"The state police try to track down some evidence based on what she was wrapped in, but they come up with nothing. The rope that they found can be found at any local hardware store, and the tarp that she was wrapped in was actually this cloth material that's often used in like tents back in the day, like carnivals or fairs or whatever. And this is how she actually got the name tent girl." — Ashley Flowers
"The next break that they get in the case comes a while later. Kentucky police get a call from Pennsylvania this time because they saw this poster and on the poster they put out with the sketch also included a story of how she was found. And the Pennsylvania police tell the Kentucky police this crazy story. Just a few weeks before tent girl was found 650 miles away in Pennsylvania. Another body was found wrapped in a canvas tarp and tied up with rope." — Ashley Flowers
"He's like a real superhero and he's an extra superhero because he is actually one of the co-founders of the Doe Network." — Ashley Flowers
The episode begins by introducing "Tent Girl," an unidentified female victim discovered in a wooded area in Kentucky in 1968. The initial investigation was hampered by the victim's decomposed state, lack of identifiers, and the limited technological resources available in 1968. Investigators struggled to obtain fingerprints and relied on dental records, but without a database to compare them against, progress was slow. The case gained national attention with the distribution of a sketch, leading to a potential identification from Maryland that was later disproven by an anonymous tip. This highlights the challenges of early investigations and the role of chance in generating leads.
A significant parallel emerged when a similar case in Pennsylvania, involving a body found wrapped in a tarp and rope, was linked to Tent Girl. The victim in this case was identified as Candice Clothier, raising fears of a serial killer. The podcast emphasizes the difficulty in connecting these cases without modern investigative tools. The breakthrough came decades later when Todd, a man obsessed with the Tent Girl case, utilized the internet and connected with Bobby Ann Hackman's family. Through this connection, it was pieced together that Bobby Ann Hackman, who had disappeared in the early 1970s, was likely Tent Girl.
The investigation eventually confirmed through DNA testing that Tent Girl was indeed Barbara Ann Hackman. While her husband, George Earl Taylor, is suspected of her murder, he had already passed away, leaving the case officially unresolved in terms of prosecution. The episode also touches upon the unsolved aspects of Candice Clothier's case and raises lingering questions about George Earl Taylor's first wife, suggesting a pattern of deception and potential repeated violence. The podcast concludes by promoting the Doe Network, an online database dedicated to identifying missing persons and unidentified remains, underscoring its importance in preventing similar tragedies.