi Beta Phi while they attended Oklahoma State University.
37:56 Speaker 02 Friends recall that the sorority sister was supposed to take Tracy out for a birthday lunch the day she was killed, but for some reason backed out of her plans. This alone was out of character for her because she seemed to always want more time with Tracy. The fact that Tracy was killed on her birthday made some of her friends begin to suspect the sorority sister because there had apparently been some drama when Tracy accidentally scheduled her bridal shower on this girl's birthday. Was the murder revenge for this offense? It could explain the rage behind the attack, which had been brewing and building up for almost half a year. It wouldn't immediately explain why multiple people saw a man or multiple men at the crime scene around the time that Tracy was killed.
38:39 Speaker 02 And the cable repair ticket book would still make no sense unless it was just an attempt to confuse investigators.
38:46 Speaker 01 The sorority sister wouldn't need to fake a work ticket to get inside the apartment. This is the kind of suspect who would have needed to throw off the investigation since multiple people flagged her odd behavior and the circumstantial evidence kind of does start to add up. Assuming all of the rumors are true, of course, since she wasn't publicly named as a suspect and hasn't spoken out about the accusations, her alibi isn't known. And it's entirely possible she wasn't anywhere near the Nielsen's apartment and had nothing to do with it.
39:28 Speaker 02 The sorority sister is the only potential suspect that anyone has offered up, but it's also possible that the killer wasn't in Tracy's inner circle and not that close to her. It was someone in her orbit, maybe a fellow student at her college, but not that close to her. Perhaps someone who had stalked her. It's also possible that the killer wasn't part of her circle, but maybe Jeff's. Maybe someone that knew him became obsessed with Tracy and stalked her. We also don't know to what extent police investigated old boyfriends and girlfriends of the couple. Maybe someone from their past was behind the murder.
40:02 Speaker 01 And I'm sure people listening are starting to understand why this case was so hard to solve. I mean, let's face it, there was very little evidence at the scene. There wasn't really even much in the way of suspects that people put forward. Again, I don't think a lot of people had problems with Tracy Nielsen.
40:29 Speaker 02 I think that's what's frustrating when you can't easily find a motive or someone with a grudge that might do something like this makes it really challenging for investigators.
40:38 Speaker 01 And does that maybe point to the fact that it's more likely that this was a little more random? Maybe this person saw Tracy either that day or in the days leading up to the murder, singled her out, figured out where she lived. I mean, that's always a possibility, but then what you're left with is that the motive was just purely murder. And I think for a lot of people, you know, that's hard to understand.
41:14 Speaker 02 And those random crimes where the killer really has no connection to the victim. They always seem like the hardest ones to solve.
41:22 Speaker 01 It seems like at this point, the cable repair ticket book isn't going to lead to the killer. So maybe it will come down to the one print in the case. Or perhaps DNA, if there is any, we don't know to what extent police in this case looked at the physical evidence for possible DNA. Of course, they didn't know about DNA back in 1981. So any evidence in the case would have needed to be rechecked over the years as DNA crime fighting tools came online. And depending on how it was stored and handled, it may or may not yield the killer's DNA if they left any.
42:05 Speaker 02 As far as we know for sure, the only physical evidence in the murder is the single unidentified fingerprint that we mentioned. Tracy's sister Cindy told the High Plains Observer Perriton, "Back then, they didn't have all the DNA forensic ways to solve things. So I don't know if they really got lots of the evidence that nowadays they would have." And Cindy also said that she believed the authorities had already tested all of the evidence they could. And even if they did test everything previously, it doesn't mean that they can't do it again as new advances come along. As we know, even rootless hairs now can lead to a full DNA profile, something that wasn't the case just a few years ago.
