Who Killed Tracey Neilson?

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12th February 2018  •  4 min read

Tracey Neilson's husband discovered her slashed and stabbed to death in their home on her 21st birthday. Her killer has evaded justice for 37 long years.


Who Killed Tracey Neilson?

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It was Tracey Neilson’s 21st birthday on the 5th of January, 1981. It was also the day she was brutally murdered.

Tracey Neilson lived with her husband, Jeffrey, in Oklahoma. The duo met while on a blind date when they were freshmen and hit it off immediately.  “It was instant,” said her mother. “She was just so happy with him.” They married in August of 1980 and both started classes at the University of Oklahoma. Tracey focused on physical therapy and working with people who had disabilities while Jeffrey was an orthopaedic surgeon. “She was fun. She was crazy. She loved to cook. She was very busy, very much alive. She loved people,” recalled her mother.

Who Killed Tracey Neilson?

On the afternoon of Tracey’s murder, Jeffrey had been at class in medical school before going shopping in Oklahoma City to find the perfect gift for his wife.

He settled on an expensive bottle of perfume before making his way to their apartment in Jamestown Square, in Moore, Oklahoma. When he arrived, he planned on cooking the two lobster tails he had purchased earlier for Tracey’s birthday treat. You only turn 21 once, after all, and he wanted to make her birthday as special as possible.

When he arrived home and walked into their bedroom, he was met by an unimaginable scene. Tracey was lying face up on their bed. She was wearing blue jeans and a plaid shirt. Her throat had been slashed and she had been stabbed multiple times above the waist.

Who Killed Tracey Neilson?
A crime scene photograph of Tracey Neilson’s apartment. Credit: OSBI.

Investigators started to trace her every move to determine what had happened. Tracey had started her morning off by running errands. Neighbours said they saw her completing chores at around noon time. When her loved ones called to wish her a happy birthday that afternoon, she didn’t answer.

It’s presumed she had already been murdered.

Two neighbours provided different descriptions of a man police say may possibly be the suspect. The first witness described the man she saw as being in his late 20s, about 5 feet 9 inches tall and 155 pounds with dark, curly brown hair with around a day’s growth of beard. The second witness described the man she saw as being in his early 30s, about 5 feet 10 inches tall, 150 to 170 pounds with short black hair worn in a military style with short sideburns. No man matching either description has ever been found. 1

Who Killed Tracey Neilson?

There was no sign of a forced entry but the apartment door was unlocked. There was no sign of a struggle or a robbery and the murder weapon was never retrieved. A lone fingerprint which was described as “one of the best pieces of evidence” was found but it was never identified.

In the apartment, police also found a cable repair ticket book containing a ticket for work at Tracey’s apartment on the day of her murder. According to the ticket, cable repair work was scheduled for 11:51AM. It included an employee number and a scribble of initials.

Who Killed Tracey Neilson?

Police checked all the utilities at the time to see if either a cable company or telephone company were scheduled to be at their apartment that day but to no avail. They said that the ticket book belonged to a repair worker with Southwestern Bell Telephone Co., now a subsidiary of AT&T. To this day, police still cannot track this anonymous person down but they hoped that releasing this information in 2015 could help jog someone’s memory. Presumably, somebody had stolen the cable repair ticket book and had used it to gain entry to homes.

Around the same time, police also revealed that a key ring was missing from Tracey’s apartment. It was a personalised key ring that was four inches long and around an inch wide. It was plastic and tortoise shell coloured and had Tracey’s name inscribed on the front of it. Police theorised that the killer took the key ring as a token to remember his gruesome crime.2

Who Killed Tracey Neilson?

“This is a crucial piece of evidence for us in this case,” said OSBI Director Stan Florence. During the news conference in which this piece of evidence was released, police also announced that there was a $100,000 reward for any information about the case. “We ask anyone that has any information that would be helpful to come forward,” said Jeffrey. “We plead and we beg for that.”3

Years after the murder Jeffrey Neilson’s family helped OSBI convince state legislators to pass a law to fund the state’s first Automated Fingerprint Identification System which was able to scan a full database of fingerprints. Unfortunately, the fingerprint found in the apartment still hasn’t matched any fingerprint in the system. Nevertheless, the ground-breaking system has led to the apprehension of perpetrators of hundreds of violent crimes across Oklahoma.

Who Killed Tracey Neilson?

 

Tracey’s family said she was killed at one of the happiest times of her short life. She married her high-school sweetheart and had recently started to work with people who as disabilities. “She just fell in love with it,” said her mother. It’s hard for her family to imagine her life and what it could have been. “You see a million dreams and you know they probably would have been true.” Jeffrey has always believed that his wife’s killing was a completely random act as opposed to her being specifically targeted by somebody she knew. “I don’t know where the rage came from,” he said.

