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Nashville Victim Known Only as 'Lil' Bit' Identified as Toni L. Gordon After 39 Years
DNA and forensic genetic genealogy have given a name to Toni L. Gordon, a 31-year-old Nashville woman murdered and buried beneath a Charlotte Avenue home in 1987. Her killer confessed but never identified her, leaving her known only by the nickname he gave her until now.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. â For nearly four decades, she was a mystery even to the man who killed her. On Wednesday, Metro Nashville Police announced that the woman buried beneath a Charlotte Avenue home in 1987 has been identified as Toni L. Gordon, a 31-year-old Nashville native.
Gordon's body was one of two found buried beneath the house nearly 40 years ago. The man who rented the property, James Shaffer, confessed to the killings after investigators tracked him to a Kentucky jail. He received two life sentences and died in prison in 2004. But for decades, investigators had no names for his victims.
One of the women was identified last year as 23-year-old Sheila Cummings. The other remained known only by the nickname Shaffer gave her: "Lil' Bit."
"He said that he only knew her as 'little bit,' and that's what she was called until last week," Detective Andrew Davis said.
Davis spent seven years working to identify Gordon. Using DNA from her remains, forensic genetic genealogy, and a DNA sample from a family member, investigators finally confirmed her identity. Her family had believed she moved away and never knew she was dead.
"I was thrilled to basically be able to provide closure for this family to know where their loved one had been and where they, so that they could also take possession of the body and give it a final resting place," Davis said.
"Just, you know, making sure these victims have their name back," he added. "I think it's something that helps provide hope for individuals who have missing loved ones."
Shaffer's criminal history was long and violent. In a recorded interview, he described a pattern of tying up victims and sometimes releasing them. "There were four or five others that I got into with," Shaffer said. "There were words said or something, and I'd tie them up, and usually after a period of time I let them loose." But Gordon and Cummings never made it out alive.
The identification was a collaborative effort involving Metro Nashville Police, DNA Investigative Solutions, Bode Technology, the National Missing & Unidentified Persons System, the Medical Examiner's Office, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Investigators say the same technology could help bring answers to other families still waiting for their missing loved ones to be identified.
Nearly 40 years after her murder, Toni Gordon is no longer "Lil' Bit." She is Toni â a daughter, a loved one, a woman whose name was never supposed to be forgotten.