After the Christmas Day 1980 murder of Cheryl Lynn Springfield, her unclothed strangled body found lying by the Christmas tree, Fort Worth Police Detectives quickly theorized her killer was someone she knew. Upon learning the criminal record of the boyfriend of Cheryl’s roommate Cindy, they set their sights on parolee Barry Dean Kelly. However, evidence was lacking, and Cheryl’s murder went cold. Seven years later, after he was released from prison a second time, Barry Dean Kelly would commit a series of crimes that showed he was absolutely capable of killing Cheryl Springfield. Ever since his convictions for 1987 crimes, he’s been at the top of the suspect list for Cheryl’s slaying in the eyes of several cold case detectives who’ve tried their hand at solving the case. But they always fell short of evidence to charge him and have never moved much past theories based on correlation. For 43 years now, Cheryl’s big sister Jan has called the Fort Worth Police monthly in an effort to keep the case alive. Part 2 of 2.

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If you have any information about the Christmas Dat murder of Cheryl Lynn Tunnell-Springfield, please contact the Fort Worth Police Cold Case Unit at 817-392-4308 or by emailing your tip to coldcase@fortworthpd.com

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