Melinda Lou Barnhouse was a young woman found murdered at a rest area in 1989. Two men were charged with her murder; they claimed she was a sex worker from New Orleans but denied knowing her identity.
She was identified by Othram in May 2023.
Case[]
On September 17, 1989, at about 12:25 PM, Barnhouse's body was located behind some bushes at a rest stop on Interstate 55 in Lincoln County, by a man traveling from Tennessee who had stopped to use the restroom. The area he had stopped in was not visible from the rest stop. He alerted authorities and the woman was pronounced dead at the scene by the Lincoln County Coroner.
Barnhouse was found nude, except for a pair of white athletic socks, rolled down, with three blue stripes. No attempt had been made to cover the body with brush or another material. She had no wounds, marks or bruises on her body and her cause of death was initially unknown. It was believed she had died elsewhere and her body had been dumped at the rest stop. It is unknown if she had been sexually assaulted.
The autopsy found that she had died of manual strangulation. The autopsy also suggested that she may have had bad teeth and that she showed characteristics of Down Syndrome, although it is unclear if Barnhouse had Down Syndrome.
Two men were later charged in the case. One of them said that they, possibly alongside other individuals, had picked up Melinda from New Orleans with the intention of robbing and killing her, but that they did not know her name. One of the men who killed her is Alfred Case, who is currently imprisoned in Mississippi and is up for parole in 2030. The name of the other man has not been released publicly.
She was buried on December 14, 1989 at Rose Hill Cemetery in Brookhaven by Hartman Funeral Home, now known as Harrigill Funeral Home.
Characteristics[]
- Brown shoulder length hair, which may have naturally been curly or wavy.
- Her eye color is disputed:
- Her autopsy and subsequent entry into the NCIC list them to be brown.
- The ROCIC HUMP database submission form and contemporary news sources describe a blue coloration.
- Freckles.
- Mole on neck.
- Scar on forehead.
- Scar on thigh.
- May have had bad teeth.
- Sources alternately say she had one or both ears pierced.
- Her exact race is uncertain; she is believed to be at least partially white with a possible mix of Native American or East Asian ancestry.
- Initial news reports suggest she may have shown characteristics of Down Syndrome.
- If she did have Down Syndrome, she could have been as old as her early 30s, despite looking much younger.
Gallery[]
Sources[]
- Melinda Barnhouse at the Doe Network
- Melinda Barnhouse at Find a Grave
- DNASolves
- WLBT
- Enterprise Journal:
- The Greenwood Commonwealth
- Clarion Ledger: