Like all graveyards, Georgetown Cemetery has its share of interesting monuments and muse-worthy markers. For nearly 30 years, one particularly mysterious grave marker in Section W-4 raised more questions than it answered:
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 would eventually be learned that the grave was that of a murder victim: a young mother working in Lexington. The prime suspect? Her husband – but both murderer and manner of death remain unsolved and the victim, though gone, was never forgotten.
Wilbur Riddle found the remains in 1968, wrapped in green canvas. Still, for nearly 30 years, the tombstone would remain nameless. Then in 1998, a perfect storm of relentless detective work (by Riddle’s son-in-law, Todd Matthews), the dawning of the Internet age and DNA testing led to a positive ID: Barbara Ann “Bobbie” Hackmann-Taylor.
Today, there is a second tombstone in Section W-4 at Georgetown Cemetery. Erected by Hackmann’s family, it bears Bobbie’s birth name (but omits her married name), her nickname, date of birth, presumed date of death and the inscription, “Loving Mother, Grandmother & Sister.”
Want to know more? Watch the TV crime series, “Who Killed Jane Doe?” The first episode of season two, first broadcast Jan. 23, 2018, featured the mystery of “The Tent Girl.”
