She's been known as the "Tiger Lady" since her body was found on an interstate turnoff on a fall day in 1991.

Detectives believe someone killed her, but her identity remains a mystery. Investigators nicknamed her for the only real clue at the crime scene: the crude tattoo of a tiger crawling down her left leg, its left paw outstretched, its tail curled at the tip.

It seemed like someone would have to recognize the distinctive body art. But the years went by, the trail went cold, and the ink was no help.

But now, a new media campaign might have produced the first lead in the infamous cold case in years -- one pointing to a possible link between the Tiger Lady and a group with one of music's most dedicated fan bases, The Grateful Dead.

The tattoo, some Deadheads say, resembles an icon only the most-dedicated fans would know -- a pearl inlay tiger on a guitar that frontman Jerry Garcia played from 1979 until 1995.

"The tattoo of the tiger is similar to one of Jerry Garcia's guitars," said Cathi Cunha, a Deadhead originally from New Jersey.

"It's indubitably a take on Jerry's guitar," said Dennis McNally, a longtime publicist for The Dead, and author of the book A Long Strange Trip about the band.

State police detectives never looked at the Grateful Dead angle -- but investigators past and present said the possibility "continues the conversation" about the long-unsolved case.

"The potential connection to the Grateful Dead touring in the area is something the detectives will look at," said Sgt. Jeff Flynn, a spokesman for the New Jersey State Police. "With social media, we can get new eyes on this case. With cold cases, you have to look at any new leads that pop up."

The band, and its thousands of followers, coincidentally, were in New York for nine shows at Madison Square Garden about six weeks before the body was discovered.

Investigators say the significant decomposition of the Tiger Lady's body means she may have been killed in that time frame, and remained undiscovered for weeks until the hunters found her in sparse brush off a Route 94 turnoff.

Unsolved cases with apparent links to the Grateful Dead have also surfaced recently. The National and Missing Unidentified Persons Database of missing and unidentified Deadheads succeeded last month in identifying a fan who washed up on a California shoreline 20 years ago as a Dead diehard. This month, new leads into an unidentified man known only as "Grateful Doe" killed in a 1995 Virginia car crash have been generated by social media.

"It kind of catches your attention," said Todd Matthews, a spokesman for the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, and who runs a website devoted to lost Deadheads, which features about a dozen cases, both solved and unsolved. "A commonality between these people. That's what you have to find to solve cases like this."

A CRAWLING TIGER, AN UNCERTAIN DATE OF DEATH



Lacking any other physical evidence at the time, detectives pursued the Tiger Lady's tattoo as a major lead. They analyzed the ink and found the supplier: Spaulding and Rogers, of Vooheesville, NY, according to the New Jersey State Police case file.

The tattoo company cooperated with the investigation, even distributing 20,500 fliers about the case to tattoo shops across the country. Investigators talked to tattoo artists across the nation, all of whom called the tattoo a "scratcher" -- a distinctly amateur piece of work, according to investigators who handled the case.

TigerLady.jpg

THE TIGER LADY

AGE: 17-19

HEIGHT: 5' 1"

WEIGHT: 105 LBS.

BODY ART: Bengal tiger, left calf. Three to four piercings in left ear.

FINGERPRINT: Partial right index finger, never matched.

FOUND: October 26, 1991, in Knowlton Township, off Route 94 North.

The potential link with the Grateful Dead and its nomadic following was not identified until sketches were released this past November, according to August Wistner, the lead detective on the case in the 1990s.

"Nobody ever mentioned it at the time," Wistner said.

Jerry Garcia played the "Tiger" guitar between 1979 and 1995, and it was the last instrument he used on stage, according to his official website. The inlay shows a tiger in white crawling down the tailpiece, its left paw forward, and its tail crooked to the right. After Garcia's death in 1995, it was sold to Jim Irsay, the owner of the Indianapolis Colts, in 2002 for $850,000.

Several Dead fans reached out after NJ Advance Media published a story about the Tiger Lady in November to say that the tiger tattoo looked like the icon on the Garcia guitar, with the pose of the tiger, and the kinked tail.

Other Dead fans contended it was not an exact representation.

"I think there is a slight resemblance," said Mike Moran, the founder of the website Grateful Web. "(But) I wouldn't likely think that's the Jerry emblem."

One of the craftsmen responsible for the guitar said it's unlikely to be from the original source. Tom Lieber, a guitar maker from New York, remembers finding the picture of the original tiger in a Santa Rose, Calif., library in 1975 with his then-business partner Doug Irwin.

