NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — For nearly 40 years, she was known only as a victim — murdered, buried beneath a Nashville home, and left without even her name.
Now, almost four decades later, the woman her killer called "Lil' Bit" has her real name back: Toni L. Gordon.
Gordon was 31 years old and from Nashville. Her body was one of two found buried beneath a Charlotte Avenue home in 1987.
Detectives knew who killed the two women. The man who rented the house, James Shaffer, confessed after investigators tracked him down in a Kentucky jail. But for decades, they didn't know who the women were.
"Do you have their identification?" an investigator asked.
"Not at this time," Shaffer said.
Before and after the killings, Shaffer had a long and violent criminal history.
"There were four or five others that I got into with," Shaffer said. "There were words said or something, and I'd tie them up, and usually after a period of time I let them loose."
But these two women never made it out alive. Shaffer received two life sentences and died in prison in 2004.
One victim was identified last year as 23-year-old Sheila Cummings. The other remained known only by the nickname her killer gave her.
"He said that he only knew her as a little bit, and that's what she was called until last week," Detective Andrew Davis said.
Davis spent seven years working to identify Gordon. Using DNA from her remains, forensic genetic genealogy and DNA from a family member, investigators finally confirmed who she was.
Her family believed she had moved away. They never knew she was dead.
"I was thrilled to basically be able to provide closure for this family to know where their loved one had been and where they, so that they could also take possession of the body and give it a final resting place," Davis said.
"Just, you know, making sure these victims have their name back," Davis said. "I think it's something that helps provide hope for individuals who have missing loved ones."
Nearly 40 years after her murder, Toni Gordon is no longer "Lil' Bit." She's Toni — a daughter, a loved one, a woman whose name was never supposed to be forgotten.
The identification was a team effort. Metro Nashville Police worked with DNA Investigative Solutions, Bode Technology, the National Missing & Unidentified Persons System, the Medical Examiner's Office and the TBI to identify the victims.
Investigators say the same technology could help bring answers to other families still waiting for their missing loved ones to be identified.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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