Authorities in Nashville are continuing to investigate the death of Alice Mae Sullivan, a Tennessee State University (TSU) student and mother who vanished in 1986 and whose remains have now been identified.
In a statement released Monday, Oct. 13, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) announced that a skull discovered on Feb. 20, 2004, by a contractor working on Stokers Lane in North Nashville has been confirmed to belong to Sullivan.
At the time of her disappearance, Sullivan — then 20 years old — failed to pick up her 3-year-old son from a babysitter’s home after attending her morning class on Aug. 28, 1986. Her parents reported her missing the following day.
According to the MNPD, Sullivan was described as a Black woman standing 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighing 90 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.
“Through the assistance of forensic scientists at the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification, Sullivan was matched to an unidentified skull last Wednesday [Oct. 8],” the MNPD said. The department also confirmed that no trauma was found on the skull.
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The skull was the only part of Sullivan’s remains discovered after an extensive search of the area 21 years ago, police said.
According to The Tennessean, Sullivan was majoring in business and hoped to become the first in her family to graduate from college. Before she went missing, her parents said she had moved into an apartment with her boyfriend near campus but later decided to move back home and commute to school.
On the day she disappeared, Sullivan reportedly dropped off her son at preschool and attended her morning class. She was last seen near TSU’s Gentry Center but never showed up for her afternoon class.
Authorities continue to seek information about what happened to Sullivan in the years since her disappearance.