42:46 Speaker 01 We should point out too, that at the time of Tracy's murder, fingerprint analysis was extremely time consuming. It all had to be done completely manually. So if you didn't have a suspect to directly compare any prints to, you might never stumble across a match. Former Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Director Ted Limkey told the Oklahoman, "A detective could spend his entire career going through our fingerprint file and never solve the case." The Nielsen family advocated for better technology. For the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, there was a newer computer system that could
43:28 Speaker 01 scan print databases and help solve cases faster, but it cost three and a half million dollars. The Oklahoma City Police Department offered their recently purchased system, but even that would cost about $2 million because they would need to enter all of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation data into the Oklahoma City Police Department system. No matter the price, it was a necessary tool, not just in Tracy's case, but in any unsolved or future cases throughout the state. Jeffrey Nielsen told the Oklahoman, "The system will do as much in 10 minutes as a man can do in a lifetime."
44:13 Speaker 01 And I think this really puts the investigation during that timeframe into, you know, some perspective. If you think about watching, you know, old movies or TV shows where it's, it's almost like they've got two fingerprint cards and they've got a little, you know, magnifying viewer and they're comparing each one, right? That's what I think of versus scanning a fingerprint and letting the computer do all the work to match up the points on the fingerprint. I mean, what an incredible difference that
44:55 Speaker 01 is. Not to mention the fact more of that as time progressed, more and more systems started to, to get integrated, or it got to the point where, you know, you get one system that everybody can access, which obviously changes your pool of people that you can look at from just those in your department to the entire country and even beyond.
45:28 Speaker 02 Yeah, they've really streamlined the, the technology to, to make it easier to solve these crimes with, with the aid of computers. And I wonder if now with AI, we're hearing so much about that, how that can really simplify things. Wonder if that can be integrated too, to make it even more beneficial to solve some of these, these cases. Finally, in 1990, almost a decade after Tracy was killed, the Oklahoma Senate passed a bill granting the purchase of the computer equipment. But unfortunately, the print taken from the crime scene didn't match to anyone. Stan Florence, the former director of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation,
46:08 Speaker 02 told CNHI News, "We all had great hopes that this new fingerprint technology would identify that particular print. Unfortunately," he continued, "no print, no match has been made for that print. But AFIS, or the Automated Fingerprint Identification System, itself has helped solve hundreds of violent crimes."
46:29 Speaker 01 And I'm sure it has. There's no doubt about it. Much in the way that DNA technology has helped solved so many cases, but there are still limitations. And you and I talk about those limitations all the time. Okay, you have a fingerprint, or you have DNA that you believe belongs to the killer. But if that person's fingerprint is not in any database, or their DNA is not in any database, it's not going to be that much help.
47:05 Speaker 02 And that's where I think genetic genealogy comes in for solving some of these cases that don't have a database match. They can find that person using their genealogy and go back through some of the public databases. And we can only hope that they have something here. Maybe they haven't mentioned that they have some of the killer's DNA or potential DNA. They could have sliced themselves when they were stabbing Tracy. Maybe they left the hair behind in her hand or something. You know, as we mentioned, rootless hair can now provide a DNA profile. So if there's something that they're holding back, maybe they will one day have success tracking down someone with it.
47:49 Speaker 01 With no clear suspect in the case and the physical evidence not leading to any conclusions, investigators certainly looked in many different directions in this case over the years. Officers questioned serial killer Henry Lee Lucas about multiple unsolved murders throughout Oklahoma, including Tracy Nielsen.
48:11 Speaker 01 But nothing came of it. If there was an unsolved murder in Texas, or almost anywhere else, for that matter, back in the 1980s, there was a good chance Henry Lee Lucas would be mentioned as a potential suspect. And anyone who has seen, you know, the documentary on Henry Lee Lucas, that man would take credit for, you know, a murder for a strawberry milkshake.
48:38 Speaker 02 Ding ding ding ding. You say that strawberry milkshake anytime we talk about Lucas.
48:42 Speaker 01 I have to, have to, have to talk about the strawberry milkshake. But here's my thought about Lucas. You know, you look at Lucas, you look at Otis Tool. Neither of those men, in my opinion, are someone that a person like Tracy Nielsen would probably feel comfortable about letting in her apartment. Those two guys were scary looking.
49:15 Speaker 02 Yeah. And unfortunately, most people that commit these kinds of crimes don't look like monsters. They look trustworthy, someone that you're not going to be afraid of. Yeah, I think to your point, if you see those two guys knocking on your door, you're not letting them inside.
