Tommie Hartzog
UNSOLVED: Tommie Hartzog raped, beaten and left in northeast Amarillo field
AMARILLO, Texas — More than three decades after Tommie Lea Brooks Hartzog was sexually assaulted, beaten and dumped in an open field, Amarillo police have yet to identify her killer.[1]
On the morning of August 19, 1991, two women walking through an undeveloped field in the 3400 block of Northeast Third Avenue discovered Hartzog’s body. She was 29 years old.[2]
Hartzog was nude except for a shirt wrapped around her neck. Investigators found no other clothing near the body. Police determined that she had been sexually assaulted, cut and beaten before being left in the field.
Authorities estimated that Hartzog had been dead for 24 to 30 hours when she was discovered. Investigators did not believe she was attacked in the field. Instead, they concluded that she was killed elsewhere, transported to the location and dumped.
Hartzog’s final weekend
Investigators reconstructed much of Hartzog’s activity during the weekend preceding her death.
On Friday, August 16, Hartzog attended a party with her estranged husband but later left with another man. She then visited bars in the 2800 block of Amarillo Boulevard before going to a residence with a man at approximately 1 a.m.
Between 9 and 10 p.m. Saturday, Hartzog stopped at a north Amarillo home to retrieve clothing. She later went to bars in the 2600 block of Amarillo Boulevard, where employees reportedly asked her to leave because she was intoxicated.
Hartzog was last seen alive at approximately 12:30 a.m. Sunday, walking away from a bar in the 2600-to-2800 block of Amarillo Boulevard.
Her movements after leaving the bar remain unknown.
Suspects investigated, but evidence falls short
Police developed several suspects during the original investigation, but never gathered enough evidence to file charges.
Investigators also examined whether two men responsible for another violent sexual assault could have been involved. The victim in that case reportedly shared physical characteristics with Hartzog, but police could not establish a connection between either man and her murder.
The field where Hartzog was found was visible from nearby roads. Investigators believe passing motorists may have seen the killer, a suspicious person or an unfamiliar vehicle when her body was left there.
When the case was revisited in 2011, Potter-Randall Special Crimes Lt. Gary Trupe said investigators believed the killer had probably told someone about the crime. Police had developed much of the case but still needed additional information to take the final step toward identifying and charging the person responsible.