Tammy Rose Surdam

Above: Tammy circa, 1979


Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance

Missing Since: August 1, 1979

Missing From: St. Charles, St. Charles County, Missouri

Classification: Endangered Missing

Date Of Birth: November 8, 1966

Age: 12 years old

Height and Weight: 5’10” and 130 pounds

Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian Female, Blonde hair, Blue eyes


Details of Disappearance

Tammy was last seen in St. Charles, Missouri on August 1st 1979. She was last seen at a youth shelter located in the 500 block of Jefferson Street. Tammy had only been at the facility or two days before she mysteriously disappeared and was never seen or heard from again.

Her family was initially unconcerned by her disappearance. Tammy was a chronic runaway and had left on her own accord at least several times prior to her 1979 disappearance. She started hanging out with older teenagers who drank and did drugs after she moved to the area in 1977. Tammy’s sister put an ad in the newspapers which asked Tammy to contact her family. She never did and she never answered the ad.

Tammy’s family reported her missing a few years after she disappeared. They no longer think she left on her own. She was close to her father at the time of her disappearance. He passed away in 1988, her sister out in another ad asking Tammy to attend the funeral but she never came to the funeral.

Investigators suspect that Tammy was the victim of a homicide. Her family died she was overly trusting and would get into a vehicle. The primary suspect in Tammy’s case is Nathan D. Williams, a convicted child rapist. In 1975, Nathan killed Laura Michelle Dinwiddie, a volunteer social worker. He was charged with killing her in December of 1996 but the charge was later dropped due to lack of evidence. He is still incarcerated for forcible rape and sodomy.

In 1998, Williams was implicated and charged with the abduction and murder of Gina Brooks who vanished in 1989. Her body was never found and the charges were later dropped. Another man named Timothy Bellew was also charged with killing Gina but the charges were later dropped. He was convicted of lying to investigators about the location of Gina’s body.

Two witnesses came forward and claimed that Nathan admitted to abducting and killing a 12 year old girl from St. Charles, Missouri in 1979. He stated that he kidnapped the girl from Jefferson Street near a college and that he raped and stabbed the girl to death. He claimed her remains were buried in a rural area of St. Charles County. The girl is presumed to be Tammy because she was the only girl with that age to disappear from the area in 1979.

The youth shelter that Tammy was staying in was just 4 blocks away from Linwood College on Jefferson Street. Nathan has not been charged with murdering Tammy and her body has never been found. Her disappearance remains unsolved.


Investigating Agency

If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

St. Charles Police Department 636-949-3300


Source Information

For The Lost

The Charley Project

The Doe Network

NamUs

St. Louis Post-Dispatch