49:30 Speaker 01 No, I mean, between the two of them, they had like three teeth between the two of them.
49:36 Speaker 02 And to the credit of this department, you know, I think a lot of police departments were maybe guilty of just signing off. Yes, Henry Lee Lucas did this just to close the books on a case, you know, just to shut that case down. And the real killer probably got away. And this department didn't just do the easy way out. They actually didn't try and put this on Henry Lucas. They're looking for the real killer. Some people have thrown forward cases with similar MO to be looked at to see if they could be related to Tracy's case. Along this line of thinking, there's a suspect in Canada who could be worth looking into. It's possible that over the years, he was investigated in
50:19 Speaker 02 Tracy's case and ruled out, but we didn't find a mention of it either way. On July 2, 1981, Ralph Ernest Power killed 20-year-old Cheryl Gardner in her apartment in Toronto. Power, then 28, had pretended to be a Bell Canada employee there to fix a telephone line. He even had a fake work order. Once inside, he sexually assaulted her and then brutally bludgeoned her to death. Cheryl's partially clothed body was found after someone claiming to be the building's superintendent called the police. The police confirmed that the actual super of the building hadn't made any calls.
50:54 Speaker 01 Just like with Tracy's murder, there were no signs of forced entry, and it appeared that Cheryl let her killer into the apartment, initially hinting that she may have known her killer. Both Cheryl and Tracy's murders were also extremely violent, which could indicate that the killer was angry at the victim, or that it was a crime of passion. Days after Cheryl's murder, Power again pretended to be a Bell Canada repairman and made his way inside her residence, this time attacking a woman named Susan Godre, who survived the attack but was left with head and leg injuries. She was able to identify a photo of Power
51:36 Speaker 01 in a lineup, which led to his arrest and conviction. She also described Power's Bell Canada ruse in great detail.
51:45 Speaker 02 Cheryl's murder and Susan's attack both took place just months after Tracy's murder. We don't know enough about Power to say he was even in the US at any point. Perhaps Cheryl's murder and Tracy's are simply unrelated, with both of their killers simply choosing the same ruse. Things were changed within the law for the better after Cheryl Gardner's murder, just like they were after Tracy Nielsen's. Cheryl's sister Carolyn advocated for many years and achieved an amendment to the federal criminal code, allowing authorities to enter DNA from already convicted criminals into a national database for use in cold cases.
52:20 Speaker 01 And I think the fact that we're even talking about the similarities of a murder that happened in Oklahoma to a murder and an attack that happened in Canada shows you just how little in the way of suspects police really have in this case. Also, the one big difference that obviously jumped out at me is that Powers murder of Cheryl appeared to be motivated, at least in part, by sexual assault, whereas Tracy's didn't at all.
53:02 Speaker 02 Yeah, I think the likelihood is that the cases probably aren't related, but I think it also shows that some of these criminals that do this kind of stuff probably think alike and use a lot of the same ruses. You know, we've seen many cases where someone flags down, you know, a lone woman driving at night to tell her her tire's loose and that he'll fix it for her and he'll get out and actually loosen the lug nuts so the tire will fall off. That's been used a lot, especially back in the, you know, the 60s and 70s. And that happened in various areas of the country. So I think these guys that do this probably just use the same playbook in a lot of, a lot of cases.
53:47 Speaker 01 Well, and there's a reason for that. It's because it probably works more often than not. You think about targeting someone and trying to get into their home. Okay, you can force your way in, or you can come up with a ruse that will, at the very least, get the person to open the door.
54:13 Speaker 02 Yeah. How easy would it have been for somebody to show up at Tracy's door and say, the landlord asked me to come over, install this new cable system or upgrade you to this new cable thing. And if he's got the uniform and a badge and, you know, a book in hand for his repair. She might not have thought twice about it.
54:34 Speaker 01 In January 2021, 40 years after Tracy was murdered, investigators were still hopeful that a resolution would be found in her case. Agent Brooke Arbitman with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation told K O C O dot com, I hope that by January 5th, 2022, we have identified a suspect in this case. Since that optimistic statement, four years have passed. January 5th, 2025, which would have been Tracy's 65th birthday, was just weeks ago.