"It's similar but different," Lieber said. "It's close enough in presentation that the lay person wouldn't know the difference."

McNally, the Dead publicist, and others also said it was a basic interpretation that was by no means exact.

"That's a fairly crude version of the Tiger," said McNally. "The cops were right -- it's not by a pro."

The Dead came through the New York area three times in 1991. That kind of schedule was not unusual for the decades the band was active. They played Nassau Coliseum in March, and Giants Stadium twice in June.

About six weeks before the Tiger Lady was found, the "last American circus" traveled from three shows in Richfield, Ohio, to a massive nine-night run at Madison Square Garden, from Sept. 8-18.

The Tiger Lady's time of death was undetermined after she was discovered on Oct. 26. The medical examiner's initial estimate placed the date of death at 10 days earlier, according to the case file.

But that timeline was extremely uncertain, according to the detectives past and present, due to variables: the advanced stage of decomposition, animal activity, and the fall weather. It was a warm autumn, with temperatures still hitting the high 60s during the October days, according to Weather Underground.

James Molinaro, a state police detective who handled the crime scene among some 600 others throughout his career, recalls the Tiger Lady was extremely decomposed. It was likely she had died much more than 10 days before she was discovered.

"It'd be a bit longer, I'd think," Molinaro said.

INCONCLUSIVE CLUES

The few other clues present at the crime scene remain inconclusive, as documented in the New Jersey State Police cold case file.

A toxicology report showed no drugs or alcohol. Her teeth were crooked, and in bad condition. Her hair was dyed blonde. Three or four piercings were in the left ear - but most of the tissue from the other ear had disappeared, according to the case documents. No evidence of traumatic injuries - like blunt-force or bullet wounds - were found.

Witnesses said they saw a jade green truck - perhaps a Marmon or a Western Star - parked right in front of where the body was found, in the week before she was discovered.

Initially, investigators thought the Tiger Lady was an exotic dancer. The detectives spent years interviewing staff and dancers from gentlemen's clubs all over New Jersey. Those hours of interviews produced no leads to who she was, said Wistner, now retired.

For 24 years, the Tiger tattoo was described and renderings were released to the public. Some 400 tips came in, and all were methodically checked out, said Wistner.

Thousands of hours and interviews were logged.

"We drew blanks the whole way," said the retired detective. "We could just never get any tips on who she may have been."

'AN AUDIENCE ALMOST UNIQUELY SUSCEPTIBLE'

The Deadhead scene was legendary - and wild. It attracted thousands who wouldn't even get into a venue to see the band, said McNally, the publicist.

"It was a rip-roaring party for a 19-year-old," he said.

But by the end, the vibe began to change. The culprit was a massive Billboard hit, McNally recalled. The Dead released "A Touch of Grey" in 1987. Instantly recognizable to music fans now, it was the band's only Top 40 hit. With the song came a massive influx of new fans - and a different dynamic, McNally said.

"It was assumed you were a good person, because you were a Deadhead," he said. "It was certainly an ideal environment if some twisted individual wanted to prey on people. This was an audience almost uniquely susceptible.

"We had some horrible things happen," he added.

For fans like Cunha, it was more non-Deadheads victimizing the loyal fans as they made their great American trek across the land.

"It was the outsiders who messed with the family," said Cunha. "Around that time we were dropping like flies for no reason. Sadly, some people have never been found in our community."

"Dupree's Diamond News" - a newsletter spread within the Dead community - carried a story entitled "Death at the Dead" that ran in 1991, according to Sally Ansorge Mulvey, its publisher and editor.

"They always had a traveling carnival with them," said Mulvey, now a travel agent in Connecticut. "Deadheads relied on the kindness of strangers. Sometimes strangers turn out to not be so kind."

The Tiger Lady, said Cunha, was probably another victim of people who knew Deadheads were trusting, and well-intentioned. And that's probably why she was found in a wooded area off an interstate, nude and without any identifying marks, she added.

"It would make sense that she was found as naked as she was," added Cunha. "The people that she would have been with would have known she would be identified from the tie-dye, the jewelry."

The Grateful Dead connection was never identified, said Wistner. He said he found the similarity of the tigers interesting - but couldn't say if it would break open the case that got away.

But after so many dead ends, and so many decades of silence, any new lead is welcomed, he said.

"It's nice somebody's still interested," the retired detective said. "Hopefully they'll at least get an ID."

"Given the absence of any other solid lead," added Molinaro, "it's enough to make you think."

Seth Augenstein can be reached at saugenstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SethAugenstein. Find NJ.com on Facebook