Anybody with any information is asked to call the OSBI hotline at 1-800-522-8017.

 

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Footnotes:

  1. Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, 12 January, 2015 – “Panhandle Woman’s Death on 21st Birthday Unsolved 34 Years Later”
  2. Times Record, 12 July, 2015 – “Oklahoma Officials Release Evidence in 34 Year Old Homicide”
  3. Amarillo Globe-News, 10 July, 2015 – “New Evidence Surfaces in Cold Case”

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Allison
Allison
6 years ago

Omg that poor woman. Someone somewhere must recognize that signature!

Scott
Scott
6 years ago
Reply to  Allison

It is probably a fake signature but who knows? Scary that such a violent murder remains unsolved.

Nonya
Nonya
2 years ago
Reply to  Scott

That was my first thought.

Paul
Paul
3 years ago

Tracey’s husband was quickly cleared by the OSBI, who are investigating the case. He had a rock solid alibi – he was attending classes all day and there were plenty of people there to vouch for him. I’ve done a lot of research on this case – the more you find out, the more you are left with unanswered questions.

Raylh
Raylh
1 year ago
Reply to  Paul

I’m wondering who the friend was that was mad about her having her bridal shower on her birthday!

Paul
Paul
3 years ago

A couple of day’s ago, I posted that I have been researching Tracey’s murder. As I have some free time today, I thought I would post some of this information. One of the noticeable things about this case is the relatively short timeframe Tracey and her husband, Jeffrey, had lived in their Moore apartment. They had married towards the end of July 1980 in Tracey’s home town of Canadian, Texas. Classes at the University of Oklahoma started for them around the middle of August 1980, so it seems highly likely they moved into their apartment sometime in August, ie after… Read more »

Jennifer Muse
Jennifer Muse
1 year ago
Reply to  Paul

Thank you for more detailed information. Interesting that it’s rare for a person to get killed on their birthday. It’s also interesting that a lot of people die relatively close to their birthdays. I’ve paid attention to this for many years.

Paul
Paul
1 year ago
Reply to  Jennifer Muse

Hi Jennifer, I’m glad you found my comments on Tracey’s murder useful. As you say, it is indeed rare for people to be murdered on their birthday. Some of these “birthday” murders are just sheer coincidence. However, I believe Tracey’s murder was not a coincidence and that this day was specifically chosen by her killer. I say this for two reasons: (1) her killer chose her birthday because it had some sort of special significance for him. I can’t say any more on this because more facts are needed, eg how did Tracey spend her previous birthdays? Was Tracey’s key… Read more »

Paul
Paul
3 years ago

As I have some spare time today, here’s a little more of my research into Tracey’s murder. From what I have been able to establish, the semester finished at the University of Oklahoma on Friday 18 December 1980. Tracey and Jeffrey then spent Xmas with Tracey’s parents in Canadian. Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to find the exact dates when they left for Canadian and when they returned to their apartment. The next bit of information is important. Classes for Tracey resumed around 18 January,1981, ie she was still on Xmas break when she was murdered. However, classes for her husband,… Read more »

Frank
Frank
1 year ago
Reply to  Paul

If the killer here knew the victim, then why even use the cable ruse, and bring the booklet which may end up being traced back to you? I see this as random, but I also think the perp was someone who probably lived close to the victim and knew they had cable TV. Logic tells me this person was a neighbor, and someone who lived close enough to the victim that they were able to not be around the area without any suspicions.

Paul
Paul
1 year ago
Reply to  Frank

Frank, You make a good point and when I first started researching this case I was thinking along the same lines as you. However, the more I got into this case I moved away from this avenue for the following reasons: I looked into whether there were any newspaper reports covering Tracey’s murder that mentioned whether there had been reports of perverts or prowlers in Tracey’s neighbourhood stalking young women and could find none. I have generally found that newspapers are very good at mentioning this type of thing when covering murders. Also, Tracey’s killer knew some very specific information… Read more »

Paul
Paul
3 years ago

Continuing on … Other evidence that Tracey knew her killer was that a neighbour who saw the killer knock on Tracey’s apartment door the day of her murder said that they thought Tracey and her killer greeted each other like they knew each other. Despite the OSBI having issued descriptions and drawings of her killer, very little has been posted on the web about a rather cryptic comment made by Tracey’s sister, Cindy Young, to NBC News in July 2015. Mrs Young said, “I have my suspicions about who may be responsible and I hate even thinking that of someone.… Read more »

Elle
Elle
3 years ago
Reply to  Paul

I disagree with what your thoughts are regarding her sister’s statement. She says she hates thinking that WAY about someone – not that she hates thinking ABOUT someone. So doesn’t need to be someone who was a negative person in Tracey’s life.