55:11 Speaker 02 Authorities have asked the public to look at the photo of Tracy's keychain and see if it jogs any memories. If they can find a good lead based on that stolen keychain, they could find a way to obtain a print from the suspect to compare to the print left in the apartment. Jeff told People Magazine, that key ring would be one way to link someone, but he doesn't sound certain it will ever happen, adding, we hope a mistake is made. I think we're doing a hail Mary pass here and trying to do whatever we can to stimulate one phone call to authorities that could lead to something. That missing key ring and that cable repair ticket book are the two things police still keep coming back to after 44 years. They think that it will only take the right person seeing them to crack this case. Again, we'll post photos of them on social media.
55:57 Speaker 01 Police are also hopeful that after so long, someone who may know more about the killer in this case, but has been afraid to come forward will finally feel comfortable after the passage of so many years. Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Francia Thompson told Investigation Discovery, people's relationships change over time. If anyone, a former girlfriend or ex-wife, might recognize it and knew that it was taken from a crime scene, it could provide the lead we need. Despite the passage of so many years, the lack of finality in this case has weighed on Tracy's family. They haven't forgotten.
56:41 Speaker 01 Beautiful person that was taken from them. Jeff told People Magazine, Tracy was just a joy to be around. Everyone loved being around her. She was beautiful and fun and just wonderful. She was extremely smart and funny, and I loved being around her. She is missed by essentially everyone who knew her. It's for all these reasons, Jeff is at a loss thinking about why someone would have done this to Tracy. And I think more of this is what I'm really struggling with. In the case of Tracy Nielsen, it's not like she had this long list of enemies. Or really anyone for that matter, there was the sorority sister.
57:25 Speaker 01 But I often go back to motive and there just doesn't seem to be much in the way of that here. When you take robbery and sexual assault out of the equation, what are you left with? Revenge, killing for the sake of killing? It's not much to go on.
57:49 Speaker 02 And as I mentioned earlier, the cases with no clear motive are the toughest to solve. No clear suspects, it just makes the police spin their wheels just trying to figure out how and why. And at the end of the day, maybe it is a case where it truly was random. And she was just, as you mentioned earlier, targeted by somebody who randomly saw her that day or maybe the day before and has no connection to her at all. And that's why it's been so hard to solve. But I also don't think we can rule out the possibility she knew someone. Maybe she did let them in and something went wrong. Once they were inside, they got into an argument.
58:33 Speaker 02 Maybe they made an advance at her and she turned them down. I don't think we can rule anything out, unfortunately, you know, in this case. According to findagrave.com, inscription on Tracy's gravestone reads, "I will miss the year-long spring of her." Tracy's sister Cindy told koco.com, "She was a great sister. I can't even really tell you how much I loved her." Cindy named her own daughter Tracy after her late sister to honor her memory. She also told News 9, "We've had to live with the fact that we may never know who took her life that day, and we have to wonder every day, why did they do that? How could they do that?"
59:14 Speaker 01 Jeff Nielsen has tried to go on with his life the best he could. He told People Magazine in 2016, "I'm not entirely sure what closure means, but I do think knowing what happened would help in some ways and dealing with the psychological repercussions of what happened to Tracy." At the time Jeff made that statement, the 56-year-old had been a practicing orthopedic surgeon for many years. Eventually Jeff Nielsen did get remarried, but he has never forgotten about Tracy. The passing of time did not erase the immense loss. He told People, "It's
59:55 Speaker 01 still something you think about on a daily basis and it continues to hurt."
1:00:01 Speaker 02 Tracy's sister Cindy believes that someone out there knows who killed Tracy, even if it's not the killer themselves. She told Amarillo.com, "I just feel like in 34 years, even if the person doesn't come forward, they had to have told at least one person." Almost a decade ago, she also pleaded to News 9, hoping the killer was listening, saying, "I'm begging you, please come forward. Please just do the right thing because it's time. It's time to do the right thing."
1:00:29 Speaker 01 And I agree with that. Obviously, it is time to do the right thing. The problem is, in a situation like this, it's not in the best interest of the killer to do the right thing. It's why very few killers come forward and say, you know, I know you're not on to me, but here, I want to let you know, I did this 40 years ago.
