Investigators with New Hampshire’s cold case unit have renewed calls for information in the 1982 murder of Tammy Little, and shared a previously unreleased photograph of the victim.
Little, a 20-year-old student at the Portsmouth Beauty School, was last seen alive in the early morning hours of Saturday, Oct. 16, 1982. She was found in her apartment three days later at 315 Maplewood Avenue in Portsmouth. An autopsy concluded she died as a result of massive head injuries.
On the 44th anniversary of Little’s murder, the attorney general’s office, state police, and Portsmouth Police Chief Mark Newport renewed the appeal for public help in solving the case.
Investigators hope the newly released photo helps people who lived, worked, or went to school in the Portsmouth area remember the victim and recall details that may be relevant to the case.
Senior Assistant Attorney General R. Christopher Knowles, chief of the Cold Case Unit, said his investigators and detectives with the Portsmouth Police Department are specifically interested in hearing from:
- classmates and peers at the Portsmouth Beauty School,
- people who lived in or near 315 Maplewood Avenue, or were in the area in October 1982;
- anyone who may have seen or spoken to Little between the early morning hours of Oct. 16, 1982, and the discovery of her body on Oct. 19.
“We are releasing these new photographs today with the hope that someone knew her, perhaps a former classmate at the Portsmouth Beauty School or a resident of the Maplewood Avenue neighborhood, will remember a detail they have not previously shared,” Knowles said in a press release. “No matter how much time has passed, we believe there are people who hold information critical to solving this case.”
The Little murder case became known locally as one of the “beauty school murders.” A year earlier, 23-year-old Laura Kempton, another student at the Portsmouth Beauty School, was found dead in her apartment. Attorney General John Formella announced in 2023 that investigators solved the Kempton case through DNA analysis and forensic genealogy technology. They said the man responsible in the Kempton murder died of an overdose in 2005.
The Cold Case Unit tip line: (603) 271-2663 and email: coldcaseunit@dos.nh.gov
A tip may also be submitted online at the Cold Case Unit website.
