Alice Mae Sullivan
Sullivan, circa 1986
- Missing Since 08/28/1986
- Missing From Nashville, Tennessee
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Sex Female
- Race Black
- Date of Birth 08/03/1966 (57)
- Age 20 years old
- Height and Weight 5'2, 90 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description Black jeans, a white shirt and a black silk jacket.
- Distinguishing Characteristics African-American female. Black hair, brown eyes. Some agencies give Sullivan's name as "Alicia." Her ears are pierced.
Details of Disappearance
Sullivan was a sophomore business major at Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tennessee in 1986. She moved from Gallatin, Tennessee with her three-year-old son and they lived with her boyfriend at Town Terrace Apartments at the time of her disappearance.
Sullivan left her home that morning, dropped her son off at preschool, and then attended an 8:00 a.m. class. After class she stopped to visit a friend at a dormitory room in Hankal Hall on the university's campus. Her friend stated that she last saw Sullivan at approximately 10:00 a.m., when her friend left Sullivan alone in the dorm room to attend her own class.
Sullivan had another class from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m., but never showed up for it. She was last seen walking near the university's Gentry Center. Her parents traveled to Nashville the next day to report her disappearance, after her boyfriend told them she hadn't picked up her son from his preschool and hadn't come home the previous night.
The police suggested Sullivan had simply decided to drop out of sight for a few days and would return of her own volition. They allowed her parents to stay in her apartment and wait for her, which contaminated a possible crime scene.
The maintenance man at Town Terrace Apartments in 1986 was friends with Sullivan; he is now in prison for rape and murder. He's considered a person of interest in Sullivan's disappearance, as is Sullivan's boyfriend, but authorities don't have sufficient evidence to bring charges against anyone or name any suspects.
Foul play is suspected in Sullivan's case; she was very close to her parents and they don't believe she would have left without warning. She made good grades in college and paid her way through school with a job at Burger King. Her case remains unsolved.
Sullivan left her home that morning, dropped her son off at preschool, and then attended an 8:00 a.m. class. After class she stopped to visit a friend at a dormitory room in Hankal Hall on the university's campus. Her friend stated that she last saw Sullivan at approximately 10:00 a.m., when her friend left Sullivan alone in the dorm room to attend her own class.
Sullivan had another class from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m., but never showed up for it. She was last seen walking near the university's Gentry Center. Her parents traveled to Nashville the next day to report her disappearance, after her boyfriend told them she hadn't picked up her son from his preschool and hadn't come home the previous night.
The police suggested Sullivan had simply decided to drop out of sight for a few days and would return of her own volition. They allowed her parents to stay in her apartment and wait for her, which contaminated a possible crime scene.
The maintenance man at Town Terrace Apartments in 1986 was friends with Sullivan; he is now in prison for rape and murder. He's considered a person of interest in Sullivan's disappearance, as is Sullivan's boyfriend, but authorities don't have sufficient evidence to bring charges against anyone or name any suspects.
Foul play is suspected in Sullivan's case; she was very close to her parents and they don't believe she would have left without warning. She made good grades in college and paid her way through school with a job at Burger King. Her case remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
- Metro Nashville Police Department
- 615-862-7557
- 615-862-7546
- 615-742-7463
Source Information
Updated 2 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated March 26, 2014; details of disappearance updated.