1:00:52 Speaker 02 And that does happen occasionally. You know, those people, they have, some of them have a conscience and it eats at them until finally, they can't take it anymore and they do the right thing and come forward and admit to what they did. But for most of them, that's not the case.
1:01:08 Speaker 01 This case hasn't just weighed on Tracy's family. It's weighed on police. Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Special Agent Thompson told People Magazine, "Everyone has that one case you want to solve, and this is mine." Her family deserves the truth. If you have any information about the murder of Tracy Diane Nielsen, any information at all, you're encouraged to contact the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation with your tip. You can call 405-848-6724. You can also visit their website and submit a tip
1:01:47 Speaker 01 using their contact form at oklahoma.gov/OSBI/contact. There is a drop down menu on the form with tips as an option. You can also directly email [email protected] with your information. So Morph, as we wrap up this case on Tracy Nielsen, there's no doubt, you know, it's a real whodunit. I think the, the police were hampered in a number of ways. First off, it seems as though they had very little to work with. And some of the things that, at
1:02:29 Speaker 01 least in the case of the ticket book, that they did have, apparently by law, they weren't allowed to share. And I think, you know, that was a hindrance because you think about getting that information out fairly early on in the investigation.
1:02:51 Speaker 01 Well, obviously it's going to increase the chance that someone comes forward and says, "Oh, I know exactly what that is. That is a Southwestern Bell logbook." Okay, you get that information early on, maybe you're able to go to them and they're, they're able to tell you what that number on the ticket book means and maybe it leads back to someone. But when you're trying to do it 30 plus years later, that information may be much harder to figure out.
1:03:25 Speaker 02 Yeah, a lot of places don't keep records that long or they have paper records that get destroyed or lost. And you know, it's not digitalized a lot of times. So trying to find out what employees were working where and what their employee numbers were back 30 something years ago seems like a hard task.
1:03:47 Speaker 01 And then, you know, I just keep coming back to motive. You know, if this case is finally solved, is it going to come out that someone had a motive that really no one was aware of? They had a beef with Tracy that wasn't readily apparent? Or is this going to be a complete stranger who zeroed in on Tracy with the sole purpose of killing her and no other purpose? And that's entirely possible too.
1:04:21 Speaker 02 And that's frightening. If they killed her for no reason other than just to kill her, then that person sounds very dangerous and they may have committed other crimes like this over the years. Then again, a lot of cases like this that are solved through genealogy say years later, it turns out that the killer only did it once and never did anything like that again, which is kind of surprising. So until that day comes and we know who did this, it might be difficult to figure out what else they might have done.
1:04:56 Speaker 01 But I think this is a little bit of a different case. You know, it's not like we were able to present four, five, six different suspects, right? And people can kind of go through the information and decide for themselves who the best suspect is. I think what's important in this case is the very limited evidence that they have. And people can go online, they can go to our social media and at the very least, take a look at that stuff. Someone out there may have some information, you know, just seeing it may jog a memory from the past that, man, could blow this thing wide open.
1:05:38 Speaker 02 Especially that keychain, maybe the killer kept it all these years and someone might have found it in their belongings after they passed away in their family and wondered what that key meant.
1:05:49 Speaker 01 That's it for our episode on Tracy Nielsen. If you love the show, but haven't done so yet, take a minute, go out, leave us a rating, leave us a review. Also, keep telling your friends. Word of mouth about the podcast really goes a long way.
1:06:04 Speaker 02 If you want to find us on social media, we're on X with the handle at CriminologyPod. You can also find us on Facebook by going to facebook.com/criminologypodcast. And you can join our Facebook discussion group, Criminology Podcast Discussion and Fans.
1:06:19 Speaker 01 So that's it for another episode of Criminology, but Morph and I will be back with all of you next Saturday night with a brand new episode. So until then, from Mike
1:06:30 Speaker 02 And Morph.
1:06:30 Speaker 01 We'll talk to you next week.
1:06:32 Speaker 02 Take care, everyone.
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