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Barbara Ann "Bobbie" Hackmann Taylor (September 12, 1943 – December 1967), also known as the "Tent Girl", was notable as an unidentified homicide victim for nearly 30 years after her body was found on May 17, 1968, near
Georgetown, Kentucky Georgetown is a home rule-class city in Scott County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 37,086 at the 2020 census. It is the 6th-largest city by population in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is the seat of its county. It was original ...
. She was referred to as "Tent Girl" because of the material wrapped around her. On April 23, 1998, the Scott County Sheriff's Office announced that this victim had been identified. Hackmann Taylor, born in Illinois, was married and had an eight-month-old daughter when she went missing from her home in Lexington, Kentucky. Her late husband, George Earl Taylor, was a carnival worker and the prime suspect in the murder case. He did not file a missing person report but told her family that she had left him for another man. He died of cancer in October 1987. Because he was a prime suspect, Hackmann's family excluded his name when they commissioned a new tombstone for her gravesite. This gave her full name and dates and was added beneath one formerly identifying her as "Tent Girl" at her grave at the Georgetown Cemetery. She had been buried in 1971 by local authorities when her case was stalled.


History

Wilbur Riddle, who had been scavenging for glass insulators alongside
U.S. Route 25 U.S. Route 25 (US 25) is a north–south United States Highway that runs for in the southern and midwestern US. Its southern terminus is in Brunswick, Georgia, from where it proceeds mostly due north, passing through the cities of Augusta, Georg ...
near Georgetown, Kentucky, on May 17, 1968, discovered a decomposing body wrapped in a heavy green canvas
tarpaulin A tarpaulin ( , ) or tarp is a large sheet of strong, flexible, water-resistant or waterproof material, often cloth such as canvas or polyester coated with polyurethane, or made of plastics such as polyethylene. Tarpaulins often have reinforce ...
. It was material such as might be used to wrap up a tent. A police investigation failed to identify the deceased woman, or to name any suspects in her apparent murder, despite efforts to publicize her description and check reports of missing women."Tent Girl." ''Who Killed Jane Doe?'', season 2, episode 1,
Investigation Discovery Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. As of February 2015, approximately 86 million Amer ...
, January 23, 2018.
With no new leads in the case, her remains were buried in 1971 in the Georgetown Cemetery. A local company donated the headstone, which was inscribed with the following: TENT GIRL
FOUND MAY 17 1968
ON U.S. HIGHWAY 25, N.
DIED ABOUT APRIL 26 – MAY 3, 1968
AGE ABOUT 16 – 19 YEARS
HEIGHT 5 FEET 1 INCH
WEIGHT 110 TO 115 LBS.
REDDISH BROWN HAIR
UNIDENTIFIED It also included an engraving of a police sketch made to depict how she might have looked in life.


