Member-only story
Murdered by a Serial Killer
Just as we were becoming friends
In January of 1982 I learned that someone I knew was found dead close to the side of her jogging path, hanging from a low lying branch by an article of her clothing. The first reports speculated that her death might have been a suicide. Soon it was reported that she had been murdered. Wading through all of the newspaper articles and watching the evening news didn’t provide much clarity. I wanted to know what had happened to her.
Her name was Phyllis Tamm. I knew her as Ellen. At the time of her death I had known her for about a year. She was a customer at the art supply store where I worked in Houston, Texas. She was an art director for an advertising agency and came into the store to purchase various things she needed for her job.
Ellen was close to my age of 25; a year older, possibly two. She was single and I was married. At first we chit-chatted over the graphics counter, the area of the store I managed and then I ran into her at an import food place in Houston called Anton’s that sold pick-up-and-go sandwiches to the lunch crowd. I was there buying food for my boss and a few of my co-workers. Ellen recognized me from work and while we moved through the line she asked me about my boss. Ellen told me she thought he was attractive and asked if he was single. He was not.
