LYNN — After nearly 26 years, the body of Tiffany Bradley has been identified as the dismembered female whose remains were found in Chelsea and on Nahant Beach.
Although she remained known as Chelsea Jane Doe since 2000, her killer was identified quickly. It took investigators less than a year after the discovery of her body to apprehend Eugene McCollum, now 61, of Lynn, who was sentenced to life in prison on Feb. 24, 2005. He is currently serving his sentence in the Massachusetts Correctional Institution in Shirley.
“Investigators knew Eugene McCollom was the killer. But they did not know who he had killed,” Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin R. Hayden said at a press conference on Wednesday.
The Item reported in 2001 that McCollum met a woman, now known as Bradley, in Boston’s Chinatown neighborhood. He paid the woman $100 for sex and drove her back to Lynn in his Lincoln Continental. Authorities believe she was previously trafficked from her hometown of Pennsylvania to the Boston area.
A prosecutor in Lynn district court’s September 2001 arraignment of McCollum, Mark Lee, said “an argument broke out after the initial sex about what should happen next. The defendant strangled and killed the woman” in his room at the Lynn YMCA, The Item reported.
Just short of her 17th birthday, Bradley was reported missing on Nov 8, 2000. On Nov. 13, part of her mutilated remains were found in the parking lot of the Chelsea Soldiers Home. Groundskeeper Robert Spinelli discovered a blanket with red stains and reported to police soon after that it “appeared to be paint or blood, and I thought, ‘No, it couldn’t be’,” Spinelli told The Item in 2000.
Less than a year after remains were found in Chelsea, investigators, acting on information given to them by McCollom, found a bag buried in the sand at Nahant Beach. In the bag were her head, hands, and other body parts.
Hayden said the FBI produced a genealogical profile from Tiffany’s DNA, and when they recently took a buccal swab from James Bradley of Texas, DNA testing revealed that he was her brother, putting an end to the decades-long search for Jane Doe.
Janet Bradley-Knight, Bradley’s Aunt, thanked the law enforcement who spent over two decades dedicated to the identification of Bradley. Her identity was found in conjunction with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, the Massachusetts State Police, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“Tiffany was a loving girl. She loved dancing. She loved her trips to Florida. She loved the mountains in Colorado. She drew extremely well,” Bradley-Knight said at the press conference. “I want to thank you all for not letting my baby be a box on a shelf.”
Shakirah Wiggins, Bradley’s cousin, expressed her family’s gratitude for everything that was done over the last 26 years to bring their family closure.
She said her last “conversation with her favorite cousin was cut short with her voice trembling, saying, ‘I’ll call you later. I have to go. That call never came and was replaced by 26 years of waiting, wondering why.”
Wiggins added, “Due to reasons unknown, Tiffany was placed in an impossible situation, which led to devastating consequences. The fact that we are here today is a miracle. It is totally amazing that after 26 years, people care enough to give her a name and return her to her family.”
Hayden said, “Delivering justice is never just about holding offenders accountable; it’s also about who we get justice for. Perseverance finally paid off.”