Identification

In April 1998, the Tent Girl was positively identified by the Scott County Sheriff's Office as Barbara Ann Hackmann Taylor. They were aided by the efforts of Todd Matthews, then 27, of
Livingston, Tennessee Livingston is a town in Overton County, Tennessee, United States, and serves as the county seat. The population was 3,905 at the 2020 census and 4,058 at the 2010 census. The current mayor, Curtis Hayes, began serving his mayoral position in Sept ...
. In the late 1980s, he married a daughter of Wilbur Riddle, who found the young woman. Matthews heard about the missing woman, whose fate had haunted his father-in-law. He became intensely interested in the case and, as the Internet began to be frequently used for posting of public databases and volunteer websites of missing and unidentified persons, Matthews combed through many reports to identify her.Wolfe, Charles
"Thirty years later, 'Tent Girl' homicide victim identified"
''Daily News'', Bowling Green, Kentucky, April 23, 1998. Retrieved on August 24, 2014.
In 1997 he created his own website for the Tent Girl, as another way to make people aware of her.AP, "Internet sleuthing may help to identify Tent Girl"
''The Tennessean (Nashville, TN),'' February 22, 1998; accessed May 5, 2019
In 1998 Matthews discovered a description of Taylor posted by the Hackmann family on a missing persons website. They had a young married female relative who had gone missing in Lexington, Kentucky (approximately 15 miles from Georgetown) in late 1967. She had been living there with her husband and infant daughter. He emailed information on the Tent Girl to Rosemary Westbrook of Arkansas, who was listed as a contact for the family. She believed the information matched her missing sister and contacted the Scott County Sheriff's Office. They confirmed elements of her description of her sister, including a distinctive gap between her top two center teeth. The police arranged to exhume the body, to extract DNA for analysis and potential match to Hackmann family members. A match was made and on April 26, 1998, the Sheriff's Office confirmed the victim's identity as Barbara Ann Hackmann. She was survived by three sisters: Rosemary Westbrook of
Benton, Arkansas Benton is a city in and the county seat of Saline County, Arkansas, United States and a suburb of Little Rock. It was established in 1837. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 30,681. In 2019 the population was estimated at 36,820. ...
; Jan Daigle of
Placerville, California Placerville (, ; formerly Old Dry Diggings, Dry Diggings, and Hangtown) is a city in and the county seat of El Dorado County, California. The population was 10,747 as of the 2020 census, up from 10,389 as of the 2010 census. It is part of the Sa ...
; and Marie Copeland of
Arundel, Maine Arundel is a town in York County, Maine, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 4,264. It is part of the Portland– South Portland–Biddeford, Maine Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Municipality of Arundel includes th ...
. In addition, Hackmann Taylor's own daughter had been traced to Ohio, where her father's family had lived. She had married and had her own children by the time her mother was identified. The family chose to have Hackmann's remains re-interred in Georgetown Cemetery, with an additional stone base placed under the original grave marker, bearing her birth name, nickname, date of birth, presumed date of death, and the inscription "Loving Mother, Grandmother & Sister". The Hackmann family excluded Barbara's married name from her gravestone. The police have identified her late husband, George Earl Taylor, as the prime suspect in the murder case. He died of cancer in October 1987.


Representation in other media

*An episode of the true crime series '' Who Killed Jane Doe?'' covered the case of the "Tent Girl". *The true crime podcast '' Crime Junkie'' covered the case in their episode titled "Tent Girl." *The true crime podcast ''
My Favorite Murder ''My Favorite Murder'' is a weekly true crime comedy podcast hosted by American comedians Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. The first episode was released in January 2016. The podcast debuted at #25 on the iTunes podcast charts and peaked ...
'' covered the case in their episode titled "Namaste Sexy." *The true crime podcast ''Anatomy of Murder'' covered the case in their episode titled "Swapping Ghost Stories." October 27, 2021 *The true crime podcast ''Cold Cases'' covered the case in their episode titled "Tent Girl and Julie Doe."


Aftermath

After Taylor's identification, Matthews co-founded
The Doe Network The Doe Network is a non-profit organization of volunteers who work with law enforcement to connect missing persons cases with John/Jane Doe cases. They maintain a website about cold cases and unidentified persons, and work to match these with m ...
. It is a group that maintains an online database for volunteers dedicated to matching missing persons with
unidentified decedent Unidentified decedent or unidentified person (also abbreviated as UID or UP) is a term in American English used to describe a corpse of a person whose identity cannot be established by police and medical examiners. In many cases, it is several ...
s.


See also

*
List of solved missing person cases Lists of solved missing person cases include: * List of solved missing person cases: pre-2000 * List of solved missing person cases: post-2000 See also * List of kidnappings * List of murder convictions without a body * List of people who di ...
*
List of unsolved murders These lists of unsolved murders include notable cases where victims were murdered in unknown circumstances. * List of unsolved murders (before 1900) * List of unsolved murders (1900–1979) * List of unsolved murders (1980–1999) * List of u ...


References


External links


Tent Girl and the start of the Doe Network
''Seattle Post Intelligencer'' *https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.08/matthews.html, ''WIRED''
Series: ''Who Killed Jane Doe'': "The Tent Girl"
IMDb * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Barbara Ann Hackmann (Tent Girl) 1943 births 1967 deaths 20th-century American people 20th-century American women American murder victims Deaths by beating in the United States Female murder victims People murdered in Kentucky Unsolved murders in the United States 1967 murders in the United States History of women in Kentucky Scott County, Kentucky