Paul
Paul
3 years ago
Reply to  Elle

Mea culpa. You are correct. However, Mrs Young still has her suspicions about who may be responsible. In my opinion, the facts of this case reveal a lot about the killer.

Frank
Frank
1 year ago
Reply to  Paul

The name looks as if it reads as “Lou”.

Paul
Paul
3 years ago

The other day I came across an interview Tracey’s sister, Cindy Young, gave to Chris Sample at the High Plains Observer Perryton in May 2019 concerning Tracey’s murder. highplainsobserverperryton.com/cold-case-team-looking-to-solve-murder-of-canadian-woman-p25593-267.htm She discusses Tracey’s last day; where the investigation is at; and the profound effect Tracey’s murder has had on her family and friends. I emailed the High Plains Observer Perryton to ask if they had a copy of the full interview, but they don’t – only the two excerpts on this page. Despite nearly 40 years having past, I believe Tracey’s murder is still very much solvable. One of the stumbling… Read more »

David
David
2 years ago
Reply to  Paul

Hello, Paul I was just wanting to ask where did you find all this information so that I could do some research myself?

Paul
Paul
2 years ago
Reply to  David

Hello David, The problem with researching Tracey’s murder is that the information pertaining to it’s literally all over the place. You ‘ll find a little nugget here and another somewhere else. Before, I get to research resources, one of the most useful sites I found very useful was the Canadian tv series “To Catch a Killer” from 2014 with Mike Arntfield and his team of civilian specialists. It only lasted for one season, but it shows how to methodically research cold cases and to “restart” them. It is available on Tubi tv. There are also a some episodes on YouTube,… Read more »

Paul
Paul
2 years ago

I wasn’t planning on sharing any more of my thoughts on Tracey’s murder, but I came across the following recent YouTube posts the other day which some of you may be interested in. Part 1 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PnCjyDd_0c Part 2 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSfbGmKPZvc There seems to be some discussion recently online about the theory of Tracey having possibly been murdered by a woman. I’m puzzled as to how this could be when two witnesses at the Jamestown Apartments where Tracey and Jeffrey lived saw a man knock on the Neilson’s apartment door around 11am on the morning of Tracey’s murder; that both… Read more »

David
David
2 years ago
Reply to  Paul

Hi, Paul I was wondering where you got all your information I would like to do research myself?

Raylh
Raylh
1 year ago
Reply to  Paul

I have always thought it was a women

Rick
Rick
1 year ago
Reply to  Paul

I think it was a guy that was obsessed with her and he just got lucky! She was absolutely beautiful and some guy had a plan and knew she was going to be alone at that time. He planned it all out and just got lucky with the time and the murder and everything!

Nonya
Nonya
2 years ago

I say take everyone’s fingerprints & DNA. Violation of rights or not. These families deserve Justice!

IvyWinter
IvyWinter
1 year ago

So was this poor woman murdered for no reason at all? With so many stab wonds to her abdomen sounds personal. Like could she have possibly found out she was pregnant?

Paul
Paul
1 year ago
Reply to  IvyWinter

Hello Ivy,
There are approximately ten reasons or motives why someone commits murder. Regarding Tracey’s murder, I believe this can be narrowed down to two or three motives.Interestingly,as far as I know, the OSBI have yet to posit, at least publicly, their thoughts on a possible motive in this case. I’d be happy to share some more of my thoughts on what I believe happened here if there is enough interest.

Des P
Des P
1 year ago
Reply to  Paul

Yes, please do. She was actually murdered on my actual birthday 😧. Year & all.

Paul
Paul
1 year ago
Reply to  Des P

Hi Des, Glad to share my thoughts on Tracey’s murder. I believe that Tracey was murdered because her killer felt that she had somehow rejected him. The large number of stab wounds on Tracey’s body are indicative of extreme rage. In my opinion, Tracey’s killer was narcissistic and had a very high opinion of himself. Being rejected would have been too much for him. I also believe he had some sort of extreme emotional attachment to Tracey. I believe the “trigger event” that set him off was Tracey’s marriage to Jeffery in July 1980. It’s very unusual to have such… Read more »

Paul
Paul
1 month ago

Yet another anniversary has passed since Tracey Neilson’s brutal murder on 5 January 1981. Despite the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) having received over 1,600 tips/pieces of information by July 2015 (supposedly over 2,000 by 2022, however I haven’t been able to verify this figure), this cold case continues to remain unsolved. The last OSBI update appears to have been in 2022. To say that this cold case is really ODD, would be an understatement. Many things simply do not add up, or make much sense. For anyone really interested in this case, do the research. Keep the following… Read more »

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