Grand Junction Cold Case: Deborah Kathleen Tomlinson
It was known as the 'Killing Season' in Grand Junction. The year 1975. Six Mesa County murders. One still unsolved. The senseless murder of Deborah Kathleen Tomlinson.
Just before 6 p.m. on Saturday, December 27, 1975, Mesa College (now Colorado Mesa University) student Deborah Tomlinson,19, was found dead in the bathtub of her first-floor apartment located at 1029 Belford Avenue.
Deborah lived in apartment #6 on the south side of the complex. A fellow tenant and Mesa Collage student reported hearing a man and a woman in a very angry argument around 5:30 p.m. After repeated phones calls to Tomlinson's apartment went unanswered, the building manager was notified. A window had been found opened and the manager heard a toilet running. Using the passkey, that's when Deborah was discovered. Bound, strangled and bleeding from her head. An article published in May of 2011 has more details on this case.
This is one of five Grand Junction area cold cases. Those are murders that have not been solved. In 2014, the Grand Junction police, along with assistance from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation decided to re-open these cases in hopes of finally getting answers and closure for the friends and families of the victims.
If you have any information, I would suggest contacting the Grand Junction police.
970-549-5000 (Main Line)
970-242-6707 (Non-emergency dispatch number)