Woman identified in cold case nearly 4 decades later, TBI searching for suspect(s)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - A woman has been identified after almost four decades after her skeletal remains were found in Cheatham County in 1985, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI).

Now, the TBI is asking for the public’s help in finding out who killed 23-year-old Michelle Lavone Inman.

Inman’s skeletal remains were found near a creek bank in March 1985 by a driver having trouble with their vehicle alongside Interstate 24 West in Cheatham County. After Inman’s body was found, TBI agents began investigating.

The TBI says, forensic scientists believed Inman had been dead for two to five months prior to the discovery of her remains. Initially, Inman was classified as a Jane Doe after investigators couldn’t determine her identity.

In April 2018, a sample of Inman’s remains was submitted to Othram, Inc. for human identification. In December, scientists were able to provide information about possible relatives connected to the woman.

TBI was able to find potential family members in Virginia. When TBI agents made contact with a family member, he confirmed that he had a sister he had not heard from in more than four decades.

In early July 2023, TBI said that Othram, Inc. confirmed that Inman, of Nashville, was the victim.

TBI agents are now hoping the public can help provide information that may help solve her murder. If anyone has any information about Inman’s homicide, and any information about who she may have been with before her death or recognized any on the clothing, they are asked to call 1-800-TBI-FIND.

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