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January 16th, 1989, an employee of Franklin Strickland Funeral Home arrives for work at 8 a.m. Inside the building, that employee makes a grim discovery: the nude body of 41-year old James Jordan.
Jordan was a former employee of the business on Rawlings Street, and had a key to get in. Police later learned that he was known to go in there late at night when no one else was around.
Sgt. Bill Phillips of the Chattanooga Police Department explains, Jordan would "pick up people at times, and take them back to this funeral home for socializing and possibly for sexual activities."
At the crime scene, detectives found clothing spread around the room where Jordan's body was found. They say there was evidence of possible sexual activity. The victim's car was parked outside the business, but no keys were ever found. Police also could not find Jordan's wallet. But the big question is: who was with him when he died. Was it a woman, a man, or more than one person?
Cold case detectives hope to soon have some answers. Evidence from the scene was originally sent to the FBI lab for analysis. 19 years later, they are sending off that same evidence to be tested again.
"We have blood evidence that can be re-tested with newly developed procedures that weren't available in 1989. We have fingerprint evidence," notes Sgt. Phillips.
That evidence could lead them to a witness, or possibly a suspect, and hopefully find the person who killed James Jordan.
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